A psychological art-house horror movie from Robert Altman that sees a female writer, Cathryn (Susannah York) going slowly insane and suffering from terrifying hallucinations. This is possibly related to some sexual trauma in her past causing the men in her life to become interchangeable (and most likely dead!). The script by Altman and York is tedious and repetitive and missing the backstory required to put the various pieces together - a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces being possibly the most sledgehammer-like metaphor you're ever likely to see. There are plenty of other annoying elements such as the characters sharing the same first name as the real first names of a cast member and Cathryn continually reading out passages from an awful children's story she's writing. Altman's direction is unclear and indulgent but luckily cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond is on hand to provide some beautiful, autumnal landscape photography full of hazy sunshine and beautifully saturated colours. Adding to this odd mix is a slightly atypical and dissonant John Williams score. "Images" has its supporters, but it is hard work throughout, with very little return in exchange. The same basic story has been done to much better effect by a myriad of low budget horror directors. ( )