SANITARIUM (aka THE SPIRIT CHASER, 2018)

Streaming on Tubi!
Directed by Federico Alotto.
Written by Federico Alotto, Andrea Zirio.
Check out the trailer here!!

Trailer: https://youtu.be/bPC9WSqIr-g
At the beginning of SANITARIUM, there is an opening crawl explaining that a psychiatrist developed a way to recognize a psychotic mind through physical appearance. It then said that while experimenting with this theory, some kind of paranormal phenomena occurred and that the footage we are about to watch has been put together by the authorities to make sense of an unsolved, paranormal case. We then follow a guy named Dylan played by Dylan Ayers for the rest of the movie. Dylan met his new girlfriend in Italy and plans to marry her once he gets back to the UK. He also met his new best friend Mike played by Piero Ali Passatore who is a bit of trouble as he seems to have both a gambling problem and anger issues. When Mike loses a bet to a local Nazi sympathizer, he makes Mike stay in the woods for a night, as it is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a woman tortured to death in an insane asylum. Mike drags Dylan along and Dylan films it all for his video blog. Things get pretty bad for the both of them and eventually it all gets back to that opening blurb about the paranormal events and psychotic patients…eventually.

Are the actors successfully acting like they aren’t acting?
For the most part, everyone feels authentic. Ayers and Passatore are not going to be winning any Daytime Emmys for their performance. But as far as acting scared and panting a few inches from the camera microphone, they do it well. Passatore has to justify some pretty erratic actions, which sometimes have no reason behind them, but this has much more to do with bad writing as it does with acting.

Does the footage found seem authentic and untouched by additional production (which means there is no omniscient editor making multiple edits between cameras or an invisible orchestra providing music)?
SANITARIUM does rely on quite a few piano bangs/jump scare sounds added to accentuate the scary moments. I think this takes away from the scares, because it had me wondering where the synth player was hiding in the woods. Light tones and synth sounds are also used to accentuate dramatic scenes, but for the most part, it’s not as intrusive as most out there. It still isn’t necessary, and I think would have been a stronger film without the added music in post.

Why don’t they just drop the camera and get the hell out of there?
There is an actual scene where Dylan addresses this directly and says, I’m going to document everything from here on out, once things start getting paranormal. The reasoning isn’t really made. These guys are in a life and death situation and really have no reason to keep filming other than, you know, there wouldn’t be a movie. So, the excuse to film is quite flimsy.

Is there an up-nose BLAIR WITCH confessional or a REC-drag away from the camera?
Yes, there are both. Both Dylan and Mike address the camera for their method acting moments addressing whoever finds this film. One of the actors is also dragged away from the camera, which was less annoying. Still these overused found footage tropes shouldn’t ever be used in modern found footage as doing so automatically indicates your movie is hacky and unimaginative.

Does anything actually happen? Is the lead in too long and the payoff too short?
Stuff happens. We are thrown into the woods fairly early on and the guys happen upon a few creepy sights and sounds like a tree with baby dolls hanging on it and the old sanitarium where the occult and psychological experiments took place. While the actors say and do things in a random and often inexplicable manner, they at least keep the pace going and amp the intensity well as the final forty-five minutes scoot along.

Does the film add anything to the subgenre and is it worth watching?
SANITARIUM isn’t very original. It’s a BLAIR WITCH clone that adds very little to the subgenre of found footage. It isn’t awful. It’s always frightening to have a shaky cam make its way through an abandoned hospital, panning through the dark where around any corner, evil could pop out. This made for some intense moments and some legit scares. But there’s nothing in this one that feels like something me and you haven’t seen tons of times before. If you’re looking for groundbreaking; the meandering plot, weird decisions by the actors, and confusing storyline assures you that won’t happen. This is a good time-waster of a movie, but not much more than that.