Memory (R, 2007)

Dr. Taylor Briggs (Billy Zane), a researcher who specializes in Alzheimer's syndrome (his mother is afflicted), is exposed to an ancient Amazonian Indian powder that purportedly allows users to see the past through the eyes of their ancestors. Taylor's best friend/fellow researcher Deep (Terry Chen) calls it "mystic mumbo jumbo" -- but Taylor is soon having "memories" that seem structured like nightmares, in which he runs through mud and woods after a figure dressed in a porcelain mask and a black Burberry trench coat. Conveniently, the figure leaves a newspaper for Taylor to find, dated March 21, 1971 -- a year before he was born. As the memories become more elaborate, Taylor learns that the subject was also a kidnapper and killer of little girls. He also discovers a local artist, Stephanie (Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer), who has painted a scary figure in the woods who looks just like his nightmare/memory. They're soon sleeping together and working to solve the mystery.

Memory's slide into total nonsense (made concrete in an intricate, multi-room killer's lair decorated with decades' worth of collected trophies and throbbing green light) is set up early. The fact that the film raises worthy questions about experience, memory, and identity is too bad. They're pretty much lost inside a forgettable plot.