Currently available for streaming on Netflix, Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote’s Hypnotic opens with a series of terrifying events inside an elevator, which adds a tinge of claustrophobia to the latest thriller film. Hypnotic follows software engineer Jenn (Kate Siegel), who struggles to find motivation in life after a traumatic miscarriage and separation from her fiancé, Brian (Jame M. Callica). After meeting the charming therapist Dr. Collin Meade (Jason O’Mara), Jenn undergoes hypnotherapy, which harkens disastrous effects.
From the get-go, the presence of a dangerous stalker figure is established in Hypnotic, a figure who takes down one of their victims early on in the film in an especially horrifying fashion. The film’s opening sequence, wherein a scared woman steps inside an elevator in a desolate office building, manages to lend an aura of mystery with genuinely sinister undertones. However, while Hypnotic delivers a compelling psychological thriller, the film is fairly predictable in terms of its twists and narrative progression.
Hypnotic opens with a woman named Andrea Bowen (Stephanie Cudmore) making a frenzied call to Detective Wade Rollins (Dulé Hill), asking him to call her back as she believes she is being stalked again. On edge and filled with anxiety, Andrea steps inside the elevator, biding her time as she descends. In a matter of moments, she receives a call from an unknown number, which she picks up, believing it to be Rollins. However, a man on the other end utters the phrase, “Andrea, this is how the world ends.” Right after this, the elevator comes to a stop, and its walls start closing in on her, seeming crushing her to death offscreen.
Much later in the film, after it is revealed that Dr. Meade psychologically manipulated some of his patients under hypnotherapy, the circumstances around Andrea Bowen’s death become much clearer. As per her official police file, Andrea died of a heart attack, while the security footage of the elevator during her last moments does not match with the opening moments of the film. While the elevator did not actually shrink to crush her, the scenario's resultant fear was viscerally, subjectively real in Andrea’s mind, as Dr. Mead had triggered her fear of claustrophobia with the aid of the phrase he uttered, leading to her death via cardiac arrest.
As the film progresses, it becomes clear that Dr. Meade intends to replace his deceased wife’s memories by putting certain patients under hypnotherapy, having access to their innermost thoughts and fears. He methodically chose women who shared physical traits with her and planted false memories during the sessions to trigger their fears at any point, while also being able to virtually mind control their actions. As Andrea was claustrophobic and had become wary of Mead’s sinister intentions, the latter triggered her fears, which led to her death. Something similar happens to Jenn’s friend, Gina, in Hypnotic, who dies in a car crash after her arachnophobia is triggered by Meade.