I'm a bit mixed on this one.

As an updated to Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor, I think it is an improvement. As a procedural, and an institutional expose, it is heightened and exaggerated, but stylistically impressive.

My issues start with the treatment of mental health in the film. The film is careful not to paint with too broad a brush when it comes to those that are institutionalized. I appreciated that restraint. But this is a stalker film, and the…

I know this will not be a popular opinion, but I did not like this film.

I found it a crushingly ponderous existential meditation.

The film's plot is about a man who is a "stalker". This means that he is a bit of a tour guide to a location or realm called "the zone". The Zone is explained in the film, but only vaugely. We know it is supposed to be a place where wishes come true. The stalker is…

DDL brought to life one of cinema's most memorable characters, horrifying and sympathetic.

Johnny Greenwood created a complex, neurotic, and mesmerizing score.

Robert Elswit shot a film rich in texture, specific in pallet, and gorgeous beyond belief.

Dylan Tichenor cut a film in a way that could have told the story simply through edits.

PTA wrote a script that is obtuse and defiant. It is dense, yet accessible. Its a period piece / character study/ parable / cautionary tale /…