The Breakthrough (1994) aka The Lifeforce Experiment

1994 April (Sat. (16), 8-10 p.m., Sci-Fi Channel)
A British-Canadian production filmed in Montreal and Nova Scotia
Based on the novella "The Breakthrough" by Daphne du Maurier.


Plot: A novice CIA agent is given a cover as a computer programmer so she can pry into Sutherland’s bizarre high-tech kingdom in the bleak reaches of Newfoundland, Canada. Sutherland’s eccentric government scientist zaps into characters’ minds (complete with video imagery of patients’ memories) and shares consensual dream via the wizardry of hypnosis.

Asked to justify his CIA funds Sutherland shows her the experiments he is conducting with the young psychic child Niki (who because of the death of her twin sister is autistic yet has Powers) and the experiment to trap the soul of his leukaemic lab assistant Ken as he dies. She recommends the experiment be terminated forthwith, but her CIA boss suddenly sees the potential  and as Ken dies the team's computer, Charon, records the death experience, continuing well past the stage where physical life has departed.

Bushy-bearded Sutherland is a Einstein/Frankenstein character delving the mysteries of human life force to tap the energy of the dead. His goal is to harness life's magnetic flux at the moment of death - in a combination of Flatliners (1990) and the Edgar Allan Poe`s The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar (1845).

The theme of government control of psychics has been a popular one including Fury (1978), Firestarter (1984), Scanners (1981) and Dreamscape (1984).




I couldn`t find a copy of the movie, but this CBC documentary on real CIA-funded psychology madness in Canada from the infamous MK Ultra project should be an adequate replacement

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/40-years-of-the-fifth-estate/mk-ultra