Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69034 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-07
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, Surround Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com
Annabella Sciorra plays a Manhattan shrink with a couple of particularly troubling patients. The most haunting is a woman (Deborah Unger) with unusually kinky sexual tastes; Sciorra gets gooned out when she realizes that her new boyfriend (Jamey Sheridan) is the same guy her patient has been seeing. And when the patient winds up dead, Sciorra begins looking slantwise at her boyfriend. Unfortunately, despite some spooky mood setting, this psychological thriller goes in circles and ends up nowhere, thanks to the implausible stretches of writer-director Christopher Crowe's script. Sciorra seems hollow at the film's center, though Sheridan brings a certain scary charisma to his boyfriend role and Alan Alda is solid as her psychiatric mentor. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Entertaining whodunit set in psychiatric community...
Whispers in the Dark (1992), an entertaining whodunit/whydunit, may also fall conveniently under the category, "white-collar thriller". Similar to films produced around this period: Malice (1993), Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992), and Single White Female (1992), Whispers in the Dark focuses its attentions on Ann Hecker (Annabella Sciorra) whose psychiatric practice may suffer irreparably as a result of engaging the attentions of Doug McDowell (Jamey Sheridan), a robust pilot who flirts with Ann one morning while standing in a crowded elevator.

What begins as a minor flirtation sets in motion a series of events, one of which results in the murder of one of Ann's clients, Eve Abergray (Deborah Kara), who had a history of exploring sexually deviant acts with an unnamed boyfriend of similar erotic tastes. As the film progresses, Ann has just cause to suspect Doug of foul play. Larry Morgenstern (Anthony LaPaglia), a tough and unflinching detective, harasses Ann for her session notes and resents what he feels to be the inanities of her chosen profession. Yet as the film continues, Crowe offers a higher body count than one would expect from the closed world of artists and their attendant shrinks. At any given point, anybody might be capable of murder. Ann's mentor, Leo Green (Alan Alda), a likeable and easy going director of psychiatric medicine, aids Ann in her own need to process a past that has left her haunted and troubled, particularly in her relations with men.

At the conclusion of the film, one wonders if Crowe's intention was to offer a timely critique of helping professions. Crowe weaves into his storyline, the limits of psychiatric medicine by throwing into relief those moments when professionals fail to apprehend accurately the real danger brewing just beneath the surface. Sciorra and Sheridan give decent performances as potential lovers seeking one another in the midst of a murder investigation. Whether they end up with one another is part of the mystery. For another example of a thriller which moves the sophistication notch up a few levels, view Lantana (2001) which also stars Anthony LaPaglia.

Solid thriller in "Basic Instinct" mold
An uneasy mixture of thrills, chills and camp, "Whispers in the Dark" came out the same time as "Basic Instinct" and, although it lacks the high cheese factor that distinguishes that film, it has its moments. Psychiatrist Ann Hecker (Annabella Sciorra) is trapped in a dead end relationship which makes listening to one of her patient's (Deborah Unger in a sultry, memorable performance)unusual sexual exploits difficult. Seeking solice she seeks advice from her mentor (Alan Alda). When she becomes involved with a man (the underrated and great Jamey Sheridan) she meets in an elevator, she finds some fulfulliment. Then one of her patient's is murdered and evidence points to her new boyfriend as a possible suspect her world is turned upside down.

With a twist ending out of Agatha Christie (albeit involving sexual jealous as a motive), "Whispers in the Dark" is a bit uneven but a throughly enjoyable mystery thriller that you might see Lifetime (although without the sexual explicitness). Christopher Crowe (screenwriter of "The Last of the Mohicans")does a great job directing his screenplay. With memorable performances from a strong supporting cas including Jill Clayburgh, John Leguizamo and Anthony LaPaglia, "Whispers in the Dark" doesn't come with any extras on DVD but has a nice transfer that looks sharp with solid color reproduction.

Bottom of the barrel
Recent Soprano mistress, Annabella Sciorra plays a Manhattan therapist who gets in a complete mess and a murderous tangle with a new boyfriend and patient. The plot in this film is just absurd. It is a mess and you find your self screaming at Sciorra not to be such an idiot. The detective is not much better and the conclusion looks tacked on. Not a good whodunnit. Not much of anything.

It has a good cast, but the script is hopeless. The plot makes no sense, Sciorra breaks every ethical rule of therapy and the whole film is a waste of time. I do not think this will make an Alan Alda retrospective. Infact most of the cast have gone onto better things and that is the best you can say about it.