A young doctor in a US hospital administers a powerful and untested cocktail of drugs to a coma victim. But instead of curing him, it triggers a powerful "out-of-body" experience and enables the patient - a depraved and dangerous loner - to inhabit other people's bodies and, through them, take revenge on the bullying medical students who were accidentally responsible for his condition.
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Touches You
Good concept, poorly executed.
Fantastic!
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
This low key horror movie is slickly made, has a nice sense of atmosphere, and a cast who approach the material with commitment.This story of a comatose serial killer and the effect on him of irregular medications administered by 15-year old doctor Arielle Kebbel (OK, I was lying about the 15-year old bit, but she definitely looks too young to convince as a doctor) is enormously improbable, but the straight-faced competence of the cast lends it a credibility it doesn't really deserve.Production values appear higher than they probably are.If you are a fan of competently executed but low profile horror movies, there is something to be enjoyed here.
Irish film-maker Paddy Breathnach bored me to tears with the asinine drivel that was Shrooms, but being the reasonable fellow that I am, I was willing to give the guy a second chance at impressing me with his next movie, Red Mist AKA Freakdog (the fact that the back of the DVD showed hottie Arielle Kebbel in her undies had nothing to do with my decision—Scout's honour!).Although this film isn't as soporific as Breathnach's earlier fungi-flavoured flop, at least delivering a few reasonable performances, it's still an ultimately unimpressive effort, with a derivative narrative that borrows heavily from several other horrors (most notably 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and 'Patrick'), a thoroughly unlikable group of extremely clichéd characters, and a surprising lack of gore given the nasty ways in which the characters meet their fates (a juicy knife-in-the-throat aside, Breathnach misses every opportunity to really gross out his audience).Oh, and the 'Kebbel in her scanties' scene lasts for all of 10 seconds... grrrrr!
I just got done watching Red Mist, a.k.a, Freakdog and the film was a little underwhelming. I won't compare this film to Marc Schoelermann's Pathology, but the characters in both films played out the same. What I mean is that, in both films, their characters are young, attractive, with a penchant for nihilistic/masochistic behavior.The film, IMO, is too rushed. There are some interesting subplots in the film that don't get any explanation. I know that in horror films character development goes bye-bye, but this film could have used some. I know that this won't qualify as a spoiler because it is never explained, but the character Kenneth has his pants pulled down in front of the young doctors and there are all these scars on his legs. We don't get an explanation which could be useful or help explain what is going to happen later in the film. The whole film seemed like it wrapped up in the last fifteen minutes of the film. There could have been more added to the film.
The plot follows a guilt ridden, Trainee, Doctor who administers an untested drug to a voyeuristic, loner ( never a good idea.) The drug sends his brainwaves berserk ( told you.) and gives him the ability to - leave his comatose state, possess people and indulge in a spot of bloody vengeance ( Nice.)The "I know what you did Last Summer." "Patrick." combo will be familiar. However, the execution in Freakdog remains consistently clever and thoroughly engaging. The Possession / Body Hopping angle produces a storyline with its fair share of inventive killings and surprising plot twists. An accomplished, pleasing to the eye cast, set about their roles with gusto. The highlights being Arielle Kebbel as a guilty medic, Martin Compston the groups scheming mouth piece, Andrew Lee Potts, the deadly, comatose 'Freakdog' of the title and Stephen Dillane a slippery Senior Doctor. As well as ably handled scares and moments of deliciously, dark humour, Freakdog maintains a palpable air of suspense throughout. The 'gore quota' includes - skull crushing, stabbing, self mutilation, and a particularly nasty acid guzzling incident. As such, the film more than meets its visceral remit. However, it doesn't wallow in it at the expense of the story. Which in my view is a big plus. Kudos to the Director for taking a mature approach to what could have been yet another gratuitous gore-fest. The, Asian influenced, imagery makes the most of the hospital setting and adds to the dark, claustrophobic tone. Overall, Freakdog represents a solid entry to the genre. Consistently, clever, creepy and shocking. Hopefully, it is a sign of exciting things to come from Northern Ireland. Well worth a look. HH