Regency Enterprises, New Regency Productions, Blind Wink Productions,
Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth, Celia Imrie, Adrian Schiller, Annette Lober, Susanne Wuest
Lockhart (Dane deHaan) is a young executive on the rise at his firm, but he’s caught with some financial missteps at the time of a big merger. The board sends him to the Alps in Switzerland to a hide-away SPA/Retreat/Mental Facility in Switzerland to bring back the former head of the company who has gone to this place to rest and recover, but who is needed to be the fall guy for some of the crimes he has committed. Lockhart’s plan is to go in, and bring him out and back to New York on the same day, but as soon as he arrives at the clinic, it becomes clear that there is something much deeper going on. Being kept from seeing the man he’s looking for, Pembroke (Harry Groener) but he soon finds out bits and piece of the history of this place that is indeed sinister. Mostly old people around, but one unusual young lady named Hannah (Mia Goth) is intriguing to him, and appears to be in the center of the mystery surrounding this place, but as the driver tells him, lots of people come, but very few ever leave in this dark, classic, suspenseful horror film.
This is a very unusual film. Directed by Gore Verbinski, it’s a very long movie, about 2 1/2 hours, and it’s a very cerebral type of story that is no so much blood and guts, but really a head spinning maze of twists and turns until we finally get to the end of the film. This movie really reminded me of the look and feel of Shutter Island, and I kept being reminded of that over and over again, as I watched it, and if you are not aware of the actual finale of the film, you’ll be surprised and amazed at what is really going on here. It’s not a perfect film, but I really enjoyed it a lot. Many folks looking for the new style of horror with mass murderers running havoc through a summer camp were disappointed. This is a thinker, and takes a lot of work to follow and figure out what it really happening. All the pieces are not just thrown at the screen, but if you like good old fashioned suspenseful stories that get you pulled into the moment, this movie does that very well. As we got tot he latter part of the story, I found myself glued to the screen not to miss a bit of what was happening. The actors did a really good job. It was well cast, and the setting at the clinic was certainly very well chosen as well, and the cast and location add a great deal of the suspense part of the story. This is a nightmare for sure, and a movie that will move you if you give it a chance. If you are too impatient for the story to slowly unfold like a flower, not like a skyrocket, then you might as well skip this one as it starts out slow and plodding, but by bit, turn by turn, but if you like that, like I do, then you won’t want it to go too fast, and you will appreciate each bit by bit, morsel by morsel and you won’t want it to end too soon. I liked this film.
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