I got this film because I read about it from others and it sounded interesting. A horror film that I thought I had never seen! Well, I did indeed see this film as a kid. As soon as it opened I recognized it as the opening scene of the dude putting rocks in his jacket and walking into a lake sparked the memory rather quickly. Well, I kept watching as it has been forever since I had seen this film and it had some good moments, but it could of been a lot better too.The film does start with a young man trying to commit suicide. He is promptly taken to one of the worst mental health facilities I have ever seen. This is mainly due to what they do throughout the film, I mean all it is missing is that nurse from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to make it the the absolute number one worst facility. Well a female doctor wants to assist this man who is suffering from amnesia while another doctor wants to use every extreme method of treating patients hoping to zap the young man out of being suicidal. Well, this young man has certain powers...it seems when he dreams or has nightmares he has very powerful telepathic abilities. These abilities make the doctor trying to help him and others in the facility see horrific things. Add the man's mother who appears from time to time seeming to want to help, but her motives are not clear.The film has its moments, it really is not a hardcore horror film though. In fact, if one were to rate it now it would probably get a PG-13 rating except for one scene near the end involving the young man and another patient after the young man tries to beat up a television. Still, it keeps you wondering where it is going...I am just not entirely satisfied where it ended up. I just find it hard to believe they would have done what they did at the end to the young man as it seems pretty obvious he still needs some guidance. The gore is minimal, and you get scenes with rats and insects as well. The most disturbing scene was one involving a procedure being done on him as the cut look really good.So this film had its moments, but it was just an okay film to me. Nothing super great or anything. It just seems like it needed more of a point or something. The thing with the mother that was revealed at the end was a bit too obvious as well. Still, it is a lot better than a lot of horror films and it does feature deadly dreams before the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise launched.

Apparently "The Sender" is quite popular and highly acclaimed among the rest of my fellow reviewers here, but I can't say it made the same powerful impression on me. Undeniably this film plays in a much more sophisticated league than the majority of early 80's horror efforts, but in my humble opinion it's still a little too flawed to label it as an undiscovered gem. "The Sender" is actually more of a psychological thriller instead of a horror flick, in spite of some genuinely repulsive special effects, with the emphasis primarily lying on suspense and an extremely convoluted screenplay. I'll be the first to admit that it's a pleasant surprise to encounter a story-driven thriller amidst all the brainless slasher efforts of the early 80's, but the plot can't hold your attention long enough and there isn't enough empathy with the main characters. "The Sender" opens wondrously atmospheric and mysterious, with the attempted suicide of a drifting and clearly disorientated young man who simply walks into a recreational lake with stones in his pockets. The man is taken to the state mental hospital, where he's baptized with the name John Doe 83 and gets put under the custody of the caring female psychiatrist Dr. Gail Farmer. In her attempts to safeguard John Doe 83 from undergoing electroshock-therapy, Dr. Farmer builds up a liaison with him and involuntarily gets drawn into his world of nightmares. As some sort of telepathy, John Doe is able to "broadcast" his dreams to certain receivers. Dr. Farmer has all sorts of visions and she even receives visits from a creepy woman who claims to be the boy's mothers, but she can't be sure what's real and what's not."The Sender" contains a highly satisfying amount of grisly images and truly nightmarish scenery, like for example mirrors that break and start bleeding, rats crawling out of people's mouth and mentally unbalanced patients strangling themselves. The absolute highlight of macabre is undoubtedly the sequences in which an entire operating room shatters as soon as the ETC machine is connected to John Doe's persona. My personal main issue with the film, however, is that these sequences are merely just isolated highlights in an overall confusing and not-compelling-enough thriller. The interactions between Dr. Farmer and her patient are overlong and sometimes redundant, while there are so many other potentially fascinating elements to elaborate on, like for example a more detailed background of John Doe's fellow mental patients. Also, a story like this also needs an evil and greedy doctor who wants to exploit John Doe's extraordinary psychic powers. Some kind of anti pole to Dr. Farmer's character. But enough with the complaints because, let there be no mistake, "The Sender" is definitely worth a peek if you're looking for an unconventional and stylishly put together 80's shocker. Director Roger Christian, almost 20 years before making the abysmal "Battlefield Earth", does a professional job maintaining a slow and unsettling pace and the acting performances are far above average. Particularly Shirley Knight is creepy as hell as John Doe's mysterious mother in black.

awesome suspenseful thriller has great directing VERY good acting and all the characters are amiable and has good characterization the gore is minimal a few blood splashes here and there this was one heck of an engrossing ride it has a chilling ending a great score and very amiable characters this is very hard to find luckily i found at my local video store it was sad haunting and very creepy only one problem it ended too abruptly and it was kinda confusing to understand don't be fooled by the bland looking cover box this is a true forgotten gem that i recommend it highly the dreams are pretty cool and the rats creep me out out the opening scene where he tries to commit suicide was disturbing ***1/2 out of 5 and the scene of him walking the water that was disturbing as hell if ya ask me

This film was released with an glut of really bad horror films in the early '80s and got lost in the shuffle. That's a shame--it's one of the best of its type. There's no masked killer chasing down brain dead teens. It's about a young man (Zeljko Ivanek) committed to an institution because he tried to commit suicide. He believes his dreams can kill. A kind psychiatrist (Kathryn Harrold) tries to help him. Then his creepy mother (Shirley Knight) shows up insisting he be put in her care--but she keeps disappearing.There's very little violence or blood and guts but it's very scary and suspenseful. The ending is (now) old hat but was pretty original when this film was released. Any movie that can scare you silly with a shot of a middle-aged mother walking to her son (see the movie to find out why it's scary) is one hell of a horror movie in my book! Add to that a beautiful music score and excellent performances by Knight and Ivanek (who has gone on to be a top character actor). The only debit is Harrold who's pretty terrible. Still it's well worth seeing.