Headspace (2005)

FROM THE LINER NOTES

What if you wake up one day and discover that you're smarter than you were the day before? For Alex Borden (Christopher Denham)that is a reality. His troubles begin when he sits down to a game of chess with Harry Jellineck (Erick Kastel), an enigmatic artist and chess master seven years his senior. Mysteriously, Alex's intellect starts to grow. Long-suppressed memories surface -- a violent past, a vanished older brother, a father who abandoned both of his sons, a mother who was viciously murdered. Nightmares assault Alex waking and sleeping. Before long, friends and neighbors begin to disappear, and rumor sof a serial killer are whispered through the streets.

Alex turns to physicians, a psychologist, even the clergy (Udo Kier), as he feels himself plagued by evil on all sides. Somewhere, buried deep in Alex's past, is the key for him to overcome these perils and confront his demons -- both real and imagined.