THE DEAD CENTER (2018)

Studio:      Arrow Films
Director:    Billy Senese
Writer:      Billy Senese
Producer:  Billy Senese, Denis Deck, Jonathan Rogers, Shane Carruth
Stars:     Shane Carruth, Poorna Jagannathan, Jeremy Childs, Bill Feehely

Review Score:

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Summary:

A psychiatrist and a medical examiner unravel an unsettling mystery behind a John Doe who inexplicably returns to life.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

A John Doe who committed suicide in a motel unexpectedly returns to life in the Metro General Hospital morgue. The amnesiac man, later learned to be named Michael James Clark, staggers unnoticed into a psychiatric ward room and collapses on a bed.

Dr. Edward Graham from the Fulton County medical examiner’s office discovers that Michael’s body is missing when he arrives at the hospital to conduct an autopsy. Edward becomes more intrigued by the unusual case when he sees a spiral-shaped scar in a photograph of Michael’s body.

Psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Forrester learns from his boss, Dr. Sarah Grey, that his tendency to put patients over procedure has resulted in disciplinary supervision. A nurse named Travis brings Daniel to Michael after hospital staff discovers him in a catatonic state. Knowing that Sarah would immediately discharge the John Doe, Daniel convinces Travis to route all paperwork through him in order to clandestinely treat Michael.

Michael comes out of his catatonia and briefly attacks hospital staff. Daniel is able to calm Michael down.

Travis confines Michael to a seclusion room for safety. Michael suddenly enters an entranced state where he hears voices as the lights flicker. His mouth agape, Michael forcibly holds Travis in front of him. Suddenly feeling sick, Travis stumbles outside to the parking garage and is later found dead.

Edward visits the motel crime scene where Michael died. Edward finds signs of a bloody struggle as well as a spiral carved into the base of the bathtub.

Daniel has his first session with Michael. Michael professes that he needs to leave although he doesn’t know why. Unable to remember anything else, Michael suddenly hears intense ringing inside his head.

Detective Jim Lawson identifies the John Doe as Michael Clark to Edward. Edward asks to read Michael’s supposed suicide note, which says, “I am the mouth of death, none are beyond my reach.”

Daniel puts Michael under hypnosis. Michael cryptically reveals that he died because he was trying to kill a spinning darkness inside him that wants to enter this world. Michael explains that he can see the horrible thoughts of the entity, who has been here many times before. Michael says suicide only made it stronger and caused him to kill someone. Michael’s vision then goes black as he slips back into catatonia.

Distraught after learning of Travis’ death, Daniel drunkenly calls Sarah in the middle of the night for comfort. Sarah’s boyfriend tells Sarah she has to stop enabling Daniel despite her sympathy for his personal troubles.

Strange noises lead a nurse named Floyd to unlock Michael’s room. While an unruly patient distracts Floyd, Michael enters another trance that kills fellow patient Miss Lewis, who is subsequently found with her mouth frozen open.

After discovering that Michael’s house was destroyed in a fire, Edward visits Michael’s parents, who currently care for Michael’s two small children. Edward tells them that their son died, but his body is missing. Mr. Clark tells Edward that Michael should have died in the same fire that killed his wife, because Michael became mentally disturbed afterward.

Mr. and Mrs. Clark claim to not recognize the spiral scar in the photograph of Michael’s body. However, Mrs. Clark shows Edward a room of book and newspaper clippings where Michael seemingly painted a black spiral on the ground. The collected stories detail unexplained massacres throughout history sometimes attributed to a “God of Death” with a spiral over its face. Edward recognizes a passage in one of the historical texts about the entity as the same quote from Michael’s suicide note.

Suspicious that Travis and Miss Lewis’ deaths may be connected, Daniel conducts a secret session with Michael. Michael warns that his body is being taken over and Daniel must kill him, otherwise no one will be able to stop the entity.

A struggle ensues as Daniel demands to know more about the two people Michael claims to have killed. Michael becomes entranced and begins to possess Daniel before orderlies separate them. Daniel hears strange voices while playing back audio of the encounter afterward.

Sarah reprimands Daniel for illegally admitting Michael. Daniel insists that Michael is dangerous and cannot be released. Sarah overrules Daniel and removes him from the case.

Daniel examines Travis’ body in the morgue and sees that his mouth was frozen in a black-veined scream like Miss Lewis. Daniel violently confronts Michael with accusations of murder. Michael suddenly remembers who he really is. The two men continue shouting and experience haunting visions before orderlies separate them once again. Concerned about his increasingly worrisome mental state and behavior, Sarah has Daniel sedated and restrained.

Sarah examines Michael. Michael enters another entranced state and possesses Sarah.

