Lack of good storyline.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Horror fans are familiar with Carpenter's split personality: the great film-maker and the lousy/lazy film-maker. So who better to do a movie about schizophrenia? The snag is that the lousy Carpenter was in charge when this was made. Perhaps electro-shocks might have helped? Great film-makers can use huge plot-twists without lying to the viewer, whereas lousy film-makers can't.Meryl Streep's daughter is pretty much the least appealing, worst actress I've seen in ages. When Carpenter screws up, he screws up real proper, and casting his movies with nepotists and bland wallpaper is an integral part of the inept Carpenter. The film looks plastic and uninspired, with a dumb plot-twist reminiscent of "Identity". All the insane-asylum cliches are covered too. Carpenter doesn't even have the decency to show us any of the women's breasts in the shower scene, that's how far gone he is in his laziness and cluelessness. (I don't include Meryl's demonic offspring, she can stay covered as far as I'm concerned.)

I happened upon this movie a few years ago while browsing Netflix's horror/thriller genre. I'd just like to preface this by saying that I personally tend to find the plots and premises of horror movies really interesting (I don't really watch horror movies for the scare factor, however backwards or counter-intuitive that may sound). So, when I stumbled upon this movie, I of course had nothing better to watch at the time. I was not expecting much from an unknown Netflix b-movie. But holy cow. To someone with my inclinations, I found that this film was incredibly artful in its use of storytelling, to say the very least. It's very obvious that the horror is not the central theme of the film; in all honesty, you could probably remove that aspect altogether and still have an awesome film.The acting is good, though at times, it's a little over the top. Of course, Jared Harris is a great actor, but even the "unknowns" did well – I'd never seen Amber Heard before this movie, but she did well in her role. Mamie Gummer's character (and the way she played her) was really notable as well. The characters overall are relatively dynamic in the way they were written, but were brought to life by the actors. When I saw the bad reviews for this film, I couldn't help but be slightly appalled. I understand those who believe the story/plot to be unoriginal, and of course, there are things about this movie that are downright laughable at times. But I feel that it must be stated that the film is redeemed not by the originality of the story – rather, it's the way that the story is told that makes it great. It reminds me of what my Shakespeare professor used to say: "He wrote the most unoriginal plots, and he knew it. But you know, no one sees a Shakespeare play for the plot."Seriously. Watch it – all the way through, to the very end (even if you're not completely into it). You'll see what I mean. I'm usually very critical of the TV shows and the films that I watch, and even with its flaws, this film has merit.

Dark and scary places with ghosts, questionable therapies and some disrespect for it's patients humanity... usually, this is how we imagine an insane asylum. This recipe, which has allowed most of old sanatoriums to gain a reputation for being haunted, is quite visible in this film, which tells the story of a mental patient who is terrified by a ghost. Set in the sixties (it seems that John Carpenter truly enjoys this period, where his career began), the film quickly creates a positive tension and suspense. This is done by putting together these ideas and a plot full of unanswered questions. Some scenes in the beginning of the film are only understood in the end, as if they were clues for the public to find its own answer. Some of the movie's most intense scenes, unsuitable for the faint-hearted, resort to scary medical techniques that were top-of-the-line at the time. Amber Heard is the protagonist, and is OK in her character, fulfilling without surprising; Mamie Gummer and Danielle Panabaker gave life to the crazy colleagues I liked the most, as they are the opposite of each other but interact very well with Heard. Jared Harris has been convincing in the role of the doctor. So, this film is far from completely satisfying Carpenter's fans, but was enough as an appetizer for them.

A woman, Kristen (played by Amber Heard) is institutionalised in a psychiatric hospital after burning down a farm house. The head of the hospital, Dr Stringer, is using an experimental therapy on patients. Soon after arriving Kristen and other inmates are are terrorised by a ghost, Alice.Started well enough, and the intrigue was maintained reasonably well. That that the plot was that original though, but it wasn't entirely predictable. After a point however it just degenerated into standard scare-a-minute and twists-for-the-sake-of-twists horror fare. Ending redeemed it to a slight degree though.Performances were OK. I never mind seeing Amber Heard...