Unclean & Unseen! – THE SENDER (1982)

It’s tough to discern what went wrong for director Roger Christian’s feature film debut, THE SENDER. Despite regular showings on cable in late 1983, the film seems to have eluded many horror fans who usually defaulted to more popular genre fare of the time such as THE BROOD (1979) or DRESSED TO KILL (1980) for their mental-health-gone-wrong fix. This indifference first plagued THE SENDER during its theatrical run, which netted only a little over a million dollars. When you’re inquisitive enough to peel back the film’s layers, you find out that its misanthropic blend of enigmatic science and surrealistic violence is probably what torpedoed it from the start.

In short, THE SENDER isn’t a happy film. It starts with an amnesiac filling his pockets with rocks and wandering out into a lake to commit suicide and ends with a suggestion that the same character will repeat the story’s entire ordeal again. In between all this, the nameless protagonist’s doctor finds out that he’s inherited from his mother a terrifying ability to project his nightmares into other people’s reality. I know what you’re thinking: dude, this could totally be an influence on A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET! Admittedly, there are some peculiar similarities, but THE SENDER is preoccupied with the claustrophobic emotions of reality while Wes Craven’s 1984 classic concentrates on the wide open playing field of the dream state.

Director Roger Christian has had a dizzying career of extremes, ranging from Academy Award-winning production design for STAR WARS to helming the harangued Scientology sci-fi disaster, BATTLEFIELD EARTH. Here, he shows some nice directoral touches that primarily serve to bolster the film’s unsettling is-this-real-or-a-dream undercurrent. Meanwhile, composer Trevor Jones, fresh off of John Boorman’s dazzling Knights of the Round Table rip EXCALIBUR (1981), provides a mix of maudlin and jittery cues to tap into the emotional core of the story. 

I originally slated THE SENDER to be part of the “One-Sheet Wonders!” section–its poster’s use of imagery, color, and sinister taglines is commanding–but the film is far too interesting to be represented by its marketing materials alone. Check it out for yourself on a dark, rainy night and see if it haunts your dreams, too.

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