Disquiet (SP Media Group) [Film Review]

Disquiet is a Canadian Thriller/Horror that pits Sam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) against a hospital full of zombies? Ghosts? Nightmare visions? (still not sure to be honest), following a car crash that we see in numerous, often confusing flashbacks.

Michael Winnick has delivered a film that starts well, despite some appalling dialogue and cardboard acting, with taut action and multiple jump scares in an effectively creepy hospital setting. It often feels like a forgotten early episode of The X-Files (very ’90s!), but less scary.

The intention is there but the fact that it feels very “straight to DVD” doesn’t help, and you can’t fail to imagine this has been made by a bunch of friends on a mini-budget over a few days, or at best a student project. This is no Evil Dead or Bad Taste though.

Approach the movie as a trashy exploitation flick and the first half will keep you more than happy, with scalpel-wielding blondes in bandage bikinis (pure ’50s sexploitation), faceless ghouls and a script littered with endless hilariously quotable one-liners. But even the most enthusiastic exploitation fan (and I include myself here) will find it hard to remain focused after the 45-minute mark as the plot becomes as structured as a group of kids playing cowboys and Indians in the yard, (I shot you, you died, no I didn’t, etc.).

It is hard to imagine Meyers as the same actor in previous outings where he has acted proficiently, as his performance here is dire. Less phoned-in; more like voicemail. It almost feels as intentionally wooden as Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place at times. His character, much like the rest, is despicable and it is almost impossible to like him in any way. At times he tries to justify his existence as a good guy, but he really is a bastard of the highest order. His sidekick Monica (Elyse Levesque) who is interrupted by monsters during a breast enhancement op (I know!, I’m not making this up) is possibly even less likeable and delivers her dialogue channelling Dale Arden in the 1930s Flash Gordon serial, with a little Fay Wray on the side.

As fun turns to tolerance, audiences will be split down the middle, I was struggling to stay awake sadly by the end and still remain as confused as I did from the start. For a more effective supernatural, hospital-based thrill ride, check out Lars Von Trier’s brilliantly bonkers serial The Kingdom.  All three seasons are on MUBI now.