The film follows 3 people, Sean, (Sean Stone), Alex (Alexander Wraith), and Antonella (Antonella Lentini) as they break into Greystone Park, an abandoned mental hospital with a devious past of tortures, unnecessary surgeries, and lobotomies, to explore and film any kind of paranormal activity.
They got more than they bargained for…
The film opens with Alex checking out Greystone with a bunch of disorienting camera work and imagery. Then cuts to Sean and Oliver (Stone) sitting with family/friends, including Alex and Antonella, hitting a hookah and telling stories and Sean is convinced by Alex to make a film about Greystone Park, an abandoned psychiatric hospital.
The three go there the next night and all hell breaks loose.
The locations used were Letchworth Village in Rockland County, NY, Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens, NY, and Linda Vista Community Hospital, were all real locations with sordid pasts. For example, Letchworth Village tortured children and at one point, was so underfunded, that many patients were left unclothed, unbathed and neglected.
All of the locations were abandoned and used as is; no repairs were made and no studios were used to recreate, so there was a danger to the cast and crew, as the buildings or parts of the buildings could collapse at any moment, but this lends to the authenticity of the film.
Sean did a great job of directing. The film as a whole is one long, disorienting, experience. Everything was shot dark, and that was its best and most damning attribute. It was awesome because it kept everything a secret, and it wasn’t awesome because, it kept everything secret. However, if Sean would’ve went dark to light to dark again, (the flickering lights don’t count), I don’t think it’d be as effective as it was because, you were experiencing the same as the characters. Just not the same if you can see things they can’t, (like if it is supposed to be pitch black or very low light, but the viewer can see it clearly). Something else I really loved was the subliminal imagery. (Watch the walls, and watch this a 2nd time and look when they are taking pictures.)
Sean Stone is the son of Oliver Stone (Platoon, Savages), and sometimes children of directors, or any major Hollywood players, think that they are entitled based solely on their lineage, but actually have no talent and don’t need to earn it. This is not the case, as Sean definitely paid attention to his father and knows how to direct.
If I have any gripe with the film at all, it would be the ending. Not that it was over my head, but it was rather enigmatic and open for interpretation, but it’s better than the alternate ending, which was also creepy, but a little too cheesy. Also, the cover of the DVD was a little too generic, with a general J-horror chick with one eye showing through her long hair standing in front of the hospital, but Sean probably didn’t have anything to do with that. Some of the sound effects sounded a little stock, like the demon laughter sounds like the deep “ha, ha, ha,” you’ve probably heard before.
I really enjoyed this film. Watch it with the lights off and on some surround sound and you’ll probably be turning the lights on again very soon…
9/10
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