The Facility (2012)

In 2012 Ian Clark directed a ''hospital''-horror, apparently on a micro-budget. Currently rocking a 4,8 rate at IMDB this movie might not seem a good option if you want to be frightened and scared. MIGHT is key here, because unexpectedly The Facility turned out to be fucking great!

Every year 1200 medical experiments on people are held in the UK alone. Most experiments are crucial in fighting viruses. These experiment rarely get out of hand. In 2010 a new kind of medicine, named PRO-9, needed testing on humans. 8 volunteers now have to fight for their lives as the experiment goes horribly wrong.

The Facility has a slow start but due to the almost documentary style of filming this doesn't bother you a bit. After about 20 minutes, that go by really fast, you realise that all you have seen so far is 8 people being injected with the PRO-9 one by one. Nothing special you'd think but somehow the movie manages to keep you interested while pretty much nothing is happening.

A few hours after the injections the shit hits the fan... Multiple test subjects have strange after effects on taking the PRO-9. This eventually leeds to them going somewhat rabid and chasing every live human being with one goal only... Kill.... The tension at times is amazing. Ian Clark makes full use of the brilliant setting in a deserted hospital. The dark, empty halls of the building definitely add to the atmosphere. Don't expect a gore fest, although some make-up effects do look really impressive. Clark mainly focusses on pure tension and terror and that's why this film is so amazing. 

A lot of the tension gets created by sound. Screaming people or other strange sounds on the hallways make for some great, frightening terror while you don't even get to see much. The Facility also features some very nice ''jumpy'' momentes where you literally jump up out of your seat. Another thing that's great about this film are the realistic characters that are featured in this movie. You really get the feeling that you are watching actual people who are actually experiencing this terrible situation. This is all due to the great acting by the somewhat unknown cast. Steve Evets especially does a great job portraying Morty (the beardy guy at the upper right), a character that is experienced in human medicine experiments as he participate multiple times as ''guinea pig'', which is actually one of the alternate titles of the film. 

The Facility definitely is an interesting one. The tension and atmosphere are absolutely great. It's a terribly underrated movie that is kinda going under the radar of a lot of horror movie fans that are looking for a frightening night, which is a shame. Definitely go check it out! 

Fun Fact

The movie claims to be based on actual events.