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Bedlam
(2015)
Bedlam
(bizarrely a part of
the After Dark horror
series) is a thriller
set in 1964 where
George Kilner (Guy
Edmonds), a man
riddled with mental
illness passed on from
him by his mother,
admits himself into
the Bedlam Institution
to undergo a radical
new technique
administered by highly
regarded Dr Black
(Peter McAllum). When
he gets there, George
is greeted by a group
of sadistic guards led
by Keeper (Johnny
Boxer, hey wasn't he
in the last movie),
who set a rigourous
regime of torture
behind the doctor's
back. George becomes
friends with fellow
patients Cutter (Gary
Boulter), a man
obsessed with
self-harm, and Sofia
Louis (Cassandra
Swaby), a world famous
actress who lets
people walk all over
her - to the detriment
of her sanity.
Together they attempt
to survive the place,
but when it becomes
clear the treatment
involving shock
therapy isn't working
and that the guard's
routine of torture is
breaking them down, it
becomes a matter of
survival and some just
aren't going to make
it.
Billed as a horror
movie, but it very
much isn't one, more a
survival thriller of
both the physical and
mental kind, Bedlam is
a strange beast. The
combination of the
guard's reckless
torture and regular
shockings, both as a
part of a trial and
torture, are not a lot
of fun to watch,
making Bedlam one
depressing movie.
There's also weird
interludes involving a
sort of 50s/60s moving
picture feel, like
wacky sitcom-like ads
highlighting their
situation which
results in an ending
that needs to be seen
to be believed. And
this feels very out of
place, like it wants
to be a black comedy,
but it is not that
type of movie either.
A strange, strange
movie that is very
hard to recommend.
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