Review of A Cure for Wellness (2017) by Kaptenvideo — 21 Mar 2017

One of those more ambitious horror movies. Young executive (Dane DeHaan) is sent to retrieve his company's CEO from an idyllic wellness center at a remote location in the Swiss Alps, but soon suspects that something fishy is going on.

„A Cure for Wellness“ is a curious beast. There’s a lot to like about the movie and it wants to try something fresh. But ultimately it’s too long and asks more from the viewer than is ready to give back, so approach with caution. Firstly, you will probably like how everything looks. Gore Verbinski’s directorial skill of making movie look good are widely known („Pirates of the Caribbean“ 1-3, „Rango“, „The Lone Ranger“) but this time he also wants to go artsy.

The movie is so stylish and carefully composed that many individual frames look like a painting, or some work of art. Verbinski knows how to make everything on screen matter, so often some little thing becomes interesting just because how it is captured or approached. This approach also helps to add some light humor – Verbinski is no Wes Anderson, of course, but it’s effective. All in all, the makers have put a lot of effort in world building and it really becomes an interesting place of its own. Just discovering different places alongside the main character becomes a constant source of amusement.

The story is also intriguing. For a long while I just followed it without really being able to predict what’s gonna happen – always a good thing for mainstream movie. Especially for one which develops its own style but also offers lots of nods to other (horror) stories, movies or directors. Maybe it's just me but I perceived echoes of Dracula, Frankenstein, Cthulhu, King, Poe; from the movies Martin Scorsese’s „Shutter Island“, Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, "Saw". But it’s not just mindless copying but tasteful and entertaining in its own right.

The problem is… for all the wealth of material and lovingly created world, the story and characters are disappointingly shallow.

At 144 minutes it is just too long, the story gets stretched too thin, especially the final act. It even dares to turn silly, which differs from the previous tone and sadly manages to lose the interest of many.

I still like Verbinski’s early-2000’s works „The Mexican“ and „The Weather Man“ better but I was much more emotionally invested watching „A Cure for Wellness“ than the „Pirates of the Caribbean“ trilogy, „Rango“ or „The Lone Ranger“.

So, I liked most of it, and endured the rest of it. If you like horror and fantasy, you should do the same. Probably.