189.
Unsane
7/10
Another trailer leaving me asking questions and wanting to know more. Claire Foy is going to be playing a woman who is involuntarily committed into a mental asylum, where she is confronted with her worst fear, what seems to be her stalker, working at the place. But the main question is, is this part of her break down or is he really there? Will the answers and movie itself leave me feeling unsane?
The movie begins with a quick voiceover by a male named David Strine, played by Joshua Leonard. He's telling a woman that he loves seeing her in blue because that's what she was wearing when they first met and he wants to feel like that again. Then we quickly move on to Sawyer Claire Foy's character. Being introduced to her job, she's a saleswoman and thinks she sees her stalker, David, in her workplace. She is a lonesome person, maybe a little paranoid and talks to her mother often over the phone. She goes on a Tinder date and offers to put out straight away, with no contact afterward but back at her flat, she has a panic attack and locks herself in the bathroom. We then follow her to a counselling session, where she discusses the issues of being stalked for two years, her thoughts of suicide and the counsellor wants to sign her up for extra sessions. She heads to the clinic and signs some paperwork, which as always, no one reads the fine print. She is brought to a room and her belongings are taken and she's forced to undergo exams whilst having her clothes taken too. She has been committed involuntarily for 24 hours and when she tried to ring the police, they don't do anything because they are so used to those fake calls from the same number. As she submits to her time there, she is put into a room with other characters, one being Violet, who later pesters Sawyer before creating a shiv and cutting her hair whilst Sawyer sleeps. As Sawyer tried to leave the room, a patient called Jacob tries to touch her, so she knees him in the balls before an orderly comes in, who she thinks is David, so she unleashes on him too, before being sedated. Meanwhile, the police have decided to turn up, before leaving before learning anything about the situation.
The following morning, she's off to see the big cheese at the hospital, who tells her that she is staying in for a whole week due to her violent behaviour. Due to all of this, she is forced to take medication and one of the orderlies is David, going under a different name. But the first thing I'm thinking about is are we seeing through her eyes? Is she really seeing him and are we? This hospital is a shit hole. Really dark and it really adds to the mood that this movie is trying to create. Sawyer has a chat with one of the other patients, Nate, who she has gotten closer too. She finds out that he has a phone and offers sexual favours in order to get a use out of it. She rings her mother straight away and fills her in, causing her mother to drive all the way from Boston and vow to the heads of the hospital that she will get her daughter out. Angela, the mother, is staying in a nearby motel when she gets knock on the door one night from the 'maintenance' guy. Of course, it's David himself. See you later Angela. Ok, now I'm beginning to believe that Sawyer isn't making this thing up. We are seeing David everywhere and this guy is mental.
Another conversation between Nate and Sawyer reveals that the hospital is one big scam. They keep people locked up until their insurance companies no longer want to pay for their treatment. Sawyer starts to reveal her past, explaining that she used to work at a hospice where David's father was. Once he died, David started harassing her, claiming that his old man would have wanted them both to be together. Sending a crazy amount of texts and calls, he got blocked.
He started sending stuff to her work, such as flowers or breaking into her house and leaving dresses for her to wear. She ended up getting a restraining order as well as having an officer telling her what to do so that David couldn't find her. This officer part was probably the most shocked I'd been. He walks in and randomly, from nowhere, we have 5 minutes of Matt Damon., and then he's gone again. Did owe someone a favour? After this conversation, we see a clever shot of David, looking at them both through the blinds. Nate later gets assaulted, tortured and killed in the basement, with the pictures being sent to Nate's' phone, which is now in the possession of Sawyer. She screams and tries to tell the other orderlies but once again, it's falling on deaf ears. After some more violence and even chucking coffee onto Violet, Sawyer is moved to the basement and solitary confinement. This is exactly what David would want and low and behold, here he comes to visit her. Still thinking they can be together, he offers to take her to a cabin to be alone from all of this. Instead, she rips him a new one, reducing him to tears by calling him pathetic and what not.
