Disquiet Review: Infirmary Existential Terror Loses Its Grip

Sam (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) awakens from a car accident in a hospital of twisted evil.

A philandering husband awakens from a car wreck in a hospital of twisted horrors. Disquiet wraps the long emergency room wait into existential terror that loses its grip as the plot progresses. Several well-placed first-act scares succeed in getting your adrenaline pumping. The fear factor then wanes considerably with an odd mix of flashback scenes and strange character interactions. This results in a sideways approach that diffuses tension to the point of meandering. The protagonist becomes a secondary focus in an attempt to reframe his bizarre environment. This might have worked if the overall mystery remained unsolved. You guess what’s happening early and then have to wait for the film to catch up.

Sam (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) kisses his wife tenderly in their apartment. Sarah (Anita Brown) is pregnant with their first child. He drops her off at work before heading to his office. The commute becomes catastrophic when Sam’s car is plowed into by a van. Rescue workers reach for his bloodied body as he struggles to remain conscious.

A Drastic Turn

A groggy Sam opens his eyes to monitors and tubes. He’s in a critical care unit with a comatose patient adjacent to his bed. Sam rings his alarm for assistance but nothing happens. He tenderly removes every attachment. There’s no one in the hallways or at the desks. His confusion soon takes a drastic turn.

Meanwhile, Monica (Elyse Levesque) lays in the operating room with excitement. Her efforts to sculpt the perfect body are almost complete. Elation veers to shock as the anesthesia kicks in. The doctors have transformed into something else. Monica’s screams get Sam’s attention. He races to her rescue. They barely escape her hideous attackers. The pair flee into a frightening maze of corridors, stairwells, and elevators. They must find a way to escape to their predicament, but first have to understand why they are trapped.

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Sam bounces between abject fear, desperation, and fighting resolve. His encounters in the labyrinthine infirmary has him questioning the nature of reality. Has he died and gone to hell, stuck in a demonic purgatory, or hallucinating in a mental breakdown? These questions are shared by others in the same situation. Are they all having a group delusion? Director/writer Michael Winnick (The Better Half, Malicious) uses flashbacks to explain how each character ended up in the hospital. Multiple subplots, including a racist white cop (Lochlyn Munro) and his black victim (Trezzo Mahoro), add unnecessary filler. Winnick weakens the soup by adding more water with less substance. Sam’s story becomes diluted in a film that barely clocks in at an hour and twenty-five minutes.

Generic Horror Archetypes

Disquiet’s legitimate jump-out-of-your-seat moments are negated by generic horror archetypes. You can see where creativity in the script takes a backseat to known commodities. The chance for a more visceral experience becomes lost. Rhys-Meyers, a dependable lead, stays wide-eyed and anxious throughout. He does his best to carry the film as the narrative weakens.

Disquiet is a production of SP Media Group and Government Island. Paramount Pictures and SPMG will release the film in select theaters, on digital, and on demand on February 10th.