First, let me say I am not a horror film aficionado. I do not watch them, period. However I am extremely interested in urban exploration of abandoned mental hospitals. That is what peeked my interest initially.
The story line is your basic way to get into these abandoned hospitals, then the visions and hysteria that accompanies infiltration once there. I agree the acting left a lot to be desired, but I think the strength of the movie lies in the depiction of suspended reality. Which is real and which is imagined scenes? The film left me a bit unbalanced as I watched the 4 struggle with their own fears while in the very secret, very restricted annex.
Did anybody get the homeless guy? Well, I thought about him for awhile, then concluded he was the infamous Dr. H.H. Greiss in the flesh looking for a part of his life that was taken away from him. Watch this part carefully and see if you don't agree. I thought the plot twist at the end regarding the true relationships from the past was sheer genius, including that of Jacob and Dr. Greiss. Once again, having read the previous reviews, you should bypass the horror aspect and look at it from the perspective of hidden lives that were never fully buried.
The beginning shows Pia in some sort of room. Was that a modern version of Eloise? Was it jail, what was it? In the end they go back to the room with Pia. I liked that full circle inference and the parallel to what the patients of Eloise may have experienced. It depicts being unhinged in what seems to be a reality you are lost in, when no one believes what you have seen. Was the whole affair nothing but a figment of Pia's broken brain? Hmm, did she create the sketches, the receipts, the entire story because she was crazy and had been part of Eloise as a child, then locked away in an asylum for life, where she could only create a normal life by living in her head, but not really living it?
As horror, it left much to be desired. However, the story told may not be what you think, or maybe it is. You decide.
The story line is your basic way to get into these abandoned hospitals, then the visions and hysteria that accompanies infiltration once there. I agree the acting left a lot to be desired, but I think the strength of the movie lies in the depiction of suspended reality. Which is real and which is imagined scenes? The film left me a bit unbalanced as I watched the 4 struggle with their own fears while in the very secret, very restricted annex.
Did anybody get the homeless guy? Well, I thought about him for awhile, then concluded he was the infamous Dr. H.H. Greiss in the flesh looking for a part of his life that was taken away from him. Watch this part carefully and see if you don't agree. I thought the plot twist at the end regarding the true relationships from the past was sheer genius, including that of Jacob and Dr. Greiss. Once again, having read the previous reviews, you should bypass the horror aspect and look at it from the perspective of hidden lives that were never fully buried.
The beginning shows Pia in some sort of room. Was that a modern version of Eloise? Was it jail, what was it? In the end they go back to the room with Pia. I liked that full circle inference and the parallel to what the patients of Eloise may have experienced. It depicts being unhinged in what seems to be a reality you are lost in, when no one believes what you have seen. Was the whole affair nothing but a figment of Pia's broken brain? Hmm, did she create the sketches, the receipts, the entire story because she was crazy and had been part of Eloise as a child, then locked away in an asylum for life, where she could only create a normal life by living in her head, but not really living it?
As horror, it left much to be desired. However, the story told may not be what you think, or maybe it is. You decide.