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Cast: John Bernath, Megan Davis
Supporting Cast: Caitlin Singer, J.A. Cuffs Bratten, Brandon Lee Pittman, Tiffany Ann B
For a final project, five film students led by Maya (Megan Davis) document an infamous old hospital deep in Southern Arizona. They went hoping to find proof of the paranormal. Instead, they find themselves at the mercy of a savage madman.
The film opens in 1976 at the Hostedler residence in Copper Queen, Arizona. We see that a middle aged woman has been murdered while her terrified husband runs and hides in an upstairs room. But whatever killed the woman is now after him but once the door knob begins to turn the man takes a gun and kills himself. The film then switches to present day as we meet Maya, a film student with a history of mental illness. Her roommate, Angel, is obsessed with the Copper Queen mental institution and paranormal investigation. When Maya is given an assignment to document something for school the old hospital seems to be the perfect place and subject. Maya along with a group of her classmates set off to investigate the hospital and it's small town. After arriving Maya decides to interview some folks who live in town and gets mixed feelings about the hospital and what happened there, that is until a local store owner sends them to see Mrs. Campbell who is a long time resident and former nurse at the Copper Queen. If there's any information about the hospital, she would have it. At Mrs. Campbell's home the students are captivated by the shocking truth surrounding the hospital’s decline and embark on a horrific journey that would lead them to the abomination of cruelty and neglect the hospital housed for many years. The group of course ignores all the warnings and head to the hospital anyway but what they don't know is that the hospital isn't as abandoned as they thought, now they must fight to get out alive.
Up until the group gets inside the hospital the film is a bit slow, it spends most of it's time setting up the characters and their back-stories, for example Maya has an ex-boyfriend who is abusive and can't take no for an answer. The sub-plot never really goes anywhere but as far as filling out a bit of the story it was welcome. The film also takes the early down time to tell the complete story of the hospital which is very important to understand before the action starts. And speaking of action, once the group are inside the hospital it doesn't take long before we are introduced to one of the meanest yet coolest villains I have seen in some time, Isaac. To say too much about him would only ruin the fun but I can tell you that once he enters the mix the film becomes an adrenaline-filled chase for survival. The killings a nasty, gory and very cool. The suspense is also jacked way up and it has you hanging onto your seat till the very end.
We all know that using an abandoned hospital as the setting for a horror film has become quite boring over the last several years but Director's, Quin Davis and Wade Stai take the script from Davis and together they craft a pretty potent horror film that is sure to please any fan of the genre. Another important component to a story like this that starts off a bit slow is to get a cast that can really deliver on these characters and the cast here does just that. Megan Davis is fantastic in the lead role as Maya but in the end this is an ensemble piece and everyone in the film including, Caitlin Singer, J.A. Cuffs Bratten, Brandon Lee Pittman and Tiffany Ann B all did a great job. Plus John Bernath gives a performance you may not soon forget as Isaac. Production wise the film looks good for being made on a limited budget, like any film it has a few flaws here and there but nothing worth mentioning here. The practical effects are all very well done and the little bit of CGI that is used blends in nicely.
I was excited to check this Indie out but once it got started I began to wander where it was headed if anywhere but I soon found out that a little patience paid off. So the bottom line here to to check out this excellent little Indie horror when it comes to DVD on 3/26/2013, be sure to stick with it at first because all the thrills and mayhem that await makes this little gem a vicious and heart-pounding horror film not to be missed.
You can Pre-order the DVD HERE.
Released by Midnight Releasing
**** Out Of *****