Review – A Cure for Wellness

A Cure for Wellness is one of the most original horror movies I have see in a long, long time.  This is an incredibly ambitious and ballsy film that really pushes the psychological thriller genre to another level, though not without its flaws.

A Cure for Wellness is about an ambitious young executive named Lockhart (Dane DeHaan), who is sent to retrieve his company’s CEO from an idyllic but mysterious “wellness center” at a remote location in the Swiss Alps.  He soon becomes one of the center’s patients and quickly suspects that the spa’s miraculous treatments are not what they seem.

Director Gore Verbinski really sinks us into this surreal world.  The look and feel of the movie is very atmospheric and chilling.  From the board room at Lockhart’s company to the spa at the center, you’re never comfortable watching this movie.  What makes us even more uncomfortable is the fact that we’ve never seen a world, or movie, like this before.  The wellness center is a bizarre, eerie place that looks absolutely stunning, thanks to some great set design.  This is a place that has a lot going on inside of it and, at a whopping two and a half hour runtime, we see and learn everything about this center and some of it will shock you.

This is a movie all about deception and secrets and Verbinski does a great job messing with our minds.  Reminiscent of Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island (2010), we never know what is real and what is fake, not even as the closing credits roll.  Dane DeHaan, who has been on my up-and-coming actor’s list for a few years now, gives a committed performance and really sells the confusion and fear of Lockhart.  He has no idea what is going on and neither do we, which makes the mystery all that more unpredictable.  Jason Isaacs also leads us on this horrific path as the center’s creepily calm leader, Volmer.  We know he is up to something and we know he is full of shit, but Isaacs charm and sinister smile make want to believe he is just helping people.

As I said above, this is as original and ambitious as horror movies get in this era.  But with that, there is bound to be some problems along the way and this movie has a few.  The movie has some serious pacing issues during its overlong runtime.  This isn’t a movie that just flies bye.  The first act drags quite a bit, the middle hour is a relentless string of twists, turns, and shocking images, and the ending is disturbing, chilling, and mildly confusing.

With those issues aside, A Cure for Wellness is a weird, unique movie that you should see.  It is visually stunning and very eerie, with a number of twists and turns to keep you interested and two stellar lead performances.  It is rare to see something this original and this ambitious in Hollywood today, so make sure to support these movies when we can before we get overrun with comic book movies and sequels.

MY RATING – 3/4

Did you see A Cure for Wellness?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.