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[Blu-ray Review] ‘Regression’ is a Step Back for Alejandro Amenábar
Regression is a strange movie. It was written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar, a very talented filmmaker and the man responsible for Open Your Eyes, The Others and The Sea Inside. With that type of resume his film come with a certain expectation. The film’s male lead is Ethan Hawke, one of my favorite actors of all time. Opposite Hawke is the lovely Emma Watson, a very talented actress capable of carrying a movie. Joining Hawke and Watson are skilled character actors in David Thwelis and David Dencik playing supporting roles.
The story revolves around a detective (Hawke) and psychoanalyst (Thwelis) investigating a molestation case. A young girl (Watson) ran away from home and is staying at the local church. There she tells the reverend (Lothaire Bluteau) that her father (Dencik) touched her inappropriately. Once they bring the father in for questioning he vaguely seems to remember the situation but everything is kind of a blur. As they dig further they begin to uncover what may be a satanic cult and the daughter may have been part of some type of satanic ritual.
The skeleton of a really good movie is here. All the elements you would want are very much present. You’ve got a very good director, a great cast and a story that sounds interesting that could be potentially engaging. Unfortunately the movie never comes together and ends up being very, very boring.
The film isn’t overly long, but it feels like it. It comes in at under 2 hours, a pretty normal length for a dark thriller like this, but man does it crawl. It almost feels like it tries to have some Ti West-like pacing, but as it drags along most of what we witness just isn’t interesting. And going into this film I thought I could be entertained watching Ethan Hawke do anything, turns out that is not the case. Even Ethan Hawke can’t save nothingness.
It kind of feels like this was a first draft. Like Amenábar came up with a solid premise, wrote it out and said, “This is good enough, let’s get to filming!” And that’s too bad because the idea for a good movie exist, but it’s buried in what is ultimately a waste of talent. Maybe he thought they would spruce it up as they went?
There are also a few dumb things that happen. The movie takes place in Minnesota, but Hawke needs to speak to a possible witness who they determine is now living in Pittsburgh. Hawke just flies to Pittsburgh, finds him and detains him for questioning. Can he do that? He doesn’t team up with local authorities or anything. He wouldn’t have jurisdiction there, right? I’m no expert or anything, but this didn’t seem right. Maybe he teamed up with the Pittsburgh PD off-screen. I don’t know. During the questioning of this witness he says something like, “I’m a cop, so you have to talk to me.” That’s also not great dialogue. That’s first draft dialogue.
As boring as this movie is, I wouldn’t say it’s bad bad, but it’s certainly not good. This is very much a 2.5/5 movie, all across the board. There is a handful of kind of cool nightmare/dream sequences. They don’t really go anywhere, but they look kind of cool. The movie also has a bit of a moody atmosphere and it looks good but that’s about it.
Oh and the ending is terrible. It ends like an episode of Law and Order. So stupid.
You know who would like this movie, parents. This is a movie made for parents. My parents would watch this and probably enjoy it very much. If you’re a parent in your mid-50’s, this is a movie for you.
Regression is out now on Blu-ray and it’s an ok Blu-ray. It looks good as you would expect for a new film. There are 4 special features – ‘Bruce’s Obsession,’ ‘The Complexity of Angela,’ ‘The Case of Regression’ and ‘The Vision of Regression.’ The total runtime of these features comes in at just about 10 minutes and they’re all kind of similar, offering small breakdowns on specific elements of the film. Probably would have been better to just make one 10-minute feature.
Last thing – Ethan Hawke’s character is named Bruce Kenner. That’s kind of funny.
Regression is now out on Blu-ray from Starz/Anchor Bay.
It was almost one year ago that Warner Bros. brought the entire original A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise to 4K in one massive 7-movie collection, with the limited edition SteelBook version of the set quickly selling out and becoming highly sought after. But we’re happy to report tonight that the SteelBook set is currently back in stock over on Amazon!
While supplies last, grab the Elm Street SteelBook collection for $154.99 right now!!
Orders placed for this re-release are scheduled to begin shipping out September 15, 2026.
[Related] Freddy’s Back: New ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Movie in the Works at Paramount
From New Line Cinema, the collection includes the original seven films – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) – along with the uncut versions of A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Dream Child.
Two BRAND NEW SPECIAL FEATURES for this set include:
- Boiler Room Confessional: The king of slashers, Robert Englund, takes us on a journey through the dream world, sharing what inspired Freddy Krueger, his rise as a cultural icon, and the legacy of A Nightmare on Elm Street, plus his favorite kills, scenes, and more.
- Freddy’s Footnotes: Robert Englund and original A Nightmare on Elm Street filmmakers revisit iconic scenes, revealing the movie magic and chaos behind our favorite nightmares. Pull back the curtain and relive epic moments through the eyes of those who made them.
Here’s the full breakdown of included Special Features for each movie…
A Nightmare on Elm Street
· Ready Freddy Focus Points
· Commentary with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, Robert Shaye, and Sara Risher
· Commentary with Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and Jacques Haitkin
· Alternate Endings – Scary Ending, Happy Ending, Freddy Ending
· The House that Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror
· Never Sleep Again: The Making of A Nightmare on Elm Street
· Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
· Freddy on 8th Street
· Heroes and Villains
· The Male Witch
· Psychosexual Circus
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
· Behind the Story: Burnout
· Behind the Story: Fan Mail
· Behind the Story: The House that Freddy Built
· Behind the Story: Onward Christian Soldiers
· Behind the Story: Snakes and Ladders
· Behind the Story: That’s Showbiz
· Behind the Story: Trading 8’s
· Dokken Dream Warriors Music Video
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
· The Finnish Line
· Krueger, Freddy Krueger
· Hopeless Chest
· Let’s Makeup
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
· Behind the Story: Womb Raiders
· Behind the Story: The Sticky Floor
· Behind the Story: Take the Stairs
· Behind the Story: Hopkins Directs
· Behind the Story: A Slight Miscalculation
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
· 86’D
· Hellraiser
· Rachel’s Dream
· 3D Demise
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
· Commentary with Wes Craven
· NEW – Boiler Room Confessional
· NEW – Freddy’s Footnotes
· Becoming a Filmmaker
· Filmmaker
· An Insane Troupe
· The Problem with Sequels
· Two Worlds
· Welcome to Prime Time: It Really Happened
· Welcome to Prime Time: A Childhood Memory
· Welcome to Prime Time: Sometime in the Early 80s
· Welcome to Prime Time: So It Began
· Welcome to Prime Time: Beauty and the Beast
· Welcome to Prime Time: Making the Glove
· Welcome to Prime Time: Shapeshifter
· Welcome to Prime Time: The Shoot
· Welcome to Prime Time: The Revolving Room
· Welcome to Prime Time: All’s Well that Ends Well
· Welcome to Prime Time: Talalay’s Tally
· Welcome to Prime Time: It Couldn’t Have Happened
· Welcome to Prime Time: Alternate Ending Version
· Conclusion: Where Gothic Plots Come From
· Conclusion: Why We Like Gothic
· Conclusion: Sadomasochism
· Conclusion: Freddy vs. Pinhead
· Conclusion: Freddy’s Manic Energy
· Conclusion: Creating Lasting Characters in Horror
· Conclusion: No More Magic Tricks
· Conclusion: Monster with Personality
· Conclusion: Freddy as Sex Machine
· Conclusion: Campfire Stories
The Elm Street collection is available in this collectible SteelBook packaging (exclusive to Amazon) and as a standard 4K collection that’s also available now over on Amazon.
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