Director: Travis Thoms
Writer: Travis Thoms (Screenplay)
Starring: Dean Cain, Addison Foskey, Jenelle Baptiste, Travis Relyea, Martin Palmer, Megan Elisabeth Kelly, Michelle Roe, Ciro Vela, Julie Lee Romero
Plot: A therapist with a wounded past works with survivors of an industrial accident. Unfortunately for them, it was no accident, and someone is eliminating the witnesses.
Tagline – Someone is watching you.
Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Aftermath Effect
Story: Prolonged Exposure starts as we meet trauma therapist Murdoch Lane (Foskey) who has her own troubles from his past too. Murdoch gets a new list of clients after a building explosion, with each client having a different story about what happened on that day.
As Murdoch starts his sessions, Detective Jaime Montenegro (Cain) arrives asking questions, only to be circling around the incident, with Murdoch starting to notice somebody around his neighbourhood and soon the patients start dying, with Murdoch wanting to learning the truth about what really happened on that day.
Thoughts on Prolonged Exposure
Characters – Murdoch Lane is a trauma therapist who is still dealing with his own problems with loss, he gets given survivors of a building explosion, each with their own story, only not everything adds up the way he had hoped and when he gets pushed by a cop for information, he starts to look into the case himself. Detective Jaime Montenegro is trying to get answers out of Murdoch about what happened, with his desire for the truth, showing him to become desperate, he wants the truth and will do whatever it takes to get it. We do get to meet a host of survivors from the explosion who all have different stories about the day, each one has their own tragic story about what happened.
Performances – Addison Foskey in the leading role is great, he brings us a grounded therapist who shows that he has his own pain behind his words. Dean Cain in the supporting role is great too, showing us a character that could look both shady and desperate along the way.
Story – The story here follows a therapist that gets a new list of clients that were survivors of a building explosion, only for certain stories not always adding up and an over eager detective who is sniffing around for clues about the truth. This story takes a very different approach to an aftermath of a disaster, by showing us how the survivors would be looking to get back on their feet, with survivors guilt haunting them, add in the mystery about really happened, a therapist with his own problems and a detective that is desperate for the truth, we get a story that will show the real side effects or surviving, while also offering a mystery we want to see solved.
Thriller – The thriller side of this film looks to focus on how the mystery about what really happened coming through strong the deeper we get into the story.
Settings – The film keeps the setting in the office of Murdoch, which sees most of the film being in the memories of story, letting us imagine the bigger picture of what happened.
Scene of the Movie – Murdoch visiting his own therapist, great scenes, reminds me a lot like ‘In Treatment’
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The poster is very misleading, it almost seems like it is an action film, rather than a thoughtful thriller.
Final Thoughts – Nice spin on the thriller that truly does make us imagined what happened and shows just how difficult it could be to recover a disaster in life.
Overall: Thoughtful Thriller.
Watch Prolonged Exposure on Amazon Prime (US) here today
