Main cast: Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Sam), Rachelle Goulding (Lily), Elyse Levesque (Monica), Lochlyn Munro (Frank), Trezzo Mahoro (Carter), Garry Chalk (Virgil), Anita Brown (Sarah), and Bradley Stryker (The Gaunt Man)
Director: Michael Winnick
Disquiet is a lovely, heartwarming tale of tech startup boss Sam and his pregnant wife Sarah, who are so in love that they are so, so, so happy.
People that have watched enough movies will know that this kind of mawkish nonsense in the beginning of a movie is only a wonderful sign that such happiness will abruptly come to a lovely end.
Well, Sam gets involved in a bad accident, and in the following jump scare-filled sequence—every sound is BANG BOOM POOM are you scared yet CRASH—he has some vague recollection of being sent to some hospital with Sarah frantically calling to him that he’d be okay.
When he next comes to, he’s in a now nearly deserted hospital staffed by people that may or may not be creepy woo-woo types, and there’s the usual harbinger of jump scares called the Gaunt Man stalking Sam and the few humans left to fend for themselves in that place.
What is going on here?
Actually, it’s pretty obvious early on that the hospital is some kind of purgatory, and Sam has to choose between going upstairs or downstairs, if you know what I mean. This is a commonly used premise in shows of this kind, and old hats will have a good idea right away what has happened the moment Sam wakes up in the haunted hospital.
I was hoping at first that Michael Winnick, who directed the movie as well as came up with the story and screenplay, would come up with some twist or plot development that will surprise me, but sadly, this one is pretty faithful to the tropes and formula.
On the bright side, the jump scares are kept to a judicious amount, and hence they never feel overused or lose their effectiveness.
Also, Jonathan Rhys Meyer convinces me here that he’d make a pretty good leading man in a B-grade action movie. I know, it’s not a glamorous trajectory, but let’s be real: his career isn’t exactly blooming and he is not getting younger. He shows some nice amount of skin here now and then, and even obliges with a, uh, heavy glimpse at his crotch in boxer-briefs at one scene, and there is just something about that non-PED enhanced physique that is very easy on the eyes.
I don’t know a business fellow like Sam can be so violent and kill people like he’s some seasoned pro, but Mr Meyer looks super hot when he’s stabbing people like some angry girl that can’t break the pinata within her allocated swing, so yes, let’s put Mr Meyer in a violent B-grade movie with lots of skin, please.
On the dismal side, the rest of the cast members are pretty terrible in their performances. Either they were all coerced into being in this movie or the budget ran out halfway and there was no proper catering so everyone was hangry? Who knows, but this movie is pretty hard to watch in the sense that I frequently wince whenever these actors utter their lines in a dead beyond dead manner.
While I’m at it, why is a woman going for plastic surgery depicted as some kind of sinful act comparable to a cop shooting a black guy due to unfounded racial profiling or Sam killing someone while driving under the influence? If I were to choose the one most worthy of a happy ending, it would be Monica, the lady that wanted some work done on her body, rather than Sam or that racist POS cop Frank.
Still, despite the flaws of this film, there is something compelling about seeing Jonathan Rhys Meyer going all the Punisher on people that looked at him funny here to keep me watching. Does that make me a shallow person?
Well, the movie isn’t deep or groundbreaking in the first place, so if I have to wade in the shallow pool to get some entertainment out of it, why not?
