A Cure For Wellness - Horrific (in so many ways)

I know the word/phrase 'carcrash' is normally used to describe something awful that, for whatever reason, you can't look away from, but in the case of 'A Cure For Wellness' that's only half true.  I really enjoyed it, even though I wasn't always sure what I was watching or where it was going - only that I really couldn't turn it off, let alone look away (apart from the bit with the teeth, but we'll get to that later).

The bizarrely-titled film is about a young man called 'Lockhart' (Dane DeHaan, sporting some of the biggest bags under his eyes ever consigned to film) who gets caught with his 'fingers in the till' (so to speak) in a large American company.  Rather than fire him on the spot, his board of directors give him the (not particularly subtle) 'choice' of going to prison for a long, long time, or going to a reclusive and exclusive health spa in Switzerland in order to bring back one of the directors.  Hardly a choice, is it?  However, things get off to a rocky start when Lockhart is involved in a car crash of his own on the way there and ends up as one of the retreat's patients.

And, guess what... Lockhart soon finds that there's more going on than first meets the eye.  The elderly residents all seem just a little too happy NOT to leave and the enigmatic owner of the facility, 'Volmer,' (Jason Isaacs, complete with German accent) seems just a little too happy to have Lockhart there, too.

All that happens pretty early on in the film and that's about all I'm going to say on the plot, as there's so many aspects to what happens next that I really don't want to give anything away.  You'll only get to watch it the once without knowing what's really going on and where it's all leading, so I do recommend you deliberately DON'T find out much about it before you sit down.

What I will say is that there are plenty of moments during the film which really made me squirm in my seat.  This film is definitely a 'horror,' but it does also contain aspects of a Gothic drama and even murder mystery, however the 'horrific' elements are - in part - down to really nasty imagery (one of which involves teeth, but then that may be due to my numerous trips to the dentist in my life!), rather than monsters running around or simply lazy 'jump scares.'

I would definitely recommend 'A Cure For Wellness' if you're looking to invest your time into a film which genuinely tries to be a little bit different in terms of horror.  Gore Verbinski's direction is truly stunning and it's rare that I really notice just how well various shots are composed and the beauty of how the film looks really does mirror the darkness of what's going on below - so to speak.

As I mentioned you do have to 'invest' your time into this one.  It is well over two hours, so you need to have enough to time really sit down and appreciate it.  If it does have a flaw then it's probably that it doesn't quite know when it wants to end.  During what feels like the last third of the film, I kept thinking that it was going to end on at least three occasions, only for it to start up all over again.  Still, that's a small gripe compared to just how different this film is and how it deserves to be watched by horror buffs who are looking for something more than just another slasher or zombie outing.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one