A Cure for Wellness

A young, ambitious Wall Street investment banker is dispatched to Switzerland to retrieve his company's CEO from a mysterious, idyllic spa encased in an Alpine castle. Upon his arrival, Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) observes the elderly, outwardly contented residents wandering around in white robes. As the plot twists and turns, Lockhart winds up in an automobile accident. Awakening with a broken leg, he discovers that he is now a patient, cared for by the suavely sinister Dr. Heinrich Volmer (Jason Isaacs), who explains that the spa's miraculous rejuvenation treatment comes from the water. “Drink!” he's urged. “Drink the water.” Hobbling around the asylum grounds, Lockhart meets Hannah (Mia Goth), a pale, hollow-eyed adolescent who says she's lived there all her life. Commandeering her bicycle to search for a telephone, Lockhart takes Hannah into a nearby village whose Bavarian residents display an obvious antagonism to the castle and all it represents. In addition to an excruciating torture scene—with Lockhart strapped in a dentist's chair, evoking horrifying memories of Laurence Olivier/Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man—and a shocking rape involving incest, the most malevolent scare comes from the repellent use of slimy, slithering eels. Director Gore Verbinski's creepy dystopian thriller slogs along for an ominous two-and-a-half hours, saddling viewers with a surly anti-hero, lunatic villain, and ghastly, nightmarish imagery in a grotesque Gothic horror film gone awry. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include three spoof “Meditations” (6 min.), the deleted sequence “It's Wonderful Here” (5 min.), and a featurette on the film's score (4 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a muddled thriller.] (S. Granger)