Away from the hospital, a random woman is jogging, until she sees a hand poking out of the soil. After calling the cops, it turns out to be George Shaw, the guy that David is posing as. Back at the nuthouse, David has brought some grub to Sawyer's room and once again puts over the idea of the cabin. She has come up with a plan this time, offering him to bring another woman to his cell and for him to have sex with her in front of Sawyer. David looks really nervous about this and Sawyer tells him that she wants it to be Violet. He brings her and nearly rapes her until Sawyer steps in and begins to kiss her. This is turning pretty dark and I know what's coming. She grabs the shiv and stabs David in the throat, running for the door. Closing it behind her, she looks back in and sees David snap Violet's neck with his Of Mice and Men's Lenny style power.
Sawyer then decides to run, before being caught up by David as he knocks her out and chucks her into his trunk. She wakes and smells something awful straight away, opening a black bag next to her and discovering her dead mother. She cries for her and takes her cross necklace. She pulls the safety lever for the trunk and legs it into the woods, being followed once again by David. Meanwhile, we finally have a police follow up on the body and they have entered the asylum. Reporters have arrived too as it turns out that Nate was an undercover reporter for them, finding out about all the dodgy dealings. The staff still claim that all is well but as the police investigate, they find notes by Nate and arrest the lot of them. Back in the woods, David has his hands on Sawyer again and smashes he leg up with a hammer. That got me wincing. He takes her unconscious body further in and lays her down, trying to smooth talk her. It turns out that she was always awake, biding her time and suddenly stabs him with the cross necklace, straight in the eye, before using the shiv again and finally ending his ways with a throat slice.
We get a date of 6 months later and Sawyer is sitting in a café with her friend when she believes that she sees David again. Grabbing a knife, she approaches him and as he turns to reveal that he is just a stranger, she is horrified about what she intended to do, running out the door and now completing the full transition into a paranoid unsane woman.
This film really had the creepy factor. It didn't need a monster, ghost or any sort of paranormal being, all it needed was an event that could actually be true. Clair Foy played her role really well and as for the relatively unknown to me Joshua Leonard, his character was the face of terror in this one. He didn't have much dialogue, but just being in the shadows was enough to cause his statement. Everyone else wasn't around long enough to add an impact, apart from finding out that Nate was undercover. The actually filming and its quality was very clever. To me, it seemed to be quite bright at the beginning and once the story carried on, the scenes got darker, along with the storyline. In the end, it was pitch black at times, including the car trunk and the fight in the woods. The whole thing had a gritty look to it, different from normal movies and that's because it was filmed mostly on an iPhone. When it comes to this story, it may not be for everyone's taste, with it showing how some of these processes work. One example would be that someone cannot be committed for this type of care for more than 72 hours without a court hearing being part of it all. For me, the fact that the audience was made to question the credibility of the main character was a clever draw. Although it was quite a show film, it was very raw and sent some into a state of panic and unease during viewing.
The following morning, she's off to see the big cheese at the hospital, who tells her that she is staying in for a whole week due to her violent behaviour. Due to all of this, she is forced to take medication and one of the orderlies is David, going under a different name. But the first thing I'm thinking about is are we seeing through her eyes? Is she really seeing him and are we? This hospital is a shit hole. Really dark and it really adds to the mood that this movie is trying to create. Sawyer has a chat with one of the other patients, Nate, who she has gotten closer too. She finds out that he has a phone and offers sexual favours in order to get a use out of it. She rings her mother straight away and fills her in, causing her mother to drive all the way from Boston and vow to the heads of the hospital that she will get her daughter out. Angela, the mother, is staying in a nearby motel when she gets knock on the door one night from the 'maintenance' guy. Of course, it's David himself. See you later Angela. Ok, now I'm beginning to believe that Sawyer isn't making this thing up. We are seeing David everywhere and this guy is mental.
Another conversation between Nate and Sawyer reveals that the hospital is one big scam. They keep people locked up until their insurance companies no longer want to pay for their treatment. Sawyer starts to reveal her past, explaining that she used to work at a hospice where David's father was. Once he died, David started harassing her, claiming that his old man would have wanted them both to be together. Sending a crazy amount of texts and calls, he got blocked.
