Review of Sublime (2007) by Seth C — 13 Oct 2007

For a straight-to-DVD horror film, it's not bad at all. I'm not even really sure why it's straight-to-DVD--its production values are quite high. It's more or less driven by Tom Cavanagh's performance (and he does quite a nice job here) but the movie's weighed down by slow pacing and a shockingly pretentious tone throughout. Listening to the commentary and watching the extras on the DVD, it's supposed to be a social and political commentary. Figures.

It's not really a typical "horror" film: it revolves around George Grieves (Cavanagh) going into the hospital to get a colonoscopy the day after his 40th birthday, but there's a bit of complication: he's confused for another patient and receives the wrong surgery, for starters. And from there it gets worse and worse. The surgery seems to have caused an infection in his chest. He's beginning to suspect things are going on in the boarded-off East Ward of the hospital. He manages to get an infection in his leg. And last but certainly not least, a black male nurse (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) is giving him sinister vibes (which may or may not have been caused by him killing George's roommate). Things get more and more bizarre until George (as well as the audience) begins to question his own sanity. The twist ending is interesting in that it's one of the kinds that are normally considered a copout, but it doesn't really feel like it. But on the other hand, it's not terribly surprising either.

It's not a bad movie by any means--it's tense and suspenseful throughout, if overly long and too slow-paced for its own good. But its pretentiousness seems to keep it from reaching any real heights (the climactic scene is nearly killed by this, with a key character giving a monologue that's utterly ridiculous). But for a straight to video movie, it could have been much, much worse. I'm satisfied.