Sublime

(2007) ***

"If your existence is controlled by the things you fear, then your existence is only relevant if that fear is real."

George Grieves is suffering from a mid-life crisis. He just turned 40 and he is scheduled for his first-ever colonoscopy. George has a lot of friends and he’s a terrific family man. Checking into the hospital things go bad pretty quickly when his arm is scratched while getting into a wheelchair. Things get much worse when a hospital screw-up causes George’s chart to be mixed up with another patient’s chart. When George awakens he learns that not only was one of his kidney’s removed, but the small scratch he sustained upon admittance led to a staph infection resulting in a flesh-eating virus. As George’s health deteriorates his family begins to fall apart. Adding to his problems is an angry, chip-on-his-shoulder/ Nation of Islam nurse named Mandingo who tortures George when nobody else is around.

Mandingo is played by none other than Mr. Freddy “Boom Boom” Washington.

Sublime is a decent Jacob Ladder’s rip-off that alternates between scenes of George’s reality (i.e., slowly dying in a hospital bed) and unreality (i.e., George convinced that he has stumbled upon a hospital conspiracy and along with the aid of a sexy nurse he is going to crack the case). Although billed as a “horror” movie, and, yes, there are moments of horror; Sublime is actually pretty depressing fare dealing with issues of mortality and the choices we make in life. By time the credits rolled I was actually a bit depressed. How dare a horror movie make me have feelings!?