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Available in theaters – March 14, 2014
Director – Mark Hartley
Writer – Justin King
Staring – Charles Dance, Sharni Vinson, Rachel Griffiths, Peta Sergeant
Genre – Horror
Horror movies have, I believe, the hardest task of any genre, because in order for them to work they require the deepest of commitments from the audience. Every movie needs at least a little emotional investment if it wants to sweep its viewers off to another place, but horror requires that we give ourselves over to feelings we normally stay as far away from as possible. For us to do that, the filmmakers have to be especially adept at lulling us into false senses of security, trick us and misdirect us, and then make us want to be frightened. Did the people behind PATRICK: EVIL AWAKENS achieve their goal? For the most part, yes.
Mark Hartley’s film tells the story of a young nurse, Sharni Vinson’s Kathy, recently hired to work at a psychiatric ward located at what looks like the end of the world. The hospital specializes in comatose patients, nearly all of them emaciated husks. But, one in particular does catch her attention – Patrick, a brain dead young man who’s the subject of cruel experiments brought upon by Dr. Roget, played wonderfully by Charles Dance. Her attraction to him is innocent at first, but things take a very dark turn when Patrick starts using his mental powers to isolate her from those she loves, and then turns the ward into a house of horrors.
Though the film is named for Patrick, it is really on Sharni Vinson’s shoulders that the movie rests, and she does a very good job of leading us through the slowly developing terror. Among the dingy, dark hallways of the hospital she is a bright presence. Charles Dance, whom some might know as Tywin Lannister from HBO’s Game Of Thrones, is wonderful as Doctor Roget, the man responsible for all the evil that befalls the ward and its occupants. He is equal parts menacing and fatherly, with eyes that burn the screen with their intensity. Rachel Griffiths and Peta Sergeant both play nurses, the former a brooding figure and the latter a breath of wild free air. Patrick is played by Jackson Gallagher, and while the work done around him is good, he himself sadly doesn’t have much to do but lay on a bed and stare.
What I found most interesting about the film is that it felt very much like a throwback to the horror films of old, yet with all the iPhones and computers in use its more than obvious this is a modern film. The reason it feels like a throwback is the thankful lack of CGI whizbangery. For most of the movie the scares are achieved through good production work and acting. The setting of the ward also seems like something from a Hitchcock movie, the walls appropriately dark and dusty, shadows lurking everywhere, creepy religious iconography peppered throughout. The music is very heavy on the strings, much more orchestral than most horror movies want to go with these days. Though, I must say that more than once the music was heavy-handed and intrusive.
On that note (pardon the pun), there were a few things that didn’t work. The hospital itself seemed very remote and isolated, which is great for developing a sense of isolation and hopelessness, but too often we were taken from that location and moved to brighter, more cheerful areas to watch Kathy meet with friends. Perhaps those other locations were meant as a bit of relief to slow our hearts, but for me it took away too much tension. I also would have preferred if the film had been set back a decade or two in time. Seeing mobile phones and internet search engines undercut the dark drama of the ward and its loneliness, and – at times – almost seemed silly, which is not what you want when you’re trying to scare someone. Lastly, there’s Patrick himself. While his mind is able to travel about and do terrible things, his body just lays there staring up, and it’s hard to feel menaced by a motionless lump of flesh, even if the veins in his eyes fill with blood. Perhaps if his expression changed ever so little as he performed his dark deeds, or if his skin darkened, maybe even cracked or blistered – something to reflect the evil of his inner self – he might have seemed like a scarier presence.
With that said, I did enjoy PATRICK: EVIL AWAKENS quite a bit. All of the actors should be proud of themselves, as should the production crew. No movie is perfect. There are genuine scares to be had here, and in an age when computers have replaced physical effects this is a nice change of pace. If you are looking for a new horror movie to drag you into the late hours of the night, this might be just for you.
If $10 is the full price of admission, this one is worth $7.00
Justin Macumber
The Hollywood Outsider
www.TheHollywoodOutsider.com
* Review’s note – It’s worth remarking that this film is a remake of the 1978 Australian film PATRICK. I have never seen the original film, so I don’t know how this new film stands up as a reinterpretation of that story, or how much the original influenced it.