Edward learns that Michael was found alive in the Metro General psychiatric ward. Edward arrives at the hospital in time to see Michael leaving with his father. Edward hurries after them.

Daniel wakes up, escapes his handcuffs, and finds Sarah convulsing in her office. Sarah dies with black veins in her face and her mouth frozen open.

Mr. Clark brings Michael home. The lights flicker as Michael has another seizure and emits a piercing scream. Edward enters the house in time to see Michael and Mr. Clark entranced with an exchange of black energy between them.

Daniel arrives at the Clark residence to find Edward dead alongside Michael’s entire family. Daniel follows a trail of death throughout multiple homes in the neighborhood before finally confronting Michael. Michael enters another haunting trance of spiraling visions. Daniel beats Michael to death with a crowbar.

Police process the mass murders throughout the neighborhood. Recovering in an ambulance, Daniel becomes the entity’s new host as he is seen in a catatonic state of amnesia with black veins in his face.

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Review:

An unidentified suicide victim just came back to life in the Metro General morgue, although no one knows it yet. Medical examiner Edward can answer “who?” since he knows John Doe’s real name, but Edward has no idea where the body went. Psychiatrist Daniel can answer “where?” since the catatonic amnesiac turned up in his ward, except Daniel doesn’t know he is a missing man who was previously dead. Unaware that they are separately unraveling the same strange case, the two medical professionals now seek to answer “how?” and “why?” from opposite ends of a mind-bending mystery.

Not just because of its reanimated corpse premise, but also because of its similarly atmospheric aesthetic, the dark aura of “The Dead Center” would pair terrifically with the supernatural suspense of “The Autopsy of Jane Doe” (review here) and the slasher thrills of “The Corpse of Anna Fritz” (review here). You could slot it wherever you feel the film fits best on that triple bill of morgue-set mysteries. Although if you want to save the best for last, you may want to reserve that spot for “The Dead Center.”

If your tastes in slow-burn horror lean toward economical indies such as “Absentia” (review here), “The Pact” (review here), or “They Look Like People” (review here), “The Dead Center” will scratch equivalent itches for macabre moodiness. Light on expensive production value, “The Dead Center” renders its budgetary limitations irrelevant by oozing uncomfortable creepiness using psychological subtlety instead.

Independent filmmakers can learn excellent lessons from “The Dead Center’s” exceptional attention to authenticity. Particularly when telling a tale featuring an otherworldly element, convincingness becomes crucial for grounding fantasy in some semblance of reality. Remarkably for a movie made without the strength of powerhouse producers or stars, “The Dead Center” builds a setting where each bit role and side scene contributes to a bigger picture where believability benefits immensely from collective details.

Every extra in the film reads like a real person. A motel manager who appears briefly, incidental nurses, and random psych ward patients all appear to truly occupy their professions and personalities. Lesser movies would throw away these roles to inexperienced amateurs, family, or friends. “The Dead Center” understands how much little things matter, making it genuinely impressive to watch the background breathe. Even a minor touch like having a car screech past its intended turn and having to back up puts one more pinch of realism into proceedings instead of only orchestrating action around major movements.

Secondary hospital drama occurring in between primary plot developments is treated as no less important despite its status as support. Nothing plays like a “Grey’s Anatomy” soap opera at all. This is the byproduct of staffing three different medical consultants to make sure every aspect of the project is taken seriously so that the audience takes it that way too.

As for the story at its core, “The Dead Center” efficiently toys with expectations by not revealing too much, and not revealing too little. The gradual unfolding of unsettling insinuations hits a sweet spot where it plants sinister seeds, yet leaves your imagination to take care of fertilization. The cryptic mystery might confound those anxious for more definitive explanations. Anyone entranced by the eeriness however, will find themselves satisfied with the suggestive texture of unseen terror.

It’s odd for a film to employ A and B arcs whose protagonists never meet. As a result, the medical examiner’s peculiar path stumbles somewhat from serving largely as intertwined exposition. Still, the unusual approach to storytelling increases the movie’s atypical appeal as a hypnotic chiller.

Engaging performances from unfamiliar faces, a mesmeric score from composer Jordan Lenhning, and a cleanly clinical look to Andy Duensing’s cinematography tie the bow on “The Dead Center’s” total package. I haven’t seen writer/director Billy Senese’s first feature “Closer to God,” but “The Dead Center” has vaulted it toward the top of my backlog. For the future, if Senese can continue hitting concurrent notes of drama and dread with the force inflicted here, he could collect a respectable résumé on par with those of Mike Flanagan, Nicholas McCarthy, and other names made notable by this particular brand of intriguing indie horror.

Review Score: 85

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