Return Reviews

A rather generic-looking film adaptation of the Donald Harington novel Some Other Place, The Right Place in which supernatural phenomena are used to dress up a rather mundane murder mystery. The film begins in an Arkansas mountain range. A little girl and her grandfather are startled by the sound of someone crawling on the cliff overhead. The man goes for his rifle, but before he can arm himself, he is shot and killed by the unseen assassin. Years later, the girl, Diana (Karlene Crockett), now grown, agrees to aid a young man, Day Whittaker (John Walcutt), who has been possessed by the spirit of her grandfather. He and Diana decide to investigate her grandfather's murder. RETURN plods along at a secure pace, highlights the picturesque scenery, and never takes any chances when it comes to visual composition, lighting, or editing. The performances are merely serviceable. Considering the topicality of spirit channeling, one would think the exploitation value of the subject might have spurred director Andrew Silver to liven up his film a bit. Instead, RETURN is simply a bland movie-of-the-week.