A Cure For Wellness (2016)

 

Genre: Horror/ Mystery

Time: 2h 26mins

Director: Gore Verbinski

Quick Summary: An ambitious young executive is sent to retrieve his company's CEO from an idyllic but mysterious "wellness centre" at a remote location in the Swiss Alps. However, he soon suspects that the spa's treatments are not what they seem.

I wasn't bored it was just long

I'm not going to lie this is a strange film, but I liked it and was interested all through. It plays on a well-known paranoia and gets really creepy with it. The issue is, that it doesn't really give us enough substance for this concept that they give us. 

This has some really good cinematography and shots, as well it's actually really pretty and aesthetic. We get loads of dizzying, mind-bending, travelling shots as we also get lost with our main character within the sanctuary. There are a lot of gothic horror elements, that have been slightly modernized in a good way, and they really help sell how creepy this place is. I also want to mention that the landscapes are so stunning. Rural Switzerland, full of trees and beautiful hills. Somehow it does this amazing job of creating a nice mix of black and dark areas and pools of negative space that work together so well. 

I did like the acting, I wouldn't call it amazing though. You could tell they were all fairly new actors, I didn't mind it too much but there were some scenes which lacked the oomph because of them. I liked them as characters though, with Lockheart being insurable and almost deserving of what happens to him at the start, but then you do actually sympathise with him the more the story goes on. The young girl Hannah (played by a young Mia Goth), I also liked with her sickly pale expressions throughout.

The issue with this film is that it's too long. It's not boring at all, it just takes too long to get the ball rolling and then also keep the ball rolling. Pieces come together way too slowly. Scenes play out for way too long and I found myself eager for one small piece of information. I don't think any actual plot-forwarding information was given until the last 40 minutes. As for the ending. It gets strange. Like really strange. But also, all of a sudden, it decides it wants to move at the speed of a runaway train. It goes incredibly quick and it's actually really difficult to pick up the Information from what is happening.

I wouldn't call this awful. It's watchable and interesting, it's just got some pacing issues. 

6/10

"Pembroke: Is that why this came all this way? Ambition? Then you have it worse than any of us.

Lockhart: What's that?

Pembroke: The sickness. Your father saw the truth long before the rest of us. The pointlessness of the entire endeavour. We've all done terrible things. So many terrible things..."