You got a file for every nosebleed in Illinois?
A 1993 Psychological Thriller directed by Michael Apted and written by Dana Stevens.
Violinist Emma Brody (Madeleine Stowe) has been blind for 20 years, but after surgery restores her sight she finds herself suffering from visual delays and hallucinations. After her upstairs neighbor is murdered, Emma, unable to see clearly and mistaking him for someone else, encounters the killer in the hallway of her apartment building. She teams up with jaded detective John Hallstrom (Aidan Quinn) to uncover the killer's true identity and stop him before he strikes again.
This film provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Emma's mother, seen only in unflattering flashbacks.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Mrs. Whitney's young neighbor, encountered by Hallstrom as he flees Mrs. Whitney's home.
- Canine Companion: Ralph, to Emma.
- Cassandra Truth: Emma's initial visit to the cops sees her concerns dismissed by Hallstrom, who is more interested in the fact that she used to be blind than in helping with her case.
- Chekhov's Gag: Hallstrom initially shrugs off Emma’s concerns because she admitted to drinking a sizeable amount of wine before the alleged crime took place, saying he could personally see the Seven Dwarves doing cartwheels while drunk on wine. Later, after the body has been discovered and Hallstrom is interviewing Emma as a witness, she remembers an odd detail but dismisses it, with Hallstrom insisting she just tell him what it is. She says, “Well, there were these seven little men behind him doing cartwheels.”
- Crapsack World: Emma describes Chicago as a "hellhole of a city."
- Dark and Troubled Past: Emma's been blind for 20 years because her mother smashed her face into a mirror, later mentioned by Hallstrom as a potential cause for her hallucinations.
- Deadpan Snarker: Emma.
- Hallstrom: Was this one guy or did she see a lot of different guys?
Emma: One guy.
Hallstrom: How do you know it was one guy?
Emma: I could hear him.
Hallstrom: Okay, you got a name on him? You know his name?
Emma: Oh Baby.
- Dressed to Heal: Dr. Pierce ends his conversation with Candice by hopping into his very expensive-looking sports car.
- Fan Disservice: Valerie Wheaton’s dead, naked body.
- Fanservice: Hallstrom's striptease in the opening scene.
- Hope Spot: In the climax of the film when Emma is trapped in the garage with the killer, she very briefly sees John and shouts out his name before he morphs into the killer, having been just a stress-induced hallucination caused by her condition.
- Male Band, Female Singer: Emma is the only woman in The Drovers.
- Naked People Are Funny: During Emma's interview with the Sun-Times reporter, her bandmate Michael wanders into the living room completely naked, much to Candice's chagrin.
- Orderlies are Creeps: The killer is an orderly at the hospital.
- Parking Garage: Emma narrowly evades the killer in a brief chase through the hospital parking garage.
- Police Are Useless: Officer Crowe not only fails to keep Emma in her apartment but also manages to make himself the killer's final victim.
- Room Full of Crazy: Neil Booker's apartment.
- Serial Killer: The killer targets women by attacking them in their homes, posing them in bathtubs, and placing Russian Orthodox crosses around their necks.
- Sinister Subway: There's a chase sequence that takes place throughout several cars of Chicago's L.
- Team Mom: Candice, Emma's fiercely protective best friend and manager of her band.
