Disquiet Movie Review

Written by Stuart D. Monroe

Released by Paramount Pictures

disquiet poster large

Written and directed by Michael Winnick
2023, 85 minutes, Rated R
Released on February 10th, 2023

Starring:
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Sam
Rachelle Goulding as Dr. Lily
Gary Chalk as Virgil
Elyse Levesque as Monica
Anita Brown as Sarah
Lochlyn Munro as Frank
Trezzo Maharo as Carter

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Review:

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A man has a terrible car crash and nearly dies, only to come to in a mostly abandoned hospital where his elderly, comatose roommate suddenly appears with the murderous intensity of a man infected with the Rage virus and tries to tear him limb from limb. Sound a trifle familiar, mayhap? I thought so too, my brain kicking immediately into thinking about 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead thanks to the barebones of the premise.

Five more minutes into Disquiet and I knew we were headed in a much more existential and even philosophical direction.

Sam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers; The Good Neighbor) has it all – a beautiful, deeply loving wife and a baby on the way. All that is taken away suddenly when Sam is t-boned by a drunk driver. The next thing he knows, he’s coming to in a hospital hooked up to machinery and tubes next to a comatose man. Sam soon discovers he’ s not alone when he meets Monica (Elyse Levesque; Ready or Not), a woman who awakens from breast augmentation to find herself surrounded by a trio of scalpel-wielding plastic surgery patients who want to carve her into something out of a nightmarish episode of Botched. Together, they’ll soon discover that they’re not the only patients wandering the hospital from Hell in search of answers. They’re also trapped, as all the exits have disappeared! The search for answers and a way out will raise questions Sam may not be prepared to answer, questions like “Who’s real here?” and “Where the hell am I, really?”

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Disquiet is one of those films where it doesn’t take you terribly long to figure out what is really going on, but it’s totally cool because the mythology is good (“…some of us have been here longer than others…”) and the decisions the range of characters make support the rather obvious conclusion. In that way, it manages to be smartly written despite having a rather obvious “twist”. There’s still some ambiguity to be had at the end in terms of figuring out Sam’s ultimate fate; an argument could be made for a couple of different scenarios. I rather like that when you consider none of us truly knows what the next step is once the old ticker stops ticking.

Disquiet doesn’t go soft in the paint, though – there are plenty of violent deaths and perilous situations Sam must help various others through. The dead don’t seem to stay dead in this hospital. Throw in some hallucinatory visual effects and the Cube-esque “Why are we all here?” conundrum, and the result is mindfuck horror that plays into some of the same themes as LOST while maintaining the pacing of a standard hour-and-a-half long thriller. There are also some social issues (in this case, racism) being tackled with surprising effectiveness.

The SFX work on the “faceless” is a tad derivative, if we’re being honest here… though it still works in an homage to Silent Hill kind of way. Of all the dangers faced by Sam and the others inside the hospital, they’re the least effective. The Plastic Surgery Triplets and Crazy Comatose Man are considerably more effective, proving sometimes less is more. Unless, that is, you’re stabbing someone like Sam does on his initial encounter with the Crazy Comatose Man. That scene gets an honorable mention for the Stabby Stab Award. It’s also a reward for all those people who scream at horror films and say, “Keep stabbing him! He ain’t dead yet!”

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Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays the role of situational hero damn near perfectly, but that’s not a surprise by now. Meyers has shown his range over and over again. He’s given a spectrum of emotions to run through in Disquiet and carries the day admirably. I can’t overlook the back and forth between the suspiciously lovely Dr. Lily (Rachelle Goulding; Wifelike) and the clear moral compass in wheelchair-bound Virgil (Gary Chalk; Freddy vs. Jason); they provide a nice yin and yang balance to the whole affair.

Disquiet isn’t exactly what you are expecting, especially if you’re going into it based on the trailer alone. Rather, it’s like a sandwich that looks like something you’ve seen (and eaten) before. Only when you bite deep into it, you discover there’s a sauce that adds a real kick as well an unexpected crunch. That sandwich may also have you wondering what it really means to live and to die, but that’s a way better side effect that heartburn powered inside burps. Wouldn’t you agree?

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Grades:

Movie: 3.5 Star Rating Cover
Cover

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Stuart D. Monroe
Staff Reviewer
Stuart D. Monroe is a man of many faces – father, husband, movie reviewer, published author of short horror, unsuccessful screenwriter (for now), rabid Clemson Tiger, Southern gentleman, and one hell of a model American who goes by the handle "Big Daddy Stu" or "Sir". He's also highly disturbed and wears that fact like a badge of honor. He is a lover of all things horror with a particular taste for the fare of the Italians and the British. He sometimes gets aroused watching the hardcore stuff, but doesn't bother worrying about whether he was a serial killer in a past life as worrying is for the weak. He was raised in the video stores of the '80s and '90s. The movie theater is his cathedral. He worships H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Clive Barker. When he writes, he listens obsessively to either classical music or the works of Goblin to stimulate the neural pathways. His favorite movie is Dawn of the Dead. His favorite book is IT. His favorite TV show is LOST.
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