Troubled by his past cycles of abuse, a prisoner in a mental asylum uses his best friend and his daughter to help him figure out why patients are disappearing around the facility only to discover the terrifying truth for themselves and put them all in danger from the menace.
This ended up being quite an enjoyable effort. One of the more prominent aspects is the way this one works with its first-person format that gets plenty of play here. Rather than finding a lame way to tell a found-footage effort, this one records the whole film from the individual's perspective which means that everything he sees and experiences is what's told to us so incidents and visions in his peripheral vision have an extra creepy mindset to them. Likewise, the fact that this one allows us to hear his private thoughts in his head or go back in time to watch him being abused in the basement from his memories gives this one a rather intriguing tone that it capitalizes on rather nicely. Even more impressive is that there's no sense of continuity, as this is a rather involved story that takes place over a period of time which makes this even more fun by getting away from a troublesome cliche and managing to feature a rather intriguing point. The way that works into his hallucinations inside the sanitarium is really fun with this one generating some incredibly freaky visions as he works out the central mystery which features the visions of his ghost mother or the flashes of the staff illuminated in neon light for a rather surreal effect. This even helps the films' celebrated sequence of a victim being attacked in the hallways where the only sight features him being thrown around by the invisible force, while the chilling treatment in the past gives this a rather enjoyable manner. This also features a nice twist in the final half that brings the ghost activity to the forefront with the stellar final minutes that really helps sell the main storyline throughout here. That said, there are a few minor issues to be had with this one. The main issue is that there's just not a whole lot going on for the majority of the first half. Beyond a few dreams and visions, the first half has nothing really horrific going on to make this one not feel like a horror film. The treatment isn't as harsh as it figures to be due to being seen through his perspective which neuters the effect. Seeing somebody whack the edge of the camera rather than full-on body blows is a big cheat but it gives this a dark edge which could've gone further if this tactic had not been utilized. Likewise, the disjointed plotline of focusing on the beatings he endured while focusing on the paranoia in the asylum make this somewhat confusing to follow. Going back-and-forth several times to his past is unneeded when it could've been the first half and then carried along in a straightforward manner. The other flaw here is that the first-person perspective keeps potential horror happenings to stories and dialog when it could've been explored on-screen, robbing this of some horrific happenings only being from his viewpoint. Otherwise, there's not much to dislike here.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.
