I saw clips and trailers for this film about two months before its release, then it was reviewed on the programme Film 2017, it was definitely the sort of film I couldn't miss, directed by Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt, The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lone Ranger). Basically in New York City, at a large financial services firm, a man named Morris (Craig Wroe) has died of a fatal heart attack, ambitious young executive Lockhart (Chronicle's Dane DeHaan) takes his place. Lockhart's superiors Hank Green (David Bishins), Hollis (Lisa Banes) and Wilson (Carl Lumbly) inform him that the company's CEO, Roland Pembroke (Harry Groener), has not returned from a trip to a "wellness center" somewhere in the Swiss Alps, and a note suggests he may have suffered a breakdown. Lockhart is sent to the remote spa to retrieve Pembroke, the company need him to sign for a merger with another company, in fact the firm is covering up unsightly business deals, several of the partners hope to pin the blame on Pembroke. Lockhart finds the idyllic but mysterious spa,he is met by some resistance by the staff when he wishes to talk to Pembroke, particularly by the director, Dr. Heinreich Volmer (Jason Isaacs). When leaving the wellness center, a deer runs out into the road and causes driver Enrico (Ivo Nandi) and Lockhart to crash, Lockhart wakes up in the spa with his leg in a cast, he is forced to stay at the spa until his broken leg is heeled. During his time at the spa, Lockhart meets a mysterious young girl named Hannah (Nymphomaniac: Vol. II's Mia Goth), she says that Volmer is claiming she is a "special case", like him she drinks a strange fluid kept in a cobalt bottle. Lockhart finds out from another patient, Victoria Watkins (Celia Imrie), that the spa is built on the ruins of a castle, that was burnt down 200 years ago. The baron that once owned the castle wanted an heir of pure blood, he married his sister, but finding out she was infertile he began performing hellish experiments on the peasants, they eventually rose up and burned down the castle, they captured the baron's wife and cut the baby from the womb, Watkins claims that despite it being thrown in water and being fragile, the baby survived. Lockhart has his suspicions about what is really going on at the spa, including the staff not contacting his firm about his accident, something that may be in the drinking water, and the ailments of the other guests, he discovers a transfusion wing. The spa is a front for macabre medical experiments, eels are being filtered through human bodies to produce the "cure" Volmer and Hannah are ingesting, it is also causing the strange behaviours of the guests as they drink the water. Lockhart is captured by Volmer, he is subjected to nightmarish treatments and torture that warp his mind like Pembroke, making him question whether he himself is sick or not. Lockhart writes a letter to his employer saying he intends to remain at the spa, but one night he has a moment of clarity, he cuts open his leg cast and finds that his leg is not broken at all, and he finds Pembroke is dead, he goes in search of Hannah. Around this time, Hannah has had her first period, meaning she is fertile, a party to celebrate is organised by Volmer, he leads Hannah into a secret room, built from the ruins of the castle, he intends to rape and impregnate her. Lockhart realises that Volmer is actually the centuries-old baron, and Hannah is his daughter, during the confrontation and fight, Volmer's face is revealed to be a mask that hides his hideously burnt baron face. Lockhart sets Volmer on fire, the heated sparks blow through the ventilation and cause the whole castle and spa to burn down, Volmer overpowers Lockhart and is about to feed him to the carnivorous eels, but Hannah kills him, lodging a shovel into his head, he falls into the pit and is devoured by the eels. Hannah and Lockhart escape the castle on a bicycle as the whole place burns to the ground, on the way however Lockhart's employers from New York arrive in car to retrieve him and Pembroke, he is ordered to get in the car, they want to pin all corporate wrongdoings on him, but Lockhart chooses to run away with Hannah. Also starring Adrian Schiller as Deputy Director, Magnus Krepper as Pieter the Vet and Susanne Wuest as Volmer Institute Staff. DeHaan gives a good icy lead performance, as the film goes on you really question whether he is sick or going mad, Goth is wonderfully strange but fascinating, and Isaacs is almost pantomime but a reasonable villain. It is not the most original story, you could argue similarities to Shutter Island, but the style of the film, with its supernatural fantasy elements and dark nightmarish atmosphere throughout, feels like a classic Hammer Horror, the most disturbing visuals are the first eels in the large immersion tank, and the nasty gory dental torture scene, it may be a little long and uncertain in its direction at times, but it is very likely to become a cult classic, a worthwhile psychological horror thriller. Good!
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