Film: The Clinic

Director: James Rabbitts

 

Some 18 months ago I watched a film by the name of The Horseman, and being too drunk to follow it, dismissed it as horse poop. A month back I finally got around to re-watching it with a mind clear of both preconceptions and alcohol and was pretty darn blown away. It hardly seemed real that this was the same film I had snoozed through 17 months prior, and as well as all that, it came to mind that Australia must have more to offer than I’ve personally tapped into. By sheer coincidence, I happened to stumble upon The Clinic; an independent Aussie film from 2010 I had heard absolutely no mention of until now and it has reinforced in me the need to investigate Australian horror cinema further.

 

The Clinic is the first full length feature film from emerging talent James Rabbitts, who is currently working on a second one entitled The Aurora Stone. Set on Christmas Eve 1979 I’d like to say this isn’t a film to get the kids and grandparents settled down for watching after stuffing themselves with turkey and plum pudding, but at least we make an effort to bring you something festive! Now we have a young, seemingly middle-class couple, Cameron and Beth, with a baby on the way, who narrowly escaping a road accident decide to pull over and stay the night at a motel. See where this is going right – nobody stays at a motel without having some sort of death wish or else a total lack of horror-film smarts. I mean, the owner is a real lecherous creep who goes as far to make an extra buck as to charge the couple an extra head for their unborn baby, and when Cameron complains his response is to point out they won’t find another motel for miles and miles. Fair comment.

 

Unable to drift off, Cameron goes for a walk to find somewhere to grab a bite to eat, leaving the pregnant missus to sleep in peace. The real story begins when Beth awakens…not in her bed, but in an ice-filled, blood-stained bathtub minus her baby, which has been removed by caesarean leaving the anxious mother fretting over where the hell her baby has gone?! Should she try to find the baby, or try and escape to safety? Well, the question is soon answered as escape proves impossible; the premises, which happens to be most conveniently a run down abattoir, is surrounded by 10ft high barbed wire fences and is protected by vicious hounds ready to savage anyone who crosses their path. Unable to get away, Beth collapses and is found by a group of women who it seems are all in the same boat. Woke up in a bathtub, had their babies stolen and no-one has the slightest clue what has happened. Between them, they try to find their babies and get to the bottom of things…however things aren’t all that simple and to discover which baby belongs to which mother it would seem that someone is playing a cruel game where the mother must decide whether to severely mutilate herself or murder her fellow “inmates”. It seems someone has already taken the latter option and thus everyone’s lives are in danger.

 

The Clinic taps into the ultimate maternal fear of having ones baby snatched and in that respect the film reminds me very much of Maury and Bustillo’s French shocker À l’intérieur (2007). This is not a far-fetched film and its plausibility is what makes it so fascinating; it certainly helps that the acting is very good and Tabrett Bethell gives a superb performance as Beth. As the plot unfolds the real motives become clear as do the messages behind the film; similar to other efforts in the (sigh, I know I don’t like the phrase either) “torture porn” blueprint, Hostel and Martyrs, it highlights the way that those most powerful in society own the arses of the other 99%. Human life is so cheap for a few grand you can buy the right to torture, kill or own another human being if your bank balance is big enough and you have the resources at your disposal. For those few of the wealthy elite, anything is possible. This could also be compared to a film like Das Experiment, as it makes one think also about the kind of psychological testing that has gone on behind closed doors for decades. These women are little more than guinea pigs thrown into a desperate situation where their mother/child relationship depends on extreme actions in order for those higher up the ranks to determine the outcome for someone else’s benefit.

 

This is a really tense horror/thriller picture that had me gripped almost instantly, and there are a couple of decent plot twists I didn’t see coming. The dark, muted palette definitely aids the tension and bleak atmosphere the music is fairly minimal yet powerful enough to enhance the visuals rather than distract you. The dingy lighting also provides rather an effective canvas for some satisfying gore scenes; the way the blood spatters against a rather clinical backdrop of whites and pale greens has that hard, brutal look of realism rather than a more colourful comic approach. It’s not as over the top as some of the films mentioned in this review but there are some nice scenes of women tearing open their own stomachs and rooting around in there, severed legs on a victim found left for dead and a woman slashed up in the slaughterhouse are all notable moments. This is apparently based loosely on true events; not a true story but it was inspired by various abductions that occurred in Australia. Not one to watch if you have a bun in the oven, but if you like your horror with plenty of tension and gore this comes highly recommended.