On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Jason Isaacs plays the lead doctor of a wellness centre, where a young executive is sent to retrieve his boss. No one seems to want to leave this wellness centre, and the young man (Dane DeHaan) discovers that nothing is like it seems at first sight.

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servalan
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On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Post by servalan » Fri Sep 24, 2021 4:27 pm

A Cure for Wellness is on UK's Film 4 on Wed 29 Sep at 11.20 p.m. The reviewer in Radio Times gives it 3 stars, and it is decribed as "fabulous-looking", and a "meandering shocker ... that echoes classic Hammer horror."

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Anniemouse
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Re: On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Post by Anniemouse » Fri Sep 24, 2021 4:57 pm

It is not a bad movie I just wished they had ended it at the bench scene.

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servalan
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Re: On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Post by servalan » Sat Sep 25, 2021 6:19 am

I am planning to record it, and watch it at my leisure, as I haven't seen it before. At least if I watch it at home it won't cost me anything if I don't like it! ;-)

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Anniemouse
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Re: On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Post by Anniemouse » Sat Sep 25, 2021 7:58 am

Jason is brilliant and it looks wonderful there are faults with it but the premiss is great and is suitably chilling.

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thunder
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Re: On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Post by thunder » Tue Sep 28, 2021 9:31 am

I also thought the bench scene would have been a good ending. It went very weird after that... like it turned into a different and not as good movie.

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servalan
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Re: On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Post by servalan » Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:48 am

I watched my recording last night, after being away for a few days.

It was a very weird film. Jason was the only person in it who looked "normal" - everyone else looked pale and washed-out, and became even worse as the film progressed. That accent was mildly amusing - echoes of old war films with British actors playing the Germans.

There were echoes of other films & stories too - Dracula for one, with the high castle, the villagers' dislike of the occupants, and setting fire to the place. The reveal at the end is like The Phantom of the Opera.

Re the other part of the end - what to say in the Me Too era? Would they actually make it now? Like most horror films the main victim is a young woman who ends up semi-naked while the men do not. She is also rescued by the "hero" from a terrible fate.

I don't agree they could have stopped the story at the bench, as we would not have found out what was really going on in the castle.

Things I did like: Jason of course, the great versatile Celia Imrie, the castle and the cinematography with its washed-out palette.

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thunder
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Re: On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Post by thunder » Tue Oct 05, 2021 2:10 pm

servalan wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:48 am
Re the other part of the end - what to say in the Me Too era? Would they actually make it now? Like most horror films the main victim is a young woman who ends up semi-naked while the men do not. She is also rescued by the "hero" from a terrible fate.
SPOILER!
Didn't she rescue the hero by planting the showel into Jason's characters head...? Or do I remember it wrong? :scratch
servalan wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:48 am
I don't agree they could have stopped the story at the bench, as we would not have found out what was really going on in the castle.
I kind of thouht that bench scene would have worked out as a sort of open ending, where we don't know what was really real. But you absolutely have a point :D
servalan wrote:
Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:48 am
Things I did like: Jason of course, the great versatile Celia Imrie, the castle and the cinematography with its washed-out palette.
It's been a while since I watched it now, but I remember being quite pleasantly suprised by the movie. I agree the cinematography was really good.

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servalan
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Re: On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Post by servalan » Tue Oct 05, 2021 4:19 pm

I suppose they rescued each other really - I had forgotten the shovel!

All that "water therapy" in various tanks also reminded me of The OA.

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Anniemouse
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Re: On Film 4 29 Sep 2021

Post by Anniemouse » Tue Oct 05, 2021 5:01 pm

I felt uneasy at the assault scene. What i liked about the bench scene is that it felt eerily subdued and open ended. When the end came it felt fast loud and not in keeping with the pace of the rest of the film. I think it is unsettling beutiful with all the blue and white colour tones. A real chiller and if anyone saw the extras on the DVD they showed fake tv adverts for the clinic which were terrifying. :bag:

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