Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Fragile



(2005) ***1/2

Amy Nicholls (Calista Flockhart) accepts a position on England’s Isle of Wight to work as a night nurse in an old children’s hospital that is in the process of being closed down. Upon arriving she finds only a skeleton staff and 8 children left in the enormous dwelling (think Ladd School, Rhode Islanders). She soon learns that the hospital is only remaining open temporarily because the main hospital on the island is full of victims from a recent train derailment. Amy is informed that she is replacing a nurse who fell ill under mysterious circumstances.



After making her rounds and meeting all the children, Amy begins hearing strange noises and having visions of a creepy entity. One child, Maggie, confides in Amy that she has been seeing and speaking to a “mechanical girl” who lives on the second floor of the building, which has been sealed off for decades. After investigating further Amy learns that the previous nurse left because she was afraid. Soon the children begin experiencing mysterious broken bones that occur for no reason and Maggie tells Amy that the mechanical girl is to blame. No one believes Amy, or course, and as the hospital comes closer to being shut down for good the otherworldly destruction increases.



Fragile is part of the Fangoria Frighfest series, which annually showcases 8 films that get voted on by fans. The film that wins this contest receives a theatrical release. Fragile is every bit as good, if not better, than most of the films that get released in the U.S. today. I’m speculating that the reason it did not receive more attention is because it is so completely derivative of The Ring. The dilapidated (I think I use that word in every review I write) hospital setting is wonderful and Indiana Jones’ wife is effective and likable as the night nurse. The film drips with dread and has a few good scares. Stream it on Netflix!

8 comments:

Catfreeek said...

I saw this last year and thought it was great too. That ghost is one freaky bitch!

Trevor said...

Agree - the fangoria fright series really had some gems, and this was one of them! very worth seeing.

DKC said...

This is on my list! I'm happy to hear it's good.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

"Fragile", must be Italian. It's amazing but not surprising how many Ring ripoffs were churned out. These movies are starting to look dated. Sounds like a good one though.

It's nice to hear that Calista Flockhart is still alive. I used to watch Ally McBeal religiously for some reason but now I don't even remember what it was about. Wasn't she a lawyer or something?

Octopunk said...

I saw her in a restaurant once. She's tiny! I, too, liked Ally McBeal for a while but got sick of it and ditched it as soon as Portia DeRossi showed up (they were packaging her character a certain way and I just didn't buy it, it was the final straw for me... little did I know she'd be brilliant years later on Arrested Development.

Octopunk said...

Cool review and a neat pick, JPX. The ghosts have such awesome nicknames this year! The Mechanical Girl, the Dirty Girls, the ... ah shit, I just realized that "three little blinking girls" was something Abby wrote, I thought it was from the movie. But it did have Bad Lady.

50PageMcGee said...

johnny sweatpants watched ally mcbeal and the golden girls. i find i know him less each passing year.

this sounds pretty good. i too liked the "mechanical girl" descriptor. sounds like more of a shutter island knockoff than a ring knockoff?

Whirlygirl said...

Sounds like a good one!

Octo, I with you on DeRossi...I always thought she sucked until Arrested Development.

Malevolent

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