Unrest

(2006) ***

Physician wannabe, Alison Blanchard, arrives for her first day of gross anatomy class. Already a bit queasy about the prospect of dissecting a cadaver, Alison faints when asked to make the first cut. Despite some ribbing from the other students, Alison is certain that her fainting spell was not the result of the dissection, but rather because she sensed the ‘presence’ of the cadaver. Her professor brushes of her concerns as “first year jitters” yet Alison remains unconvinced. When everyone who disturbs the cadaver begins dying horribly, Alison must solve the mystery of a restless spirit.



Unrest is the second best (Reincarnation being the first) of the "8 Films 2 Die 4" from last year's initial After Dark Horrorfest where for one weekend only, eight never-before-seen horror films were screened(this year’s film series screens later this month). Unrest achieves a nice claustrophobic feeling because most of the story unfolds in the sterile setting of a gross anatomy lab. It loses some punch because at this point the “restless spirit” idea has been done to death (heh heh). Yet despite the “been there done that” feeling the film might engender, there are enough jolts and gross outs to keep you interested. Unrest gets extra credit for one particularly squeamish scene where Alison strips down to her underwear and jumps into a tank of formaldehyde filled with dissected corpses. I don’t know about you but even if it meant that I could help out a restless spirit, there’s no freakin’ way that I’m jumping into a tank of formaldehyde filled with dissected corpses. Fun stuff.