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Dr Samantha Goodman is a medical psychologist at an asylum.
One patient is of particular interest to her. He is a rapist
and murderer, and she repeatedly rejects his assessments.
Sam suggests a weekend away with her husband, but he explains
that his publishers are demanding his novel and he needs to
go to their cabin retreat to finish it. But when Sam is told
by her employer she is working too hard and to take the weekend
off she travels to the cabin, only to find her attractive
younger sister helping her husband with his work (I've never
heard it called that before!). Although suspecting foul play,
she is welcomed. There's little time to be suspicious before
a young man knocks on the door seeking shelter from the elements
and promptly pulls a gun on them, shooting the dog. As if
that isn't bad enough, who should arrive but Sam's psychiatric
patient with revenge on his mind in the form of a series of
violent and twisted games...
I
do enjoy a film that leaves you thinking at the end. It's
not a new idea to have the events unfold with a number of
hints, dropped clues, and moments of unreality; the Japanese
film Ju-On: The Grudge had the plot run its course
from the separate point of view of several characters, which
then overlapped until the conclusion. The Dark Hours from
2004 is different, however, in that it begins its storytelling
in a linear fashion before becoming segmented into pockets
of surreal unreality. At times it plays The Sixth Sense
game, persuading you to think back and say: "Oh, yes,
now I understand that earlier bit."
The
revelation that Sam has the same incurable brain tumour as
her psychotic patient makes her earlier intensity understandable.
A drug which slows its growth has been banned because of the
shocking behaviour it produced in mice, but Sam has been using
it on the patient to watch its progress. The irritating rash
on her thigh is where Sam has been injecting herself with
the drug, and once we know that, nothing that happens subsequently
can be fully trusted as being reality. Even when the film
ends after a series of weird vignettes, we are still left
with no certainty as to what really took place. All we know
for sure is that the drug has affected Sam's mind.
What
this film does do nicely is keep you interested by upping
the stakes at every turn. Sam's problems are continually compounded,
finally reaching a crescendo which puts one foot tentatively
in fantasy land. Well worth a look.
Ty
Power
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