Blessed (2004) Reviews

• Rosemary's Clone

  ghoulieguru2005-01-04

  With horror remakes being all the rage right now, I don't understand why these filmmakers didn't just remake Rosemary's Baby with Heather Graham instead of Mia Farrow. That's all that this movie really is... Rosemary's Baby with a dash of sci-fi cloning to make it feel like it's something new. Only "Blessed" is done with none of the subtle style of Roman Polanski or Ira Levin. Instead, the suspense is supposed to be built with ultrasound images that have the Devil's face hidden in them like a Rorschach ink blot. Apparently, some rich guy has managed to procure a vial that contains a few drops of Lucifer's blood. Being a moron, he thinks it'd be a good idea to clone Lucifer using a local clinic that he owns. Poor Heather Graham has no idea what she's in for. When will girls learn that if you go to a fertility clinic, some old man will impregnate you with a Devil clone? Sounds absurd, right? Well, it is.

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• "Rosemary's Baby" and "Godsend" Cloning

  claudio_carvalho2005-06-27

  The low middle class and young school teacher Samantha (Heather Graham) and her husband, the unknown writer Craig Howard (James Purefoy), move to an insemination clinic in Lakeview, a small town two hours far from New York City, for a free insemination treatment in the "Spiritus Reasearch Clinic". Samantha gets pregnant of twins and the life of the couple economically improve with the unexpected success of the book of Craig. However, Samantha notes that a hooded stranger is stalking her, and she becomes paranoid when she realizes that the place is indeed a cloning clinic and she was impregnated with the devil's seed. Yesterday, when I saw "Blessed", I felt myself in a "déjà vu" situation, with the feeling that I have already seen this movie before, which is indeed a clone of "Rosemary's Baby" and "Godsend". There is nothing new in this plagiarized screenplay, which is dedicated to the memory of David Hemmings. This great British actor deserves a better homage to his name than this non-original story. My vote is five. Title (Brazil): Not Available

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• Bad film making is coming.

  saintcecilia2006-12-27

  I decided to watch this film because it had an interesting cast and sounded like a remake of "Rosemary's Baby". A valid story line to copy - very archetypal in your Jungian sort of way - many women during pregnancy have, at some stage, felt like their body has been taken over by some force beyond their control. And, if the scriptwriters had just stuck to that, this probably would have been a routine but acceptable movie. Instead, they seemed to have panicked and decided they needed more plot, lots more plot!! So we have the homophobic literary agent (based in New York - I don't think so) who decides to look a gift horse in the mouth by investigating the financial affairs of her client's new patron (maybe on Mars this would happen). All this frantic activity culminates in her being murdered for some reason that I missed. Then there's the garbled story about an angel killing a saint (or a saint killing an angel), perfectly encapsulated in a really dreadful painting which we are supposed to believe would be on public display by David Hemmings' character, a supposed art connoisseur. There is an antique-looking tube full of blood (maybe) which belongs either the angel or the saint. Then there's the fertility clinic which also does cloning as well. This causes great panic among several of the characters, even though there is no evidence that cloning was used. If they did, the ending shows that it clearly wasn't David Hemmings' character who was cloned. Then there's the scene in the delivery room which is just plain dishonest. We see Heather Graham's abdomen and the scary little scaly things apparently in her womb ("Oh my God, I'm having an iguana!" Now there's a film.). The delivery nurse says "Oh my God!" and the scene fades to black. Next thing we see are the twins at their fourth birthday, looking quite normal if a bit subdued for a pair of four year old girls. So what was the nurse exclaiming over? And then there's the mystery of what the girls are supposed to be. Are they the Devil, in which case, why are there two of them? Same question if they're supposed to be the angel. They are clearly something supernatural (as the demise of the annoying little boy at the party shows) but what? Angels don't go around melting four year old boys, do they? Oh, and just to show that my attention really wandered watching this film, is David Hemmings' character Earl Sydney of Wherever, as in a member of the English aristocracy, or is he just Earl Sydney? If the latter, English boys of his age would not have been called Earl. Assuming the character is in fact English and it's not simply that Hemmings realised early on this film wasn't worth doing an accent for.

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• A Big Let-down

  gonzogm2004-10-15

  This movie is not a real thriller. The entire movie the camera shows us mundane scenes to creepy music in a way so that we know that something weird's going on. But it is not really scary. And in the end, there is no follow-through. Many different suspicious scenes are showed to us, and often we never find out what they mean. There's very little action, nor explanations, throughout the movie so I had hope for the ending after it had been so built-up. I was let-down. Very little happened in the ending either, and some things did not even make sense. See this movie if you have a crush on Heather Graham -otherwise, it's too dull to bother with. Also, be warned that "evangelists" in this movie are explained to be "evil's agents". Characters get a funny look on their face when twins are mentioned as well. Just a heads up that people might be offended.

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• Supporting roles are the only reason to watch this clone

  marbleann2005-11-04

  This movie is about a young couple who get this offer to come and try in-vitro-fertilization at this clinic in a town called Lakeview in upstate NY. Well first I want to say there is a town named Lakeview, NY but not upstate but on Long Island. This tells me right away that the writer of this movie did not do their homework...a omen. It seems that the people in this town have some type of connection to the in-vitro clinic but also this cloning clinic that is in the same building. It looks like they want to clone the devil or want this woman to have the devils spawn. I am not to sure which one, because the movie seems not to be sure either. David Hemmings plays this super rich man who seems to have a golden opportunity for the hubby who is a unemployed writer. But it also seems that this man owns the cloning clinic and has gotten a hold of some of Satan's blood drops. When they visit the town to get the treatment the wife notices that her neighbor who is pregnant is missing and this man with a black hooded robe was seen running from the last place she was seen. I am not going to spoil who the man is, but I think unless the viewer has a IQ of 2 they will be ahead of the plot. We also have the clueless hubby. I saw a movie the other day called Glow and it was about a young couple who moves in a brownstone with these senior citizens who are fitness fanatics, well a neighbor goes missing in this one too and it doesn't take genius to figure out what is going on. Well the hubby is a idiot in this movie too. If I was a twenty-something husband I would want to know why they are always portrayed as idiots, when their wife is in peril. The wife in this movie played by Heather Graham isn't too bright either. She goes to get sonar gram of the baby and she doesn't even ask for a picture after complaining about something being very wrong. This fetus is punching holes in her stomach and all she needs is the doctor to tell her she is having twins as a explanation. There was a terrible Joan Collins movie called "I don't want to be born" which this movie rivals. It is about a devils spawn baby who kills people, kind of like the Omen. This movie is a combo of that and Rosemary's Baby. I watched this movie because when I first turned it on I noticed the man who plays Mark Anthony in the series Rome plays the husband. He really hasn't have much to do. I am going to miss David Hemmings, who played the rich man who owned the clinic, this was his last movie. And Fionulla Flanagen has a nice role as the husbands agent who is the first to get smart about what is happening. And Stella Stevens who is a real estate agent is very good, she looks great too. It is a OK movie to watch on cable but do not expect much.

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