Mesmerized |  | Director: Michael Laughlin
Actors: Harry Andrews, David Cameron, Reg Evans, Derek Hardwick, Jonathan Hardy
Studio: Platinum Disc
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 283736
Format: NTSC
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 096009235895
EAN: 0096009235895
ASIN: B000ADWD2K
Theatrical Release Date: 1986
Release Date: July 18, 2005
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
 A Great Fan Must have in your Collection ! March 11, 2008
euroman498 (Hsv, AL. USA)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you are as great as of fan as I to Jode Foster then Should I say more. this move is great wonderfull, and a must have for your collection. as always, Jode Foster again keeps the drama and motion of the moive going, giving you the great feeling that you are right beside her all the way throughout the whole movie. A must have.
 Not totally horrible... March 25, 2007
Heather Cuoio (IdahoUSA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I got this DVD at the Dollar Tree for $1 and so went in not expecting much from it. I was pleasantly suprised by it being better than I expected it to be... I like Jodie Foster, which is the reason I bought it and watched it. I think she did a good job for what she had to work with, which was a pretty dull script. The costuming and sets were all pretty top notch, as was most of the acting. John Lithgow, who played her husband, did a good job, in that he gave me the creeps. There was pretty good chemistry between she and her brother in law, making you believe they could be 'in love'. However, I only give it three stars because the editing was not so good, it jumped around too much and didn't explain very well... I am happy I've watched it, but I wouldn't pay more for it than I did.
A Life of Dread. January 11, 2007
Betty Burks (Knoxville, TN)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Mesmerize means to hyponotize. This is the flip side of Jodie Foster in her younger years as she had been put in an orphanage by her biological mother's father as an infant "unnamed." The matron called her Victoria for the reigning Queen of England, and she grows into a beautiful, pensive, young lady in New Zealnd. Out of the blue, an older, well-to-do merchant, Oliver Thompson, marries her, but she still has to stay at the orphanage not yet free (where her beauty is wasted) until she is of age. Wehn she does go to him, a long voyage, he abuses her horribly. She was never "free" as she was never "free" as she went from one bondage to a different kind, much worse. It was as different as dark from light, or cold from heat.
She's called Madam in her own home, but things are not what they seem. She has her own pianoforte. He accused her of "putting on airs" -- a fine lady. His crudity makes her quite ill. Young brother, George comforts her and it turns into true love. They try to run away, but there is an accident and she is the dummy who will be held responsible. FAther and son consired to keep her as a prisoner. She'd told George that "I would have died had I stayed in that house." However, he survived and wrote her a letter which is kept hidden from her. When she finds it, a true-love confession about providence and "you are always in my thoughts."
Like the oldest living Confederate widow, her much older husband takes advantage of her youth and is mean and cruel to her. As she cares enough to give emotional support, things turn from bad to worse, and her baby is born dead because of his abusive manner toward her. She asks the priest why she didn't die, too. I've often wondered that myself. Oliver makes demands, distrusts her. There appears a hypnonotist her like Terrence Weber in "Born Yesterday" who hyponotizes her and she is completely mesmerized and looked like a porcelian doll with those staring blue eyes. He uses emotional abuse and she fights back by putting chloroform in his milk occasionally so that he will fall asleep. He had castigated her about not showing respect for old age.
The eyes and the hands of the devil are everywhere. The priest encouraged her to divorce, as she has "a long life ahead of you." The priest vanishes as soon as she is arrested for the murder of her husband. The new doctor, Finch, makes house calls and finds mercury poisoning which attacks the liver. He is told that it was from pesticides. "Your life is more important surely." He has no suspension of purposeful poisoning. Oliver at the end is hysterical and suffers with his throat. He'd been told that the state of his illness was not serious and he was fit as a fiddle.
His father accuese her of killing his son; after she is arrested she writes to George in Australia. It was perceived that she had been spooked by supernatural forces, but the trial is held and the housekeeper testified against her. Like mother, like daughter.
 FAR FROM MESMERIZING... November 29, 2006
Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The premise for the film is intriguing. It is based upon the Victoria Thompson murder trial that took place in New Zealand during the late nineteenth century. Victoria is raised is some sort of orphanage from birth. At the age of seventeen, it is arranged for her to marry Mr. Thompson, a weird, older man whom she has never before met. She dutifully marries him, and when she comes of age goes to live with him in his home, which is run by his two creepy servants. Victoria soon discovers just how weird her husband really is. She ultimately takes the bull by the horns and finds herself standing trial for his murder by the time she is nineteen years old.
Jodie Foster places the role of Victoria Thompson, as if she were doing so under duress. She takes a character that is potentially sympathetic and makes her merely pathetic, leaving the viewer cold. John Lithgow fares somewhat better, as he does a credible job playing the weird Mr. Thompson, doing the best he can with the material with which he has to work. The film, unfortunately, is choppy and poorly edited, the story so muddled as to be nearly incomprehensible. The direction seems to be almost nonexistent, as it looks like it is every man for himself.
This film was originally released under the title, "Mesmerized". Word about the film must have traveled fast, as bad news so often does. When the film was released for the home market, it was retitled as "Shocked". Now, it has been released again, this time under its original screen name. The only thing shocking about this film is that it was ever released in the first place. It is a complete travesty. All in all, this DVD is not worth buying. The only reason this film was not rated one star was due to John Lithgow's performance. If you are not a John Lithgow fan, deduct one star.
Beware! October 1, 2005
Hoseman (Maryland)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'd have to agree with the other viewer that I'm shocked as well this film was released on DVD. At least the price is in check with the quality, although in spite of this, I still don't it's worth it. I can't understand why a title such as this would be brought to DVD, when so many other quality movies have yet to be released on DVD. And speaking of quality, that's the biggest problem with this movie - it looks like it was recorded from a tv with 'rabbit ears' tuned to a distant station. Picture quality - grainy. I do give it 2 stars though (instead of one), because it's based on a true story, and John Lithgow does a fine acting job.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
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