Today’s review
features a film that was part of the 2006 8 Films to Die for series: Unrest.
Directed by Jason Todd Ipson, the movie stars Corri English as Alison
Blanchard, a medical student who was accepted late and beginning her first
class gross anatomy. On day one, the
students are split into groups and introduced to their respective cadavers. Everything is standard for the average
student but not for Alison. When they
pull the sheet off of the cadaver’s body Alison feels something is just not
right. Suspecting her corpse might not
be at rest, Alison begins to track down who the cadaver was alive and why her
body was mutilated the way it was.
Overall, the
movie had promise. The storyline was
solid for a horror film: what happens to the spirit when a body dies, etc. Add to that the underlying possibility of a
demon or otherwise unclean spirit possessing a cadaver and haunting the
students and you have the makings of a good spooky movie. The unfortunate reality of Unrest is that neither of these
plotlines went anywhere. Or maybe the
more accurate phrase would be that they went everywhere. Demons, possessions, ghosts, Aztec Gods,
revenge, fertility, insanity, precognition…name one and that is where the movie
went.
Honestly, I’ve
watched a lot of horror and can usually forgive many things if there is even
the shadow of continuity. To say that
there were holes in the plot is an understatement but is also par for the
course in the genre. But sometimes, I
just can’t suspend reality enough to warrant the omissions. For instance, the hospital that also equals a
school for students to work at all hours of the day is preternaturally
empty. Add to this, the lack of effort
on anyone’s part to try to resuscitate, apply tourniquets, or even check a
pulse may be common place in any “normal” school, but a medical school/hospital? Remind me not to get sick or injured there…
But I
digress. I don’t want to denigrate the
movie too much. There were some good
points to be had and some entertaining ones as well. The opinions appear to be all across the
board on this one. Many reviewers loved
it and just as many hated it. I shall
remain on the fence but I will say it’s not one I’d watch again. Take it or leave it, this concludes day 4 of
my 31 Days of Horror…
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