Michael Polish directs wife Kate Bosworth and floating garbage enthusiast, Wes Bentley as a man crippled by a car accident, suffering temporary memory loss while trapped in a house with some psycho bitch who claims to be his spouse. He’s not so sure, though.
I can’t help but question if this movie is suffering from its own identity crisis. We as a film audience grow wiser with every twist and turn we encounter, to the point where we’ve seen just about everything. Sometimes it feels that Unconscious is so desperate to conceal its final reveal that it frequently runs the risk of turning itself into a pile of bollocks. For example, imperative conversations one might think the wife ought to have with her forgetful husband are replaced with encyclopaedic jibber-jabber.
As the story delves deeper into more familiar horror territory, in which we get a marginally clearer picture of how insane the wife truly is, the aforementioned crisis only gets worse. It’s a shame this gal is so out of pocket because a quick visit for her to Eli Roth’s Hostel (2005) could do wonders for their marriage.
The on-screen chemistry… Is it even possible to have such a thing with Bentley, who looks permanently pissed off about something random, even when he smiles? Bosworth could certainly do better, but I suppose crazy killer chicks can’t be choosers. Regardless, the two do the best they can with the blend of sorta-Mad Men meets kinda-Misery they must’ve seen winking at them from the pages of the screenplay. Unfortunately for them the combination turns out to be quite the clusterfuck. The cinematography and lighting do add a layer to the psychology, as well as keeping things pretty, but the rest is pretty crud.
LAST WORDS:
Eventually the film cuts the crap and takes you on a more serviceable journey with blood and saws, and may even fool you into thinking you’ve watched an enjoyable movie with a super twist. If it does, that’s great! But if you truly like a movie you don’t watch it again while waiting for “the shit bit” to be over. Especially when that shit bit happens to be 75% of the damn thing!