The SickHouse

(2007) ***½

Anna, an ambitious young archaeologist is told that the current project she is working on has been closed and is scheduled for demolition. She has been collecting artifacts from a 17th century orphanage/hospital that was wiped out during an outbreak of the plague. Authorities suddenly shut down the old hospital when plague spores are detected in their samples. Anna just can’t let it go without one more look. She is convinced that she has found and old legend and wants to prove that it wasn’t plague that killed the orphans but something much more sinister. The night before the scheduled demolition, Anna breaks into the site for one more look to try and prove her theory.

She finds the missing body to an ancient doll head she had previously dug up and reattaches it unknowingly unleashing something evil. She then falls through the floor of the space she is in and finds herself in a tunnel area that is covered in wall drawings.

We then cut to Nick, Joolz, Steve & Clive who are out celebrating Nick’s 21st birthday. They hit a woman with their car and quickly duck into the old hospital to hide from the police. They end up trapped inside with Anna and whatever ancient evil entity she has released. They are unable to leave, brick walls have suddenly appeared blocking the doorways, when looking through cracks to the outside time appears to be frozen. What Anna has resurrected is a murderous medieval plague doctor. He is messing with their sanity and one by one he will sacrifice them repeating an ancient ritual. They race against time to destroy the plague doctor before he completes his task.

This was a dark and eerie gore fest. The plague doctor is unnaturally tall and wears a crow like headdress, he is very ominous and creepy. He twists their minds, some of them turn on each other while Joolz, Nick’s pregnant girlfriend seems to go completely insane. I like this type of film. A small group of people locked into a scary old place with no way out.

The key to these flicks is a good scary bad guy, I think the doctor fits the bill. He doesn’t need to speak, although there are voices present that seem to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Just the thought of going through a 17th century plague facility is creepy enough, imagine being trapped in there at night with no way out. I bet Whirly could take some awesome pictures in a place like that.

Although The Sick House got a low rating on Netflix, in reading some of the bad reviews most people seemed to be confused. It seems like the people who “got it” rated the movie much higher. This isn’t something you can watch, chat & make runs to the kitchen during play. If you turn your attention away I guarantee you’ll be confused when you look back. The increasing insanity of the participants is what gets confusing, you’re not quite sure who to trust. There is also a question of who actually fathered Joolz’s baby and that seems to be a tool that the doctor is using to tear apart the bond between the friends. Anyway, I liked this movie quite a bit, though I can see where the confusion came from I followed along well and had no problem with it myself.