20131030: Horror Review--Unrest

Unrest

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2006, rated R, 88 minutes, horror. Spoken word is in English.
2. IMDB: 5.0/10.0 from 5,928 audience ratings. Estimated budget 2.5 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' and 39% liked it from 6,441 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.1/5.0 from 146,759 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Jason Todd Ipson.  Written by: Chris Billet and Jason Todd Ipson.
6. Starring: Corri English as Alison Blanchard, Marisa Petroro as Alita Covas, Ben Livingston as Ivan Verbukh, Abner Genece as Malcolm Little, Derrick O'Connor as Dr. Blackwell, Scot Davis as Brian Cross, Joshua Alba as Carlos Aclar, Jay Jablonski as Rick O'Connor, Anna Johnson as Jennifer.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Alison, Brian, Carlos, and Rick meet in medical school in their Gross Anatomy class.  They get to know each other while dissecting 'Norma' whom we get to see the first time in the opening sequence.  After the first shot at dissection, we meet Jennifer, Rick's fiancee.


2. Alison is an agnostic.  Carlos is into spirits and respect.  During the film, the question 'Is Norma dead?' gets discussed in philosophical terms.  


3. Jennifer wanted to see the dissected body, and is shocked and repulsed when the internal organs felt warm to the touch.  Rick tells her to cool off in the hall while he re-drapes the body.  When he comes out, Jennifer is dead in a pool of blood.


4. Come Monday, Rick has dropped out, so Alison, Brian, and Carlos continue on Norma in Gross Anatomy.  Rick has pretty well zoned out as Alison finds when she goes to visit him.


5. One of Dr. Blackwell's associates, Ivan, was checking out the cadaver when Alison interrupts him.  They have a non-constructive chat.  When Brian and Alison investigate a few things, they find Ivan's body in the cadaver tank.  Both Ivan and Jennifer touched the corpse and were repelled by it.


6. After Brian and Alison are intimate, Alison discovers one of the morgue staff in the shower, dead, in a pool of blood.  This fellow also touched the cadaver.  Alison and the hospital's staff shrink go to Dr. Blackwell and ask for more information.  Norma turns out to be Dr. Alita Covas, an American found dead in Brazil.  She was on death row at the time for killing johns while being a prostitute.  Oi, in the opening sequence, there were references to Aztec goings on.  Brazil is mighty far south and east of Aztec country.


7. Meanwhile, Rick is descending into madness.  Alison visits him and he attacks her.


8. Carlos dies in the library while investigating Aztecs.  Alison and Brian get a bloody drawing on their door.  Rick commits suicide.  Alison and Brian discover more about Dr Covas' archaeological finds; this may prove to be the key.


9. Will Brian and Alison survive this encounter?


3. Conclusions
1. This is not a gorefest or a slasher film, though there is plenty of blood spilled.
2. One line summary: Medical students versus spirits released from an Aztec digsite.
3. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 A bit more grainy and soft-focus than I expected, but good on the whole.


2. Sound: 10/10 Good for atmosphere and spookiness.


3. Acting: 8/10  Better than I expected.


4. Screenplay: 7/10  The Aztec vs. Brazil mix up was the film's major goof.  On the other hand, the build up of tensions while dealing with real events was rather good.