Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Spikeopath Communion is directed by Phillipe Mora and adapted for the screen by Whitley Strieber from his own book of the same name. It stars Christopher Walken, Lindsay Crouse and Francis Sternhagen. Theme music is by Eric Clapton, with the musical score by Allan Zavod. Photography is by Louis Irving, with locations for filming at Big Bear Valley and Running Springs in California."Based on the true story of one American family" It continues to be a controversial movie to this very day, its subject matter, that of alien abduction/experiments, one that ensures the most divisive of audiences. Director Mora insists it's a film for those of an open mind, triumphantly proclaiming that he made a deliberately ambiguous and agnostic film against the big studios wishes. The trouble here is not in the subject matter, for it is a fascinating story, true or not, the problem is that the director isn't sure what to do with such material. In his attempt to flip the finger at the big wigs refusing to back his movie, he's made a mess of a picture. At times genuinely creepy, potent even, at others laughable and tacky. Were it not for a powerhouse eccentric performance from Walken, this would not be worthy of further inspection. It also feels like a collage of other sub-genre movies, eschewing the philosophy and scientific theories of Strieber's best selling book, in favour of Walken wielding a shotgun and freaking out under the inevitable hypnosis treatment. Strieber would later claim dissatisfaction with the movie, which while consistent with his own inconsistencies, is quite understandable. Because whether you believe or not, at the core is an intriguing and provocative story, sadly this film, in trying to be smug, loses the plot quite early on. 5/10

regnarghost Nice attempt this. What seems to be a honest take on a probably manufactured story concerning aliens, or just supernatural creatures(don't remember really seeing a UFO), and its impact on a family's life. part horror, part drama.How unsettling it is relies entirely on how you feel about aliens and abduction. The subject matter terrifies me, and therefore, it had me incredible uncomfortable during the first visit of the aliens. Its such a pleasure to see Cristopher Walker here, sitting around in different positions with clinched jaws. The director makes a tremendous job at presenting the abduction as a metaphysical and psychological collapse that clearly wont be remembered by the ones involved. Creepy.As the film progresses some of this "visitors" turn out to look a bit like hooded Ewokds and it brings the experience down. Actually its quite interesting. These creatures are not as frightening as the grays, but logically, they are really not more unrealistic and silly. It kinda highlights how ridiculous this whole fear we have are. But for some (read the Paralysed Sleep thread on the board here) they might be very frightening.Its still a pretty interesting film. The effects has aged well.

Vomitron_G -- The Book:I just read the book last month, and it was a very anticipated read (with me having seen the movie years prior and the book being a best seller and all). And in this case, I wasn't all that thrilled after reading it. Don't get me wrong, it's a great book. Whitley has a clever writing-style. He fights a constant psychological battle, on the one hand coming up with evidence that he really was abducted by aliens, while otherwise trying to refute the experience with other, more rational explanations. He also, at times, delves into folklore and mythology, though he only scratches the tip of the iceberg and doesn't really develop nor support any theories. This book's really about him and his experience. Makes up for an interesting read, but the downside is, that the book becomes very repetitive after a while. Strieber keeps on going over the same events that happened on two nights in such a way that after a while he really isn't adding anything new. Not a new angle, nor a new light on the matter. And at such times, it gets a little harder to sit through his whole story. Nevertheless, it's an interesting read, and great material to compare to the screenplay of the movie (also written by Strieber).-- The Movie:The 1989 adaptation is one that grew on me. I just finished watching it for the 3rd time (after quite some years), and I like it better now. The film itself is actually more entertaining than the book, so again, Strieber managed to write a clever adaptation. True, near the end the story gets quite fragmented, and results more in the telling of anecdotes than actually trying to wrap up an already incoherent story (note that I'm not using the word 'inconsistent', because Strieber is very consistent in his way of telling the events, both in the book and the movie). It's fun, though, noticing little details that he left out of the movie. Sometimes Strieber devoted a whole chapter in the book to a certain anecdote, while in the movie it gets reduced to nothing more than one line of dialogue (obviously carrying a lot more weight than you'd at first imagine). Christopher Walken plays Strieber, and he simply owns the film. It's great to see him walk and talk through this whole movie. The special effects are really neat and surreal at times, which fits the atmosphere of the movie. I'd say COMMUNION is really worth a watch. Reading the book gives you a more in-depth look on what happened and might help you to understand how the movie came to be.

Chuck Mason I was the Elec. BestBoy. It was a casual show (good for non-union), we all had fun, nobody got hurt, and it was a summer of work during the Writers' strike of '88 (or whenever that one was). I can't say it was a great movie, but Walken is an ........................ interesting fella. Good. For the alien exam sequence (shot at the HW Athletic Club while it was being rebuilt) I took some great (if I say so!) photos of him and Mora in the set. Kodak Tmax 3200 looked good! No still man on the show, no real publicist, no pix; whatever. Worth renting? No. Good times.Oh my, that was only three lines of text, and they want ten. Guess I need to hit 'return' more often. Anyway, the gaffer was Kevin Williams. I wonder what he's doing these days. Last I talked to him, he was fixing up houses in Bakersfield or something. Fun guy; may he find his way. Is this enough now?