Communion | | Cast : | Christopher Walken, Lindsay Crouse, Frances Sternhagen, Andreas Katsulas, Terri Hanauer | | Director : | Philippe Mora | | Studio : | ELITE ENTERTAINMENT | | Format : | Color, Dolby | | Released Date : | November 10, 1989 | | DVD Released Date : | August 24, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 19, 2005 | | Summary | A Great Vehicle for Walken, but Script is Too Weak | Content
 | For those familiar with and sympathetic toward the story of Whitley Strieber, this movie is worth watching once, although you will likely find it disappointing.
For the uninitiated: Whitley Streiber is a science fiction writer who claims to have been abducted, probed, and otherwise hassled by alien life forms. Communion is based on his best-selling book of the same name, the first book from a series that details his alleged interactions with little grey men.
Walken is perfect for the role, and he seems to relish the opportunity to release his weirdness so freely. Fans of Walken such as myself also owe this one viewing, though like our UFO-loving counterparts, most of us will also be disappointed.
For each chilling moment in the film - and there are a few - there is a sibling moment which is overly amateurish and undeniably boring. The dialogue during near the end of the movie - where Walken's Streiber character contemplates the aliens with his wife while perusing an art gallery - is poorly written and the actors clearly know it. The soundtrack is hopelessly-dated guitar wankery.
A closing scene where Walken gets chummy with some aliens is confusing and embarrassing to watch.
This movie could have been good. It should have been good. Another six months writing the screenplay might have gotten it there. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 11, 2005 | | Summary | Proper emotionality | Content
| Whilst it is impossible for a film to emulate the deposit of information contained within a book, people seem to forget the disparity between the two mediums when writing reviews. Therefor i believe many of the reviews i have read thus far are inaccurate, as any comparison to the book immediately renders them. What the film version does maintain, without question is the feeling that pervades the book.
The sense of a constantly eerie presence that is communicating from between the lines of the author/character, through him, using him and his medium as a host. The different mediums of the book and the film versions create a body of experience together, so that one should not be taken in without the other, as the book is absorbed through the left brain orifice, whilst the film's elaborate images are received through the right brain channel, thus equally affecting the imagination by different means, thereby bridging the hemispheres.
An atmospheric journey through the cosmic conspiracy of the human mind, and the red herring of visitors from afar, communion provides many moments of mystical strangitude, continuing the path the book began. For those of you who seek exposition, definitely pick up the book and absorbe every line of information through your third eye. There are some minor differences, such as the hynotist in the film being a female, and the presence of budd hopkins nowhere to be found here, but these were probably cinematic decisions made on the spur of the moment, to keep the focus on the elucidation of the experience Strieber is going through. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 20, 2005 | | Summary | Facing the unknown is not easy | Content
| The thing about this video is that its based on true accounts - it's not meant to be some truely entertaining, glitzy sci-fi. Some of the special effects might seem a bit way out there, but so were the events that took place and the effect on the Striebers.
I found it described the kind of mental challenge the abduction experience puts forward, how hard it is to deal with let alone understand. I see the DVD as a personal account of how one family deals with the experience - now that I've seen the DVD, I want to read all the books, Communion, Confirmation & Breakthrough etc.
One thing people should have picked up is that this isn't any kind of rehashed grey alien story, nor is it over sensationalised. One thing I realy liked about the fact it was based on a true story? You can visit unknowncountry.com and find out how Whitley has dealt with his experiences and what his concerns are for all of us. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 28, 2004 | | Summary | Walken Makes This Movie Barely Worth It | Content
| I am a big Christopher Walken fan. I bought this movie along with The Dead Zone and I like him much better in that film than in this one. I 'do' like watching his "behaviour" in this film though. In his movies Walken 'is' very unique with regard to his physical presence and in particular his speech mannerisms. This makes him potentially compelling even in the midst of playing a character who isn't very interesting or performing from a dreadfully written script. I 'did' read Whitley Streiber's book when it first came out back in the eighties and remember liking it very much. I am disappointed that the film version is not as interesting. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 07, 2004 | | Summary | Yuck! | Content
| This was a complete waste. Walken is good, but God what a waste! I never finished Strieber's first book which had intrigued me. But in succeeding books, he does nothing to prove anything. He gives a tale of experience that borders on religion. This horrible, suspenseless, and cheap film gives nothing to redeem Strieber nor his story as an unfunny joke.
Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on it. After all I'm not a UFO reasercher or whatnot. But I'm still human. I still have opinions. And my opinion of this is, yuck! |
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