Dead Sleep

Actually, I was almost half awake...almost.

First, the basics. This is an Australian movie, made in 1990, and it stars Linda Blair and several people you've never seen before or since. The plot involves a doctor who indulges in malpractice for reasons that aren't disclosed, and the nurse who stops him and becomes a hero(ine).

Now, the nitpicking. This is a silly movie, and I had several bones to pick. First--judging by this film, only topless women develop mental illness. A vast majority of the nuts in this film are women, and for some reason they aren't allowed to wear clothes. The men wear pajama-like things, but the women just bare it all. I'm not really clear on why that is--all I can figure is that the director wanted to look at boobs. Makes sense, I guess.

Second--who wrote this?!? I know it was in the credits, but who watches credits? Periodically it seems like a moderately good TV movie, and then it just sinks like a rock. Example--when Linda Blair's personified conscience (she's some kind of muckraker, I suppose) gets angry at Linda, she lets loose with the "f-word" and just generally tells poor Linda off. Since projectile vomiting isn't an option, Linda has to defend herself with words. The words the screenwriter gave her are "For someone with no credentials you sure are --pause-- obnoxious." EXCUSE ME? I thought it was terribly funny, but is it supposed to be? The pause made it even better--Linda Blair is a marvelous pauser. Still, what could have been a great dramatic moment falls flat on its butt.

Third--all the people were people you would never want to meet. Ever. The head nurse is a twit, the head doctor (the bad guy) is a twit, Linda Blair comes near twit-ness occasionally, and the muckraker is certainly aggravating. How can you feel for these people when they're such creeps? I believe you're only supposed to like Ms. Blair--that's how it seems to me. I feel sorry for her, being the only protagonist in a movie full of jerks. Correction--in a stupid movie full of jerks.

Now, I can't be too hard on this movie, because I'm a Linda Blair fan and I wouldn't want people to think all of her movies suck. (Some don't, you know.) There were some good moments--when Linda's roommate gets all over her for not having a job, she gives her the Linda Blair P***ed-Off Look, which is priceless. It's just a mean stare, but it packs a wallop. I also enjoyed hearing simplified medical jargon--"The eyes are discolored, which indicates kidney failure" kind of stuff. I even liked the end of the movie, where Linda and Doctor Meanie get in a catfight. I was glad to see her dadgum fingernails make it into a scene. Every time I see her in movies she's got extremely long talons, but they don't seem to serve any purpose. They do here, lemme tell ya. (Example--"Airport 1975," where you get a close up of these long, purple fingernails, only to see them attached to the fingers of a chubby-faced girl. It's startling.)

Overall rating--2 out of 5 stars. Linda Blair, if you ever read this, PLEASE DO A COMEDY SO WE DON'T HAVE TO WATCH YOU SUFFER.

Maggie Healey (Linda Blair) has just landed a job as a psychiatric nurse at the prestigious Elysian Fields Hospital. She soon uncovers a horrible secret, resulting in her quitting her position.

Oh no!

Maggie's boyfriend winds up in Elysian Fields for "treatment" and meets with a tragic end, causing Maggie to get her job back. This time, she sleuths around for answers.

Even diehard fans of Ms. Blair might have a difficult time with her Pollyanna / snoopy-pants character. Still, the story's good with some suspenseful moments...

I found this movie better than the critics reviews. It's a horror-thriller. Like most movies, you have to watch them for your self to know if you will like it or not. This particular film I liked.

Basically, Dr. Jonthan Heckett is a psychiatrist working with a treatment called "Dead Sleep". Maggie Healey (Linda Blair) is a nurse hired in a psychiatric ward who discovers that Dr. Heckett's treatments are not helpful to the patients - in fact, the treatments are quite harmful. Maggie finds herself pulled into investigating the situation.

The film does have an amount of realism to it... the movie does not give us Dr. Heckett's exact motive but one might guess it's for insurance money - money in his own pocket (along with others that are in on it).

Apathy for the patients is what most of the doctors and nurses have in the film - yet, as I mentioned above, the viewer is left wondering what their exact motive is.

The "realism" is the fact that is it possible that a doctor could do such a thing to people... keep them, make up illnesses just for insurance money in their pockets... that is what makes this movie scary and realistic/plausible.

The ending I did not like - I would have rather seen arrests made but I am assuming that arrests did occur after the film ended.

Good late night film.

8/10

A young nurse (Linda Blair) investigates suspicious deaths in a psychiatric ward.

I am not sure why after "Exorcist" it seems that Linda Blair ended up in cheesy films alongside David Hasselhoff, or with unknown Italians, or in this "ozploitation" film. I suspect it had something to do with drugs, but why that affected her acting is not clear.

There are some redeeming qualities to this film, and I think it would be worth a revisit if it was cleaned up an audio commentary was added. While it could never be a cult classic, I suspect Blair has interesting stories to share about this film and it would be good to get someone (Shout Factory?) to collect them.

As a general rule, when I'm looking for a movie to watch, all I need to see is the word "Australia" in the description of the movie to know enough to keep looking. No offense to any Australians out there, mind you, and if watching padded-out, wordy, tepid, boring flicks with minimal action rocks your world then more power to you, although if you guys drink as much as the characters in this film do, that might have something to do with it. Anyways, I love Linda Blair and I find her quite cute and a talented actress with charm that lights up whatever B-movie junk she finds herself thrust into, but I knew she'd be put to the test in lighting up a garbage Australian flick before I even hit play and, arguably, this is one of the lesser films I've seen her in.

While I wouldn't describe this film as being entirely awful, it is predictable to where you know exactly what is going to go down before you are even 20 minutest into it, making this slow-moving, padded out timewaster that much harder to get through, with 98 minutes feeling like over two hours if you manage to make it that far. The basic premise itself is actually somewhat believable (I don't put anything past what the corrupt healthcare systems in Western countries will do for a buck), but this film can't decide if it is serious or schlock. It is too cheesy to be serious and too boring and toned down to be schlock and, seeing as it is a low-budget flick with middling actors and writers, the correct move should have been to go over the top with the exploitation and have some fun, but no dice. It's about what you'd expect and, sadly, even Linda can't save it.