A Cure for Wellness

Gore Verbinski is going back to horror, the genre that made him famous (The Ring), after spending some time with blockbusters (Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lone Ranger) and his new film is one of the biggest surprises for me this year. A Cure for Wellness has a very attractive theme set in a sanatorium in the beautiful Swiss Alps, an aspiring protagonist, Dan de Haan, who, although rather unlikeable, gave a solid performance, and intelligent dialogue, excellent camerawork – you can see that Verbinsky is more or less into unconventional camera shots, the crash with a deer is one of the best car and animal collisions ever filmed. Overall, there are very solidly directed horror scenes that will please any fan. Nothing is pretty to look at, but at the same time I got goosebumps and was fascinated. For some, the the two and a half hour running time may be a drawback, but for me it was a very entertaining affair that kept me on my toes throughout. A great mystery satisfaction that will be one of the best this year. In terms of visuals, A Cure for Wellness is perhaps one of the best made mystery horror dramas I've ever had the opportunity to see. 85%. (06/06/2017)

The atmosphere will purify you like Professor Volmer's famous water. The first 15 minutes or so are pure ecstasy. Like a gothic horror from Sorrentino. For about an hour, A Cure for Wellness keeps you suspecting that it is coming up with a clever metaphor for a world plagued by the cancer of ambition and mammon. Of course, nothing like that happens. The screenplay has multiple sclerosis, so it dissipates the quite primitive incestuous story so perfectly along the way that in the end it doesn't make much sense. But it does not matter. This film loses its sanity as amusingly as the main character, and the ball ending is something that died out in Hollywood in the 1930s. And Verbinski pulls it out of the coffin, as if it were a graceful quail. Necrophilia intercourse with everything. Unjust, insane, sometimes almost stupid... but incredibly fun. Do you know where the alpine water can be bought? (16/02/2017)

This horror movie, A Cure for Wellness uses a carefully constructed atmosphere to get under your skin. However, as the story moves into the second half, it begins to lose a little of its initial charm, shrouded in sinister mystery. Nevertheless, I was not bored at all, on the contrary, the plot absolutely absorbed me. In addition, I was absolutely captivated by the beautiful mountain locations where the filming took place. Personally, however, I would have liked a more sophisticated solution to the mystery. (75%) (10/12/2022)

Whoever gave Verbinsky the money he needed to make A Cure for Wellness look so beautiful must be insane. But the insanity doesn’t end there – and will naturally disappoint anyone incapable of leaving behind the expectations of an intelligent and ambitious future genre classic (which is already made clear at least in the first half hour). On the other hand, I think that there hasn’t been anyone in history who has shot so well, and with such budget, a thoroughbred Gothic horror script out of Hammer. The core idea is alright and it’s elaborated with some sophistication, considering the standards of the sub-genre (i.e. silly, but in a cute rather than annoying way). The main problem is unfortunately the length, and here I agree with several of the more critical reviewers. The beginning is excellent, it manages to arouse the curiosity of the viewer, it’s mysterious and disturbing. The climax is also great, the WTF moments come one after another in such way that at times I wasn’t sure that I was seeing what I was seeing. Jason Isaacs plays Christopher Lee in his best years, and wonderfully at that (but who among today’s moviegoers will appreciate it?). Unfortunately, for more than one hour in the middle, Verbinsky stretches things too much and the film wouldn’t be hurt by a significant cut in its run. If everything between the first and last half hours was condensed to about half the time, it would be perfect, because I am really happy that something like this exists. (17/02/2017)

Shutter Island 2 – under the influence. Verbinski is a painter, his artistic eye for long takes and visually arresting stylisation is very satisfying for fans of the form. For the first half at least, he also manages to expertly build tension and a sense of something slightly bizarre beyond reality and completely unpredictable. Unfortunately, the surrealism is a bit too much, and in the hands of unimaginative screenwriters is bound to end up in an out-of-place fiasco. Scorsese also had amazing character psychology and a fantastic twist, which is lacking here. (13/06/2017)