Review of A Cure for Wellness (2017) by Megan R — 27 Feb 2017

This two and a half hour long, ambitious horror weirdfest from modern auteur filmmaker Gore Verbinski (The Lone Ranger, Rango, The Ring, Mousehunt and the wildly uneven Pirates trilogy) is a bit unfocused, a fair bit nonsensical and ultimately a little underfed in the plot department but what it lacks in the narrative department in makes up for in spades with atmosphere, a sheer commitment to the bizarre and grotesque and astonishingly gorgeous visuals.

It's made up of bits and pieces of loads of other horror movies but the more the movie goes on the more you are drawn into it's vortex of off the wall lunacy, there is a glorious," what sort of willingly gross, fucked up insanity am I going to see next"? vibe to the film that I would love to see more in mainstream horror, with individual, almost self contained scenes that dont really hang together but are like striking, nasty little viginets (eel's, a dentist drill, a cow, that insane ending) that will only add to the films ready made cult appeal.

It all culminates in a pleasingly baroque, ultra gothic finale of excess and madness that feels very diffrent from all that had come before it in the film but is just wonderfully rich, over the top and bonkers in the best way, it's rare that horror lets loose like this anymore, recalling everything from the big budget 90's studio horror of Francis Ford Coppolas' Underrated Dracula to the surreal mania of Dario Argento's Giallo slashers.

The disjointed, illogical vibe and the loony ending may turn off mainstream audiences but I love seeing this embracing of campy pulp, especially on a bigger budget and from a big filmmaker like Verbinski, who only endears me to him more with this coming out next after his fantastically oddball Lone Ranger, which itself was preceded by his cult , weirdo animated western Rango.

I really hope studios keep giving this madman lots of money to make unusual films like this.