The Netflix Mystery Thriller That Plays Tricks On Your Mind

Though Hypnotic wades in familiar waters, it has quite a bit of fun riffing on pop psychology, and will take you on a wild cat-and-dog chase that’s bolstered by excellent performances from Kate Siegel, Jason O’Mara, and Dulé Hill. 

Hypnotic starts off strong and centers on Kate Siegel’s Jenn Thompson. Jenn finds herself wandering aimlessly through life, unemployed and unmotivated to fix her situation. But everything changes when he friend Gina suggests she schedule an appointment with renowned psychotherapist Dr. Collin Meade.

During Jenn’s first session, Dr. Meade suggests that she try out hypnotherapy, one of his specialties that has proven to have extraordinary results with other patients.

Jenn quickly finds a job, starts to repair her past relationships, and owes her newfound success to Dr. Meade. But there’s more to it than meets the eye in Hypnotic, as we learn something sinister is happening in the recesses of Jenn’s mind. 

After a quick chat over coffee with Dr. Meade, Jenn is convinced to reconnect with her ex-fiancé, Brian. She invites him to dinner that night and runs to the grocery store. On the way back to her car, she gets a mysterious phone call from a blocked number and blacks out in a hypnotic trance.

When she comes to, she finds Brian incapacitated and struggling to breathe because he went into anaphylactic shock after consuming sesame oil, a substance he is deathly allergic to.

After Brian’s hospitalization, Jenn starts to put the pieces together and realizes that she used the fatal ingredient while cooking but has no recollection of doing so.

But Jenn should have known better because in Hypnotic’s opening scene, she prevented Brian from eating something similar while attending a mutual friend’s housewarming party.

Recruiting help from Detective Wade Rollins (Dulé Hill), Jenn explains her predicament. Rollins recalls an old case that involved Dr. Meade in which he was suspected of engaging in foul play with his past clients. Those past clients all died mysteriously, experienced similar episodes leading up to their deaths, and even bore a striking resemblance to Jenn. 

The second and third acts of Hypnotic will leave you guessing but at the same time boast a healthy amount of predictability. Though you’ve probably seen similar premises play out in the past, the cinematography will keep you engaged, and the pacing can’t be beat.

On the same token, Hypnotic could have benefited from further exploration of Jenn’s relationship with Dr. Meade. 

The best thing that Hypnotic has going for it, aside from Kate Siegel’s ability to carry the story along with the help of Dulé Hill, is its establishing spots.

If you’re one to scroll endlessly through images of liminal spaces or the notorious Backrooms that occupy the internet, you’ll find yourself awestruck by the soft glowing lights and eerily asymmetrical architecture and interiors that function as secondary and tertiary characters in their own right.

Despite the film’s generic nature, its spaces and settings steal the show.

Although Hypnotic wasn’t a critical or commercial success and currently boasts an audience and critic score of 24 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the positive reviews are telling.

Likening its storytelling to a psychological thriller that follows the beats of a Lifetime movie, reviewers praise the acting and stylistic choices while admitting the screenplay failed to explore the subject matter’s full potential, well, fully. 

At the end of the day, Hypnotic doesn’t bring anything new to the table if you’re a psychological thriller aficionado. But if you’re looking to find a solid entry point into the genre, it’s certainly worth 88 minutes of your time on Netflix.