Review: Suspended Animation (2001)

SUSPENDED ANIMATION
A Film Review by John Ulmer
Written November 28th, 2003

Verdict: 2.5/5 stars

REVIEW BY JOHN ULMER

I received a copy of "Suspended Animation" in the mail earlier this week. It 
was postmarked from a company in New York, with attached sheets of paper 
naming the cast and crew, and an interview with the director, John D. 
Hancock, from Phantom magazine.

I'm still not quite sure why I was sent a copy, and I'm not really that sure 
how I was sent a copy. I don't have any mailing address on my Website, and I 
don't have it listed publicly on the Internet. I can only assume the DVD was 
given to me so that I could review the film. But it's a puzzling affair of 
how that company in New York got my address.

The movie was filmed in 2001 and given a limited theatrical release in 
October of 2003. I believe that the DVD I received is a preview DVD of what 
will hit stores some time in 2004. Perhaps the company in New York thought 
I'd review the DVD, too? I suppose I can, although there's nothing to review 
-- it has fine quality and sound, basic picture menus, and a single 
theatrical trailer. It probably doesn't need much more.

The film is about an animator named Tom Kempton (Alex McArthur), and his 
fascination with his own kidnapper. It all starts when Tom and his buddies 
are out on their snowmobiles during winter. Tom gets behind and flips his 
snowmobile when he's trying to catch up; he seeks shelter in a nearby log 
cabin, which is home to a pair of strange sisters -- one rather obese and 
the other frail and sickly. They slip Tom a drug and he wakes up tied to a 
chair. It's then that he realizes the sisters are cannibals, and that they 
plan to make him their next meal.

After making a daring escape with the help of his friends, Tom finds himself 
unable to move on with his life. He can't think of anything but the small 
sister, Vanessa, who kidnapped him and chopped off his pinky finger (which 
was successfully re-attached, or so I can only assume). Tom hunts down 
Vanessa's adopted child, draws her as a cartoon out of fascination, and 
eventually fights and helps murder her serial killer son, Sandor (Fred 
Meyers), who has a pimple-popping scene so stomach-turning it could rival 
the most gruesome horror films.

The only thing worse than the killer getting up one last time for another 
scare is the two-killer theory. Here, it's a three-killer theory. There's a 
surprise twist at the end that leaves open one of three options: the 
remaining killer is one of the sisters, back from their graves, their 
brother, or Vanessa's daughter. And, if you're enough of a horror freak, you 
may even think it's Sandor coming back from the grave.

I've got to say that though the surprise ending didn't surprise me, I was 
expecting something else to happen. I expected something much cleverer and 
much more startling than what did happen at the end. I had worked out a 
complex theory of who the real killer might be and it never happened. By the 
time the credits started to roll, I wasn't quite sure what the message of 
the film was. First it starts out as a sort of "Misery Redux," then it turns 
into "Deliverance" on snowmobiles, then it turns into "Single White Female," 
then it turns into "Psycho," then it turns into nothing. Is the point that 
the gene for wanting to kill people runs in families? Is it that you should 
not dig deeper into matters already resolved? Or is it just a wandering 
horror-thriller that isn't sure what it wants to be?

The movie was penned by Dorothy Tristan, John Hancock's wife. It's based on 
her novel, which I have never heard of -- and now I can understand why. I'd 
like to give "Suspended Animation" a good review because I enjoyed the 
beginning as a sort of remake of "Misery," and I feel bad picking on a movie 
sent to me in hopes I would do the opposite. But if I followed that, it 
would be nothing but a bribe.

I won't be totally unkind to the movie. John Hancock, the man behind Robert 
De Niro's "Bang the Drums Slowly" and the cult family classic "Prancer" 
(also very dark), directs well -- for what it's worth. And to be fair, 
"Suspended Animation" has a few interesting scenes, but the casting of Alex 
McArthur never helps much, and the flimsy script only harms what could have 
been a really tense and scary movie.

- John Ulmer
Webmaster of The Movie Portal
http://www.wiredonmovies.com/

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X-Language: en
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X-RT-TitleID: 1127171
X-RT-SourceID: 1382
X-RT-AuthorID: 6769
X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/5