If Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter ever tired of his diet of human flesh and decided to be a force for good you might imagine him as Ted Brautigan.

Ted shares Hannibal the Cannibal's razor-sharp mind, profound erudition and almost ethereal reflexes...but he also wields psychic powers.

And rather than pursue a life of gruesome slayings, Ted is attempting to escape a menacing yet unspecified danger that's constantly on his tail.

He winds up renting rooms above the apartment of young Bobby (Anton Yelchin) and his self-obsessed mother Liz (Hope Davis).

The youngster begins a tentative relationship with the mysterious Ted and is recruited by him to read the paper to save the old man's failing eyes for a dollar a day.

After a lifetime of memories of his father clouded by his mother's bitterness, the kindly Ted brings an enticing perspective to the world and the possibilities of life and love.

But he also brings strange knowledge and abilities bordering on the supernatural which both frighten and attract the impressionable Bobby.

All the while, the dark forces pursuing Ted are slipping into the neighbourhood shadows and he knows that it will soon be time to move on... but has time run out?

Based on Stephen King's bestseller, this has the power to loosely engage, but never really burns itself onto your consciousness.

Hopkins delivers the usual accomplished performance (complete with shades of Hannibal), even if his accent wanders back and forth across the Atlantic.

Yelchin is a real find. By turns naive, gauche and strong-willed, his scenes with Hopkins are among the most memorable, with a real chemistry fizzing away.

It's a competent essay in otherwordliness but it's not going to have you leaving the light on, hiding under the pillow or looking over your shoulder...

Tim Evans