Nurse
3D (2013/Lionsgate Blu-ray 3D
w/Blu-ray 2D)
3D
Picture: B+ 2D Picture: A Sound: A Extras: B- Film:
B+
Paz
de la Huerta (Boardwalk Empire) owns Nurse 3D (2013),
with her sexy and exotic look that brings to life an interesting take
on the modern serial killer not unlike NBC's
Hannibal or Christian Bale's American Psycho. The film is
full of enough blood, guts, and nudity to satisfy any horror fan and
is original enough of a concept to make it a fun popcorn muncher.
I'm surprised that this film didn't get more attention upon its
initial release as it's a lot better than the majority of horror
films hitting cinemas in the past year (such as The Purge and
Paranormal Activity for example). I'm not saying the film is
a modern day masterpiece akin to Psycho, but it proves to be a
fun time and has high production value. The 3D effects are enjoyable
though aren't necessarily pivotal to the overall experience of
watching the movie.
The
film opens with Abby (Paz de la Huerta) at a night club where she
explains to the audience via a narration that her job is to
murder cheating men in order to keep scum off of the streets -
a job that she thoroughly enjoys and in her a way making her an
Anti-Superhero. She then brutally murders a man by slicing through
his femoral artery and then throwing him off the roof of the club,
spearing him on a fence post. (The kill reminding me of the
conclusion of Brandon Lee's The Crow.)
The following day she attends a ceremony where she watches the
attractive blonde Danni (Katrina Bowden), a nurse she had been
mentoring, graduate. She then approaches her and meets Danni's
mother and stepfather Martin Price (Martin Donovan). Despite this
joyful moment and all of her preparation, Danni is ill prepared for
her first true day of nursing duty and is berated by Dr. Morris (the
slightly creepy Judd Nelson) for her inability to respond quickly to
an emergent situation. Abby views the situation with disgust, as she
knows that Dr. Morris is a sadist that enjoys harassing new nurses.
Abby
is further irritated when Danni chooses to call her paramedic
bi-racial boyfriend Steve (Corbin Bleu) for support rather than
approaching Abby herself. She's pleased when Danni's call to Steve
ends badly due to a fight the couple had had previously that night
over Danni's refusal to move in with him. She explains her actions
to Abby by saying that she is unwilling to trust her stepfather
enough to leave him alone with her mother. This distrust is later
justified when Abby and Danni witness her stepfather having an affair
while the two women are on their way to go drinking at a nightclub.
Danni is upset at the encounter, which makes her more willing to
drink later that night. However unbeknownst to her, Abby spikes her
drink with drugs which enables Abby to get Danni to have sex with
both her and random strangers. The next day Danni wakes to find
herself in Abby's apartment and leaves despite Abby's entreaties for
Danni to skip work and spend the day with her. After she leaves,
Abby downloads several sexy photos that she had taken from the
previous night before leaving to see a psychiatrist, which is
revealed to be Danni's stepfather. The plot thickens!
Abby
seduces Martin by saying that she's addicted to men, alluding to her
past history with her father. He gives her his phone number to
contact him anytime she wishes, which seems to confirm Abby's
suspicions that Martin is a cheater. She later approaches him while
he's leaving his office and convinces him to give her a ride, which
enables her to murder him by paralyzing him in his car and putting it
in reverse, which causes him to get into a car accident. After
hearing of her stepfather's death Danni seeks solace from Abby, only
for Abby to grow angry when Danni says that she's going to move in
with her boyfriend. Abby comments that she hopes that Martin's
genitals were cut off in the car crash, only for Danni to reveal that
she had never told Abby how her stepfather had died and quickly
leave. This infuriates Abby, who decides that instead of seeking to
help Danni, she will now hurt her. She accomplishes this by slowly
convincing Detective John Rogan (Boris Kodjoe) that Danni is mentally
unstable and obsessed with Abby.
The
next day Abby runs into Rachel Adams (Melanie Scrofano), a new human
resources employee that remarks that Abby greatly resembles a girl
she knew that was sent to a mental institution. Abby invites Rachel
out for drinks and takes the opportunity to harass Danni by calling
her via Skype and showing Danni a video of Abby injecting chemicals
into Rachel. Danni tries to go to the police, only for Detective
Rogan to dismiss her claims as evidence of her trying to hurt Abby
because the other woman didn't return her affections. He uses the
photographs Abby took as proof to this effect, which Steve sees as a
result of Danni calling him to the police station for support. This
prompts an argument between the two and Steve leaves in a fit of
anger. Danni tries to approach Dr. Morris for help, only for him to
use this as an opportunity to blackmail Abby into having sex with
him. Abby initially pretends to agree to this arrangement but soon
shows that it was only a way for her to get him alone so she could
dismember and murder him in a pretty brutal torture scene that has
one of the best arm hackings in recent memory. That same night Abby
also knocks out Rachel and drags her away to her death.
The
film then shows Danni approaching the mental institution that Rachel
had referred to, seeking answers about what is going on. There she
learns about Sarah Price, a little girl who killed her father after
witnessing him not only having an affair but also severely beating
her mother for coming to his office unannounced. Danni also
discovers that Sarah was taken in by one of the nurses at the
institution, a woman named Abigail Russell. Danni then realizes that
that Abby is Sarah and has since taken the name of her caretaker.
Danni then tries to call Rachel to warn her about Abby, only to find
that Rachel's phone is in her car. She then receives a call from
Abby, who implies that she will kill Steve in the same manner as
Rachel. What happens in the conclusion of the film?! You have to
see it to believe it!
The
3D effect of this Blu-ray doesn't really take full effect until later
scenes of the movie. The story itself as I mentioned before uses the
3D as more of a fun novelty than a necessity; MVC encoded in full
resolution for the L/R/Eye. The Blu-ray is mastered in crisp and
crystal clear 1080p high definition preserving the 2.40:1 widescreen
aspect ratio of the film. The sound is loud and in charge with an
impressive English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless track that
scares the begeezus out of you! A Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital audio
track is also available as well as English and Spanish subtitles and
English SDH. All in all Lionsgate should be commended for the
overall transfer and nice package for this release that is
recommended.
Special
features include Bad Medicine: The Making of Nurse featurette,
Director Commentary and entertaining Video Diaries.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.vimeo.com/jamielockhart
