A Cure for Wellness

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. “A Cure for Wellness” is well acted, has striking visuals and keeps you invested; you keep giving it the benefit of the doubt, assuming that the odd little details here and there will mount to something. You’ll leave the theater disappointed.

An ambitious young executive named Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) is charged with returning company CEO Roland Pembroke (Harry Groener) from a luxury “wellness center” in the Swiss Alps. Soon after his arrival, he suffers a broken leg. While recovering begins to suspect that the doctors in charge are trying to force him to stay as a patient.

We’ve seen this kind of film before but that’s ok. A hospital, mental ward or another place where people assemble in order to be healed is a great setting for a horror film. I have to credit director Gore Verbinski for creating an atmosphere that compels you to go forward. I’m not sure if there are actually that many concrete signs that there's something terribly wrong with spa director Dr. Volmer (Jason Isaacs) or the facility he runs, but the casting, the way the film is shot, the way information is divulged makes you uneasy. Even when Lockhart does something as harmless as taking a sip of water, you want to slap it out of his hand. When he speaks to the enigmatic Hannah (Mia Goth), you’re intrigued, but wary.

You'll realize fairly quickly that there’s something wrong with the wellness center but the missing details will coerce you forward. You believe that Lockhart would keep poking his nose into things. Yeah, some of what’s happening is a bit obvious, but it makes up for it with the visuals and the mystery. Then the film hits the 2-hour mark (this is a long movie) and it gets really demented.

I wasn't turned off by the inherent weirdness present. There are bizarre hallucinations, creepy moments of eroticism and a couple of bits where it gets really ghoulish. That bothered me none. In fact, it drew me closer. The problem is that the film is way, way too crazy. It presents one thing after another to the point where this psychological thriller starts to resemble a bad horror movie or a science fiction film. Then, when you think it’s over, it keeps overflowing. Once the dust settles, you won’t be sure you understood how it all fit together, or if it made any sense. I kept pushing aside the hints that this was a bad film thinking “There’s no way anyone would go there, this movie looks good! ”

Even with the inspired moments here and there, I can’t recommend “A Cure for Wellness”. You can find better, more streamlined tweaks on this story easily (I’d say “Session 9” and “Shutter Island” are good examples) "A Cure for Wellness" is loony, but not in a good way. (Theatrical version on the big screen, February 26, 2017)