He started sending stuff to her work, such as flowers or breaking into her house and leaving dresses for her to wear. She ended up getting a restraining order as well as having an officer telling her what to do so that David couldn't find her. This officer part was probably the most shocked I'd been. He walks in and randomly, from nowhere, we have 5 minutes of Matt Damon., and then he's gone again. Did owe someone a favour? After this conversation, we see a clever shot of David, looking at them both through the blinds. Nate later gets assaulted, tortured and killed in the basement, with the pictures being sent to Nate's' phone, which is now in the possession of Sawyer. She screams and tries to tell the other orderlies but once again, it's falling on deaf ears. After some more violence and even chucking coffee onto Violet, Sawyer is moved to the basement and solitary confinement. This is exactly what David would want and low and behold, here he comes to visit her. Still thinking they can be together, he offers to take her to a cabin to be alone from all of this. Instead, she rips him a new one, reducing him to tears by calling him pathetic and what not.
Away from the hospital, a random woman is jogging, until she sees a hand poking out of the soil. After calling the cops, it turns out to be George Shaw, the guy that David is posing as. Back at the nuthouse, David has brought some grub to Sawyer's room and once again puts over the idea of the cabin. She has come up with a plan this time, offering him to bring another woman to his cell and for him to have sex with her in front of Sawyer. David looks really nervous about this and Sawyer tells him that she wants it to be Violet. He brings her and nearly rapes her until Sawyer steps in and begins to kiss her. This is turning pretty dark and I know what's coming. She grabs the shiv and stabs David in the throat, running for the door. Closing it behind her, she looks back in and sees David snap Violet's neck with his Of Mice and Men's Lenny style power.
Sawyer then decides to run, before being caught up by David as he knocks her out and chucks her into his trunk. She wakes and smells something awful straight away, opening a black bag next to her and discovering her dead mother. She cries for her and takes her cross necklace. She pulls the safety lever for the trunk and legs it into the woods, being followed once again by David. Meanwhile, we finally have a police follow up on the body and they have entered the asylum. Reporters have arrived too as it turns out that Nate was an undercover reporter for them, finding out about all the dodgy dealings. The staff still claim that all is well but as the police investigate, they find notes by Nate and arrest the lot of them. Back in the woods, David has his hands on Sawyer again and smashes he leg up with a hammer. That got me wincing. He takes her unconscious body further in and lays her down, trying to smooth talk her. It turns out that she was always awake, biding her time and suddenly stabs him with the cross necklace, straight in the eye, before using the shiv again and finally ending his ways with a throat slice.
We get a date of 6 months later and Sawyer is sitting in a café with her friend when she believes that she sees David again. Grabbing a knife, she approaches him and as he turns to reveal that he is just a stranger, she is horrified about what she intended to do, running out the door and now completing the full transition into a paranoid unsane woman.
This film really had the creepy factor. It didn't need a monster, ghost or any sort of paranormal being, all it needed was an event that could actually be true. Clair Foy played her role really well and as for the relatively unknown to me Joshua Leonard, his character was the face of terror in this one. He didn't have much dialogue, but just being in the shadows was enough to cause his statement. Everyone else wasn't around long enough to add an impact, apart from finding out that Nate was undercover. The actually filming and its quality was very clever. To me, it seemed to be quite bright at the beginning and once the story carried on, the scenes got darker, along with the storyline. In the end, it was pitch black at times, including the car trunk and the fight in the woods. The whole thing had a gritty look to it, different from normal movies and that's because it was filmed mostly on an iPhone. When it comes to this story, it may not be for everyone's taste, with it showing how some of these processes work. One example would be that someone cannot be committed for this type of care for more than 72 hours without a court hearing being part of it all. For me, the fact that the audience was made to question the credibility of the main character was a clever draw. Although it was quite a show film, it was very raw and sent some into a state of panic and unease during viewing.
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