We are all used to seeing thrillers where it’s the woman who has been rendered helpless, locked up and mentally tortured by the male species, so to see the tide turned and the roles reversed in Unconscious is a nice change.
From the moment the film opens we are lured into a mysterious setting, with the lighting set so dark to create that sinister atmosphere. An injured man lies in bed (Wes Bentley) in a somewhat empty house, not knowing where he is or who he is. Select bits of his memory jump in and out of his head. He’s been in a car accident; he remembers a little girl sat in the backseat. Enter a mysterious woman, she claims she is his wife (Kate Bosworth) and tends to him, takes care of him like you would expect any wife to do after her husband has been in an accident.
At this point you realise the characters have no names, but from the minimal amount of cast these really aren’t needed. In fact, everything appears quite minimal from the dialogue to the lack of belongings in the house and eerie repetitive soundtrack. This just adds to the mystery.
The man soon realises something isn’t quite right and starts to question in his mind what the hell is going on, he sees shadows and hears disturbing noises. Unfortunate for this film this build up of tension goes on for far too long, it almost makes you wish that something gruesome would happen. We soon come to realise that the “wife” is probably not all she says as she comes over a lot like a Stepford wife, she disappears for long periods of time and the emergence of the surgical equipment she keeps in the well organised and tidy house.
It turns out the woman is obsessed with her desires to have her own family and is so mentally disturbed she will go to any lengths to obtain what she really wants as for most of the film is played out through her eyes, she is the one in control until the man finally sees the truth leading to the intelligent plot twist. With all the action, the twist and ending coming all at once it seems to be rushed and just thrown in quick as they realised that they were close to the end of their running time.
As thrillers go, Unconscious is interesting and intriguing which entices you in and for some reason keeps you locked in, but it just doesn’t quite fill its potential.
Unconscious is out now to own on DVD and Digital Download.
