Love. Jealousy. Murder. Greed. Betrayal. Vengeance.

No, this isn’t the latest nonsequitor-laden ad spoken by Natalie Portman for Dior “parfum.” It’s the subject matter of today’s movie, Dead Again.

When you think “horror” movies, Sir Kenneth Branagh and Dame Emma Thompson probably do not spring to mind. Shakespeare? Jane Austen? Probably. Horror? Nah.

But we’ve got the above. We’ve got ghosts and other supernatural phenomenon. We’ve got a great cameo by Robin Williams of all people. We’ve got reporters and we’ve got investigators. We’ve got nuns. That works for me.

Roman Strauss is about to be executed for the murder of his wife in 1949. He tells a reporter in his last interview that he still loves his wife, and ends with a chilling phrase that sounds very much like a warning.

“This is all far from over.”

Dead Again covers the story of that terrible murder of a beautiful classical musician, Margaret Strauss, allegedly by her composer husband, Roman in 1949 with a pair of antique scissors. Roman from prison is fairly terrifying and a far cry from the dashing and talented composer who steals Margaret’s heart. The couple is played by Branagh and Thompson, who at the time, and for a long time, were a couple in real life. I think I was the third saddest person about them breaking up besides the two of them. (Go watch Much Ado about Nothing and tell me these two don’t belong together. I’m still holding out hope.)

The movie flashes back between the present and the past. A mysterious woman who is unable to speak or remember her name, also played by Thompson, arrives at a local convent in Los Angeles. Investigator Mike Church, also played by Branagh, is called to the convent to assist in solving the mystery. He names her Grace for practical purposes and asks a local newspaperman to run her photo to see if anyone can help him solve the case and offer info as to her identity. In the meantime, Grace is plagued by nightmares that harken back to the murder.

Simultaneously, we watch the Strausses fall in love in the 1940’s. Roman is taken with Margaret’s beauty, humor and confidence. While conducting her in a performance, Margaret gives him a cheeky wink and the guy is sold. They have a glamorous wedding but already the troubling seeds are planted, as a journalist, played by Andy Garcia, who has had an eye on Margaret for a while, continues the flirtation.

Margaret moves into Roman’s luxurious home where his housekeeper, clearly in love with Roman, runs the household. Her son, Frankie, who suffers from a stutter, also lives in the home. This just adds to the happy couple’s outside stress factors.

Back to the early 1990’s, an antiques dealer offers Mike the option to hypnotize Grace to see if helps. She begins to finally speak. It turns out the hypnosis leads Grace all the way back to the Strauss era and their lives. Upon bringing Grace out of hypnosis, the hypnotist shows Mike and Grace news articles about the murder. It is noticed that they bear a striking resemblance to the tragic couple.

While working on the mystery, Grace and Mike start to “connect” as it were. They even go on a date and share a romantic time. The next morning, a young man shows up to claim Grace is his long lost wife. While they both should be happy that the mystery is finally solved, the emotions are mixed for several reasons. One of them being they sort of dig each other. But another is that Grace is not getting any sort of “Honey, I’m home” vibes from the guy. Mike has also gotten protective of Grace and demands some id from the guy that proves he is legit. He confirms that Grace is wearing Claddagh ring and claims to have the glove that matches the one she was wearing when found.

Reluctantly, Grace and Mike say a tearful goodbye. My heart! Until…

Mike casually examines the glove provided by the guy, and guess what? “You were thiiiiiissss close,” Mike says. The glove was for the wrong hand! Liar Liar Gloves on Fire! The fake Mr. Grace takes off and Mike pursues him to figure out WTF is going on, but he loses him.

Mike says the aim to find out who Grace is and what is making her so popular is more urgent than ever, as “you’ve got people after you in every life” or something to that effect.

While we watch both couple’s dramatic relationships evolve, Mike develops a friendship with his local deli man/disgraced psychiatrist, Cozy Carlisle, played by Robin Williams. Carlisle had a great career until he formed an inappropriate relationship with a patient, now he offers casual advice from the meat counter.

Back to the Strausses, Roman suffers from writer’s block in his composing career. If he didn’t already feel inadequate he is suspicious of Margaret’s connection with Baker, the reporter, who shares gossip about Roman’s past. Meanwhile, Inga, the housekeeper and Frankie, her son, are not fans of Margaret. Inga is holding a torch for Roman and Frankie gets a little too invasive in Margaret’s room. Roman bought Margaret a beautiful anklet for their wedding and Frankie is caught with it in his hand. Margaret insists he fire them and Roman refuses, saying they save his life. Margaret begins to question Roman with info clearly provided by Baker which only increases the tension. Yikes, man.

Meanwhile, Grace sees all this in her hypnosis and then sees Mike over her with scissors. She awakes terrified. Now, we get it. Mike has been Roman all this time, we see, and will history repeat itself?

Much like the Strausses, Mike and Grace are at odds. Grace is now afraid of him, while Mike’s temper isn’t much better than Roman’s. He angrily says he’s not Roman, defends himself. This is a great scene as the downstairs neighbor, Trudie, repeated practices her piano scales, only upping the tension. Finally, the two break as Mike holds her close, reassuring her..

He whispers, “I would never hurt you…Margaret.”

Oh shit! The two back away from each other in a terrified gasp.

Both couple’s stories continue to escalate, and in his latest visit to Carlisle’s meat counter, Mike is warned that sometimes lives who were wronged in the past return for vengeance. In other words, he tells Mike to kill Grace before she kills him first. Things are getting crazy! Further hypnosis only increases the tension and confusion as more info is revealed and Grace’s actual identity comes at the worst possible time.

To say anymore, (and I’ve already babbled on) would ruin the twists and turns at the end that reveal all.

Love is messy, man, and make sure you hide the scissors.

(Because this is an older movie and more obscure, I did you the favor of seeing where you can watch since I know you want to know, don’t you? It is apparently streaming on Hulu, and available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime video.)