Unsane

Determined to prove that he could make a creditable horror film on an iPhone 7, prolific director Steven Soderbergh took a cast and small crew to an abandoned hospital north of New York City. Shooting by day and editing on his laptop at night, Soderbergh made this $1.5 million movie in 10 days. The story revolves around snarky financial analyst Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy), who moved from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania to escape obsessed, deluded stalker David Strine (Joshua Leonard). After visiting a psychiatric counselor where she candidly expresses suicidal ideations and stupidly signs a consent form, Sawyer is involuntarily committed to Highland Creek Behavioral Center, a mental health facility—ostensibly for 24 hours. “This is all a terrible mistake,” she maintains. But Sawyer’s sanity is called into question after she spies a creepy orderly who looks just like her stalker—which only prolongs her incarceration alongside mentally disturbed, shiv-carrying, tampon-tossing Violet (Juno Temple) and opioid-addicted Nate (Jay Pharoah). Unfortunately, the all-too-familiar cat-and-mouse plot here is clumsy, cliché-riddled, and underwhelming. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include an “Unsanity” promo (5 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for a disappointing film.] (S. Granger)