*Walks slowly through Raven Hill Cemetery* Oh! Well hello there! I didn’t know I would have company way out here. Hmm? Oh that’s Abercrombie, he is just a hermit who hangs out here. He is mostly harmless. Here, have a seat, and have some Zombie Juice. Well, since you are here, I suppose I can share this movie review with you tonight. Fresh from the crypt we have a movie called Fragile. How fitting is it that we are in a graveyard full of skeletons when this movie stars Calista Flockhart? Har har. Bad joke? Who said I was joking? There she is hanging out by that tomb… -Calista waves- Huddle up by this fire here, and I will spin my tale. Ghoul Ribs anyone?
Welcome to Mercy Falls Children’s Hospital. Meet Susan (Susie Trayling), a night nurse at the hospital. She is listening to the TV talk about a bad train wreck, while she appears to be packing up some boxes. When she turns around, there is Maggie (Yasmin Murphy) standing there and she looks quite frightened. Maggie tells her that “she” is coming, and that she can feel her coming. Susan tells her that they won’t be talking about that anymore and sends her back to bed. Maggie reluctantly goes back to bed, in a room with other kids. A glass on her night stand starts to shake and a boy in the next bed wakes up screaming. Next you see Susan and Robert (Richard Roxburgh) rushing the boy on a stretcher to an X-Ray room. Robert asks the boy what happened, and he says he doesn’t know. They take one X-Ray, and there is a bad fracture to his leg. Robert and Susan discuss what happened, and Susan doesn’t know either. They go to take a second X-Ray, and just as they hit the button, the boy turns and screams. A second fracture appears.
I got my swim trunks, and my flippie-floppies… I’m flipping burgers, you at Kinko’s, straight flipping copies… I mean… *cough* Next scene we have Amy Nichols (Calista Flockhart) on a boat. She appears deep in thought. When the boat comes to a stop there is a man there to pick her up. Roy (Colin MacFarlane) and her talk about the situation at the hospital. Basically, the hospital is shutting down, but with the train wreck, there are not enough beds at the hospital and the kids were being transferred to as a result of the crash, so the 8 remaining kids have to stay until they clear out some of the crash victims. Meet Mrs. Folder (Gemma Jones), apparently the head nurse, who is walking Amy through the hospital while filling her in and some minor things. They get in the elevator to go up a floor to where the kids are, and Amy notices the “2” button is missing. Mrs. Folder explains that its been closed since 1959, and she is not going to bother clearing it out, since no one bothered back then.
Hello mullet… I mean… Helen (Elena Anaya) the day nurse! Mrs. Folder leaves, and Helen introduces herself to Amy. They take a stroll to get Amy acquainted with the place. Everything is a mess, boxes and supplies everywhere. Helen takes her to meet the children who are playing in the play room. Amy finds her way to Maggie, and they talk about how Maggie uses the blocks to talk to someone, but before she can say who she talks to, Helen breaks for dinner. Helen takes Amy to show her where the beds are, and we meet Simon (Lloyd F. Booth Shankley) (the one who had his legs broken at the beginning) who is being put to bed. Amy asks Helen how it happened, and Helen tells her that it is a good question. Amy goes to her room and unpacks (a bottle of pills) and puts on her nurse uniform. She looks awful distraught.
Helen leaves for the night and Amy is looking over some patient files. Lights go out, and Amy takes a peek into the kids room to check on a patient with a breathing machine. Maggie makes it known that she is awake, and they discuss her security blanket, and who Maggie talks to with the blocks. A mechanical girl named Charlotte who cant talk like normal people, so she uses the blocks. Amy suggests that her and Maggie go talk to her, but Maggie says that Charlotte lives on the second floor. Amy tells her that next time Charlotte comes, she and Maggie can have a chat with her, and has her go back to bed. Amy is in the kids bathroom (hers doesn’t have water) and she hears a loud bang. She leaves and checks the hallway, but swears she sees something in the play room. S he trips on a block, and turns it back to the way it was… It says “MINE”. Another big bang. Maggie is in bed when she starts getting really scared, the glass on her night stands shakes and breaks, and all the kids are up. Amy goes in and quiets them. Maggie tells Amy that Charlotte is mad.
Amy is VERY distraught now… she takes a happy pill and goes to sleep. But is awoken by a nightmare in the AM. The kids are going bonkers over a helicopter that is there to pick up Simon to take him to a specialist. Amy gets him ready and they hop in the elevator. But its not moving. You see small cracks appear and little debris falling, then it moves up… and stops almost to the second floor. Amy and Simon start to freak out. Roy comes to try and help, and then the elevator drops down to the bottom floor. Simon leaves on the helicopter. Helen, Mrs. Folder, and Amy are sitting in the nurses station discussing what happened. Mrs. Folder offers to take Amy’s shift, but she refuses saying she is ok. Even though its clear she is not, she takes a happy pill. Amy and Robert talk a bit in the nurse’s station for a few. She goes to get a sweater, and Maggie is in her room. Maggie asks Amy if she saw Charlotte. She says she didn’t, and Maggie tells her that Charlotte is the one who hurt Simon. Amy goes to look at Simon’s file and see’s what we saw at the beginning of the film proven in the X-Ray pictures. What is going on here? What is with this hospital? Who is Charlotte?
Final Warnings
This movie was pretty good. Exactly my kind of movie. I love spook movies set in hospitals and psychiatric wards (Must be from my experience with Ghost Hunting at an old Psychiatric Ward) cause they always play on my own fears. And isn’t that the reason we watch spook films? To be scared? This one was done really well. Acting was surprisingly good. Especially Yasmin Murphy, as Maggie. And I know, even Calista did such a good job. She was definitely believable. With the exception of the fact that I was given a screener… That had the “Property of” mess at the bottom, and this one even had a running time stamp going at the top. But I will be seeking to add this movie, a real copy, to my own collection.
You did what? Which one of you gave him your Zombie Juice and Ghoul Ribs?! I said Abercrombie was -mostly- harmless! -growls and howls are heard behind you, and the ground starts to shake- Oh boy… this is not good. I… am… going to go… this way… -*hops on her broom and leaves cackling* Till next time folks! Stay clear of the woods! Stitches is mighty hungry tonight!
