Patient Seven

I sat down to watch "Patient Seven" for two reasons; the first was because this is a horror movie, and the second was because Michael Ironside was in it. And I had no idea what the movie was actually about prior to sitting down to watch it, so I had no expectations.

And as the movie came to an end, I must admit that I was genuinely entertained by what directors Danny Draven, Paul Davis, Ómar Örn Hauksson, Dean Hewison, Joel Morgan, Johannes Persson, Nicholas Peterson, Erlingur Thoroddsen and Rasmus Wassberg managed to piece together.

Each of the eight segments ("The Body", "Undying Love", "The Sleeping Plot", "Death Scenes", "Evaded", "The Visitant", "Banishing" and "Evaded") were actually equally entertaining in each their own distinct way. And that was quite some accomplishment in my opinion. And they were spun together nicely enough by a good narrative.

The acting in the segments was good, and people were really doing good jobs with their individual roles, both during the segments and also in the narrative lead up to the segments. It was nice to see an ensemble of cast putting so much effort and energy into their roles.

The special effects in the segments were good. And having good and believable special effects and CGI effects is crucial to a horror movie, as it is usually a make or break outcome. So thumbs up to the effects team for their effort on "Patient Seven".

"Patient Seven" does have some nice enough surprises and plot twists along the way. I will not reveal any of them here, because I honestly think that you should take the time to sit down and watch the movie, because it is well worth the effort.

All in all, "Patient Seven" lands a solid six out of ten stars rating from me. This is a movie that I can warmly recommend that you watch, especially if you enjoy a good horror movie that is driven by proper story lines.

Be ready to sit through 7 different stories all about monsters and the unnatural. I only liked story 4 but even that one was hard to hear due to the strong accent and no captions. I mean , if nothing else is on then I would watch this but it would not be my first pick. You might get what you want as far as being entertained elsewhere.

I thought it was great, kinda like an anthology movie. Really enjoyed the Zombies and vampire concepts.

A little bit cheesy at times but that's all part of the fun. Give it a go!

My quick rating - 5,5/10. One of a few problems with anthology movies is they tend to have good episodes, and bad episodes. Just like anything else. This can also be good since you will have different audiences viewing the material and one or two bad doesn't pull you completely out of the entire movie. So this story is seen through the analysis of a doctor/writer (wonderful as always, Michael Ironside) interviewing patients of a mental hospital to get the "real" feeling of the crimes that got them locked up. Without breaking each down, they each are stories of various insanity levels that don't ever go over the top but are able to get just enough of a response for you and Ironside to to get a feeling of them. This is not done through cheap scare tactics but conveyed through quality performances from the actors/actresses. I would also not being doing justice without pointing out the astounding part played by Alfie Allen. I was also partial to the little girl in her segment, what a little brat. Anyway, the stories were adequate, some better then others, and none outstanding. Another positive note, they were able to tie the whole thing together in the end.

Was drawn into seeing 'Patient Seven', with its cool and quite creepy poster/cover, an intriguing and quite creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

'Patient Seven' actually fares reasonably well compared to other recent low-budget viewings seen recently. Have seen some mediocre to awful ones recently, but this was far better than expected. Sure, it doesn't do enough with its premise but far from wastes it. 'Patient Seven' is not great has a fair share of problems (fairly big ones too) and could have been better . There are however a number of decent, even good, qualities in 'Patient Seven'.

Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric, likewise with the decent way it's shot. The music is suitably spooky and quirky and doesn't distract at all from the atmosphere, while not exactly enhancing it. The effects are nowhere near as ropy as feared, they're not cheap and they're not overused or abused.

A few unsettling moments and horror tropes, especially in the second segment and am definitely not going to look at plastic wrap in the same way again, and the acting is better than average and often more. Alfie Allen and especially Michael Ironside actually being very good.

However, the story structure does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the later stories where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. It is too much like a disjointed patchwork. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their irritating and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace is uneven, quite gripping in the first few segments but dragging in a lot of the second half and never is it exciting. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments in the latter parts of the film not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense.

A lot of the film has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations. There is not enough threat here and what there is of it is used to variable success, while the psychological elements are unimaginative and are more odd than scary. Some badly sagging momentum too.

Overall, not great but surprisingly better than expected. 5/10 Bethany Cox