Sanitarium (2013) Reviews

• Camera behind the eyes of madness

  myloveincruz2013-06-30

  I am jotting down a review because nobody else has. Three stories of the mentally ill: 1. Artist begins taking orders from the dolls he exhibits. 2. Eight year old boy, cruel father, concerned teacher and hallucinatory monster come into conflict. 3. Professor convinced of the Mayan apocalypse prophesies, builds bomb shelter to save his family. I like psychological movies and this had the mix of elements I dig. A late night psychological mystery/thriller with a mad eye view of events. If you want to take a ride through insanity where you can't be sure what you are seeing is objective reality or hallucinations, this should suit you. Not art house or anything, more like an old HBO Tales from the Crypt. The last story with Lou Diamond Phillips was my favorite and will stay with me. Giving it a 6 out of 10.

• Greatly Underrated

  jacques772014-03-25

  Though this film is not perfect and the overall through-line is pretty thin, the 4.5 rating I saw on IMDb before watching this is greatly underrated! The three individual stories are very subtly told with a soft sense of the intensity of human pain and how the mind deals with it. The directions is superbly intuitive and gentle with the subject matter. The Camera Shots supports the stories that need to be handles with care by keeping simple and just telling the story. If you are up for a story told in the tradition (although not as mastered) of Johnny Darko, this movies will hold your attention. It explores very deep set human pain and how that pain has manifested in the different characters of the three stories. Do not see this as a horror film - for the usual horror audience will probably be bored. The themes and the subject matter is perfect for the horror genre, but the intelligence and insight of the filmmaker is better described under an art house style presentation. Empty your mind, your preconceptions and watch the three stories with an open heart and you will walk away with a great insight into why people that hurt turn out the way they do.

• Intended purpose achieved successfully

  LnBK2014-07-07

  I loved this movie. When I read reviews here about people spilling wine on themselves while watching this because it was too "boring" and made them fall asleep, I just laugh and am grateful that I am not like them. If you are drinking alcohol during a movie, you are already going to be more tired. It is a slow movie, that is true. Slow doesn't mean bad though. However, if you are watching this movie and then want to judge it because it didn't meet YOUR expectations, then please don't write a review about it and give it 2 stars. Every movie has its own intention. Give it 2 stars if it doesn't make any sense at all or if the acting is just embarrassingly bad, but not when it clearly achieves its goal. Sanitarium's intention was not to be a horror flick, it was to give us a perspective of the human mind when it is ill. You see, if you even cared 1% about what it's like for people who are mentally sick, then this movie provided you with answers better than any documentary, book or some other movie regarding the same subject. The fact is that when you are mentally ill, you won't see the world around you the same as those who are healthy. I highly recommend this movie and if you decide to watch it, don't watch it to be entertained, but instead to be educated.

• A competent, professional film . . . with no critical reviews?

  zorro62042013-06-29

  OK, Malcolm McDowell is just here as a "name", he's merely the narrator. Moreover, his comments are not particularly welcome, particularly after the second scenario. That aside, this is a very good horror movie, a trilogy of tales in classic fashion. The cast is fine, the photography is excellent, the soundtrack lush and properly climatic. It's as good as any other horror/macabre movie out there right now, certainly on a par with "The Purge" for example, but fewer than five votes here? Zero critical reviews on R/T or linked here? I don't understand that at all, my first instinct was that this must be some crapola indie film, and I'd expect maybe two 9 or 10 star reviews comparing it to the best of Hitchcock (by people who had never posted any other reviews until they were hired to work on the film). But it's not, it's a well made, mainstream film with real actors and professional craftsmanship. By all means check it out.

• Darkly emotive

  l-dienes2013-07-04

  A rather enticing and dark glimpse into psychosis and the overwhelming grip it can have on controlling thoughts and actions, the result of which leaves the main characters in the Sanitarium. Each part demonstrates a variance in mental illness to portray the falling of the world around them due to their delusion, with dark conclusions. At times the stories can come across as rather coy although this was generally answered toward the end of each story. The tempo across each story is predominately maintained to continue the dark edge but I was left somewhat disappointed by the lack of development of the stories; some aspects felt rushed. However it was, to me anyway, an engaging watch. A film that isn't likely to blow many people away but can maintain viewing pleasure through emotion in relation to delicate revelations throughout. 65/100