Hypnotic - Exclusive Official Trailer (2023) Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, William Fichtner

On a deeper level, one could consider the hypnosis at work in the story a metaphor for the filmmaking process itself, and especially Rodriguez’s particular process of working with his family on his own virtual stages. Like Dellrayne, he’s doing it to put images into your head, and immerse you in a new reality. Watch it alone, and that reality will even be uniquely yours for a while. Watch it with an audience, and others may see things in different ways. Actors might play multiple parts. Sometimes, as with the insufferable We Can Be Heroes, the man behind the curtain will be the villain in your story. With Hypnotic, he earns a bit of redemption. Let’s just all agree to forget that mid-credits sequel tease. For now, anyway.

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(Hypnotic arrives in theaters on May 12, 2023)