‘Hypnotic’ Review: Silly Netflix Thriller Plays Tedious Mind Games

“Hypnotic” plays the most tedious type of bad movie mind game, in that it’s neither as sharp as it wants to be, nor self-aware or goofy as it could be. It does have a juicy, fruitful pitch—to stretch the realities of hypnosis and use them for a psychological thriller about mind control in which a shrink’s patients black out and commit unspeakable acts. But the thrills here, whether you want to believe what “Hypnotic” is hawking, are far too mild to be satisfying for even a mindless viewing. 

Kate Siegel plays Jenn, a woman whose life summed up by her friend Gina (Lucie Guest) as “a vortex of crap”—Jenn broke off her engagement with her ex-fiance Brian (Jaime M. Callica) after a traumatic stillbirth, and her career as a software engineer has fallen apart. Gina recommends that Jenn see her therapist Dr. Meade (Jason O’Mara), who Jenn meets at Gina’s party, even though a therapist hanging out with their clients is highly inappropriate. Dr. Meade jokes about that too at the party, saying to Jenn that he is appropriate with clients about 95% of the time. The first of many red flags is right there, staring at her with a cheap glimmer in his eye, and it’s the first of many occasions in which Jenn will lose your patience, while bumming you out that a usually intriguing and dedicated actor like Siegel (“The Haunting of Hill House,” “Midnight Mass”) is playing her. 

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Dr. Meade specializes in hypnotherapy, which in reality is used in part to help people face their traumas. But he also specializes in using this mysterious, but powerful skill to completely control the minds of his clients, triggering them with a simple phrase that comes from an unknown phone number, for bland reasons that become apparent as the story trudges along. Jenn is manipulated by Dr. Meade one night she accidentally provokes Brian’s sesame allergy, almost killing him, over a dinner that was Dr. Meade’s idea, an ingredient she otherwise would’ve been mindful of. But when she sees the receipt from that meal’s groceries—and then holds the guilty sesame oil bottle—she realizes that Dr. Meade’s influence was behind this, and starts to investigate any similar cases with his previous patients. She finds a pattern, and with the help of a clumsy cop played by Dulé Hill, tries to get to the bottom of it while still being susceptible to Dr. Meade’s commands. 

Directed by Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote, “Hypnotic” has a whole bunch of moments in which the script by Richard D’Ovidio preys upon the dumb choices of his characters, but it’s frustrating that Jenn doesn’t even need mind control to do some very dumb things. The silly story is truly kicked into motion when Jenn does something extremely wrongheaded, which is none other than when she goes back to Dr. Meade, now aware of his controlling abilities and his history, with the intent to record the sessions. You can imagine how well that does not go for Jenn’s shoddy investigation skills, but the movie plays this scream-at-the-TV moment as one of its many shocking reveals. Its moments like these in which to describe “Hypnotic” as having “mind games” feels generous, as the playing field between villain and patient is not so much about coercion but a writer’s lazy idea of control. 

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There’s an endgame to all of this, and let’s just say it’s underwhelming, given all the brain gymnastics required to make Dr. Meade’s evil plan work. The paranoia here is as dull as O’Mara is not scary—in fact, he seems primed for romance movies, given the soothing way he constantly says, “I’m a romantic” here. Get him a holiday rom-com, and get him and others away from movies like “Hypnotic.”  

It only takes a cursory Google search to see just how far the movie is stretching the concept of hypnotherapy, starting with the idea of one losing full control of their body during the process. There’s nothing wrong with a movie having a little genre fun with that, but it’s more that “Hypnotic” is guilty of being mighty cheap with the horror that comes from the premise, like a wannabe nail-biter sequence that involves an imagined tarantula leading to a corny scene of sudden death. The sequence is straight out of a B-movie, as if the special effects budget ran out before a disturbing scene was to be shot. (“Quick, get a soft, fuzzy, slow-moving spider!”) “Hypnotic” almost makes more sense if you look at it with slasher logic: Dr. Meade has the presence of a classic slasher villain in this movie, with his omnipotence and ability to overpower anyone mentally or later physically, and the adults are as ditzy as teenagers at a haunted summer camp.

“Hypnotic” gets no edge from its visual style, which is proudly “Netflix-thriller-of-the-week.” It boasts fancy modern home interiors, a thumping synth score, and the overall gloss of a feature-length TV episode. Only briefly does the movie disorient the viewer with its visuals, and it’s when Angel and Coote throw some screen-splitting, split-diopter shots that indicate vanishing daydreams of taking after the thrillers of Brian De Palma. One wonders what he might have done with the premise; we can at least trust he’d let the tarantula stay home. [D+] 

“Hypnotic” is available now on Netflix.