David O'ConnellThe Clinic
August 19th 2010 03:48
A plodding, determinedly B-grade horror film that can barely muster a scenario not ripped from dozens of superior films, The Clinic (2010) is the debut of writer and director James Rabbitts. A young couple, Cameron (Andy Whitfield) and pregnant fiancée Beth (Tabrett Bethell) are heading through the Australian wilderness when they are nearly run off the road by a menacing driver. They decide to lay up for the evening and find themselves in an out-of-the-way desert motel that an alternate Norman Bates deprived of any imagination might have made his own.
There seem to be no other residents in this place other than the sleazy owner. The young couple get restless later in the evening so Cameron steps out to find sustenance, only to return and find Beth missing. He suspects foul play and confronts the owner who protests before calling the local cop (Marshall Napier). With Cameron riding in the back of a police cruiser we cut to poor Beth who wakes up in a strange place with stitches up and down her stomach and her unborn child seemingly extracted from her body. Is this some nightmare she can't wake up from, like the one in which she's haunted by a previous pregnancy that failed to reach full-term?
The horror has only begun as Beth will discover after unsteadily exploring her surrounds. She’s actually within the grounds of an old disused abattoir on the outskirts on this dusty godforsaken town and after blacking out when she runs into the impasse of a barbed wire fence, ghostly figures appear to greet her. It seems Beth is not alone. Three other formerly pregnant women have fallen victim to the deranged puppetmaster responsible for their wounded, barren states: Veronica (Freya Stafford), Ivy (Claire Bowen) and the nearly mute Alison (Sophie Lowe).
Worse still, once the quartet decide to forgo any shot at an improbable escape to comprehensively search the buildings for clues to their babies’ fate, they find themselves defenseless prey for a killer stalking the poorly lit chambers of the old abattoir, ready to slice them up for some unknown reason.
Another element of intrigue comes from occasional glimpses at a pair of strangers – a middle-aged man and an older woman – first glimpsed at the hotel just after Cameron and Beth arrived. They seem to be keeping track of the women’s progress via a bank of TV monitors somewhere on the premises. Are they playing some sort of sick game? Are the women like mice trapped in some experimental playground?
Occasionally Rabbits cuts back to Cameron’s predicament as he attempts to turn the tables on the locals who he presumes to be guilty of some nefarious ploy to harm his wife. These scenes may break up the monotony of the women trudging around the abattoir to be knocked off one by one but they’re guilty of evoking a tired cliché – one which routinely demonizes rural folk in generic horror films, patching them together with crude, usually sexist gestures to go with the glint of menace in their deadened eyes. Naturally they’re all in cahoots, with their ultimate aim to cajole unsuspecting city folk into the bowels of their lair whilst they succumb to paranoid delusions that prove to be painfully and terrifying rooted in truth of course.
Incongruities abound, unsubtly injected into the screenplay, like the discovery of an instant camera that works perfectly, a lone bag of lollies sealed in a glass cabinet, a random cockroach infestation in a solitary room, dozens of healthy cows on the site of the otherwise desolate abattoir, and best of all, a neat trick which sees a bullet perform a 90 degree turn in claiming two lives with a single shot. It’s all silly stuff, minute details that stand out glaringly in their lack of organic or logical absorption into the narrative.
The Clinic is a hackneyed, sub-par genre exercise, painfully stuck in the rut of its slowly capitulating narrative. The acting isn’t horrible by any means - and it's eerie how closely Bethell resembles a young Cate Blanchett from a certain angle - but everything that emanates from these characters’ mouths is compromised by the exasperating familiarity of it all. I have to admit however that when the true intent of the strangers is revealed at the end, Rabbitts’ worth as a writer goes up slightly in my estimation because there's no denying it’s a devilishly clever and twisted, if ludicrous, idea at heart.
The Clinic recently debuted at the Melbourne International Film Festival and is currently screening for a limited time at Melbourne's Cinema Nova as part of their late-night Cult Cravings on Friday and Saturday nights.
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Shaun, you're a wise man. Give it a miss.
Comment by Deni
Abstract Magick
Cinema Herald
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Too much good stuff out there Matt to be wasting your time with this.................says he who wasted his time watching this!
Comment by Deni
Abstract Magick
Cinema Herald
Andy is basically an unknown. He did a small (very small) Australian independent film called "Gabriel".
Nothing to write home about, although it was kinda impressive how much special effects was accomplished on such a micro-budget.
There is just something about him that's kinda endearing because although he is an actor, he still had to keep his day job as an engineer for a time. So it's not his acting ability per se, it's more of a "cheering" him on type of thing.
Anonymous - I'm sure that lots of people like this film and it's not that we will turn it down because of one bad review, I think for the most part, the people who have commented thus far, are more trusting of David's review because we trust his insight.
Cheers,
Deni
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
I've heard of Gabriel but haven't seen it as yet.
It seems 'Anonymous' has deleted his or her comment. Great links though Anon, very anxious to see the fictional positive reviews for this film............I'm sure they'll come pouring in any day now.
Comment by JKrazy
I caught this one at the miff too. Very dissapointing. The only positive 'review's I've read are on IMDB and smell way too suspicious! I dont think they liked my comments either
Anywho, I just wanted to chime in and say, you arent the only one that thought this film was average. Average at best.
My guess is, Rabbits isnt a horror fan.
Comment by JKrazy
I caught this one at the miff too. Very dissapointing. The only positive 'review's I've read are on IMDB and smell way too suspicious! I dont think they liked my comments either
Anywho, I just wanted to chime in and say, you arent the only one that thought this film was average. Average at best.
My guess is, Rabbits isnt a horror fan.
Comment by JKrazy
I caught this one at the miff too. Very dissapointing. The only positive 'review's I've read are on IMDB and smell way too suspicious! I dont think they liked my comments either
Anywho, I just wanted to chime in and say, you arent the only one that thought this film was average. Average at best.
My guess is, Rabbits isnt a horror fan.
Comment by JKrazy
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by JKrazy
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Alavna
However I hope to see them in many more shows and movies to come
Comment by jj