Review of Fragile (2014) by James F — 10 Apr 2007

Maybe I just have a soft spot for Calista Flockhart. I've always liked her since her small role in [i]The Birdcage[/i] and [i]Ally McBeal[/i] really didn't dull her appeal. But since then she's disappeared off the mainstream map, showing up in roles here or there, but not where you'd think to look. So part of me wanted [i]Fragile [/i]to be good. That and I'm always eager to find a good ghost horror. As far as horrors go, ghost stories really tend to cater to the extremes. Either the movie is creepy or it isn't. Some drag while others lose the plot, but you can definitely draw a line that separates the scary and non-scary ghost horrors. In my opinion, at least. Regardless, it's often fun to watch something that just creeps on your psyche instead of the tension of slasher to the anticipation of zombies.

Back to Calista, who plays, I presume, an American nurse working in England. A local hospital is busy closing and moving everything, but a recent train wreck suddenly caused chaos at other hospitals and the moving process has to slow down. After a nasty and strange incident, the night nurse who looked after the remaining child patients quits and Calista is brought in to take over. The film quickly establishes three premises: the ghost in this story is seriously pent up, the new nurse is trying to forget a past disaster of her own and any hospital where the second/top floor has been closed since the late fifties is not a good omen. Really soon one of the kids talk to her about a 'mechanical girl' who is apparently not very happy and the poltergeist won't even grant her a break on her first shift.

There's nothing specific about [i]Fragile[/i] that makes me like it. I think it's more a matter of that it doesn't do anything really wrong. Flockhart portrays her role very well and you find yourself sharing her uncertainty and worry much more than the dread and panic usually associated with a haunting tale. The characters are all actually quite solid ? a good example is Matt, the guy keeping watch on the bottom floor. Near the end of the movie the character acts a lot more professionally than you first regard him as. This subtlety happens all over the place and [i]Fragile[/i] does not deteriorate into one of those movies where everyone just keeps thinking the lead character is crazy. There's something more believable about their conduct.

But that also has to do with the film's pace. Not a lot of time is wasted on build-up and the haunt factor is pretty persistent through the film. It never really gives the audience room for serious breathing space, which makes it captivating. Even the tale behind the ghost ? the thing we always want to know ? is kept fairly under wraps. If you do figure out what is going on, you'll only be a few minutes away from the movie telling you just that.

The director made a movie before this called [i]Darkness[/i], which I'll definitely try and see on the merits of Fragile. Fragile is not a spectacular film or even iconic in any real way. It's not particularly powerful either, nor does it pack a heavy punch. You don't end up feeling that creepy sensation down your spine when you walk down the hallway afterwards. But despite all of that I really enjoyed it, enough to recommend it. Purists and anyone looking for a really heavy ghost fix will pick it apart and find lots of problems. I've always found that that just spoils the movie experience and [i]Fragile[/i] definitely wouldn't stand up to the scrutiny. But why should it? It just wants to scare you a little.