Resident of the Damned is an American-made thriller. The plot of the picture tells the story of a young doctor Edward, who holds the position of a doctor in a psychiatric clinic. The workplace surprises the doctor not only with unconventional methods of treatment, but also with the unusual behavior of the patients themselves. You can familiarize yourself with the plot, the description of the film "The Abode of the Damned" and the reviews of the audience in the article.
Production
The author’s chair in the filming of “The Resident of the Damned” was taken by the American director Brad Anderson, known for his work on such projects as the Trans-Siberian Express, Machinist, and The Call of Danger. Joe Ganjemi took up the scripting business, starting in his work from the work of the classic Edgar Allan Poe. The production headquarters of the film was headed by eminent Australian actor and director Mel Gibson, whose company was made up of an American model and actress Krista Campbell. Also involved in the creation of the film "Resident of the Damned" and its sponsorship took Mark Emin and Rene Besson. The filming stage, which began on June 24, 2013, took place in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
Technical features
The production and rights of the thriller Resident of the Damned belong to the American independent film company Aykon Production, founded by Mel Gibson. Dialogues of films, the duration of which is one hundred and twelve minutes, are built exclusively in English. Such a technical side of filmmaking as editing was dealt with by Brian Gates, thereby making his debut in a complex creative process. The film was released with a world rating of PG-13 (children under 13 years old are not desirable to watch), while in Russia the tape received the mark "18+", thereby limiting minor viewers from scenes that may be considered unacceptable.
Premier Dates and Fees
The premiere of the film “Resident of the Damned” premiered in 2014: on June 14 around the world, and Russian viewers were able to go to the movies for this thriller only on October 23 of that year. At the time of the final stage of film production, the cost of the work to create the tape was almost three and a half million dollars. How much the members of the cast earned, the crew of the film crew, led by the director and screenwriter, is unknown. On the Web, you can find information only on fees at the Russian film distribution, the figure of which almost reaches the mark of two million dollars.
Plot of the film
The "Abode of the Damned" appears before the audience in the form of Stonehurst psychiatric hospital, shrouded in the mist of mystical England of the late 19th century.
As a new employee, a young doctor, Edward Newgate, comes here to treat patients of the institution - patients from wealthy families. He is met by a man named Silas Lamb - the director of the clinic, who offers the young man to examine the hospital, making a detour, during which Edward meets the patient Eliza Graves. Newgate is surprised at the unusual methods of treatment for Silas, during which the patients are not subjected to cruelty, they are not shocked or doused with water to cure the disease. Instead, patients are allowed to calmly move around the building, enjoying the normal life of a healthy person. As a result, colleagues even spend a joint Christmas dinner in the company of the guests of the hospital.
Newgate soon learns that local doctors are not really who they say they are. It turns out that all the staff with real doctors are imprisoned in the basement, and the hospital is managed by the mentally unhealthy former military doctor Lamb and the killer maniac Finn, who raised a riot and seized power in the clinic. The real imprisoned director, Benjamin Salt, asks Edward to run away and, having told everything to the authorities, to save them, or to find the keys and release the prisoners, because there is less time - death will catch them due to cold and illness. Newgate offers Elise run away with him, however, she refuses.
Despite suspicions, Lamb is trying to gain the trust of a new employee. Bringing him into the wing for especially violent patients, Silas plans to destroy the instrument of torture, but first gives Edward the task of tying his hands to one physically strong patient, Ogre. Newgate copes, deserving favor from the patient, calling him by his real name Arthur.
One day, Edward hears a conversation between Lamb and Finn, who are worried that the new doctor will soon guess everything, but it reassures them that the prisoners are unlikely to live long. The conversation is interrupted by anxiety - two real employees were able to escape from the hospital. They are caught up, but one manages to jump off a cliff, and the other is killed on the spot. Despite Lamb’s attempt to cover up the doctor’s death by falling from a horse, Edwart exposes the fraud. The quarrel that has arisen provokes an imbalance in the fake director.
Newgate discovers that Lamb is the most “problematic” patient in the clinic, where the method with bullying aimed at finding and destroying the patient’s existing fears did not work. Silas comes to the present director to talk about the benefits of the no-cost method, in which all patients live a normal life without drugs. Salt responds to information about an effective method with skepticism, after which Lamb decides to get rid of the current director by tying him to a table and having an electroshock therapy session on him. Edward takes part and observes the dire consequences of the doctor’s disappearance.
Newgate tries to poison the invading patients, but is caught and sentenced to erase memory by electricity. Before the procedure, he asks Lamb to get a photograph of Eliza from him so that he can admire the girl for the last time, but instead, the false doctor finds a photo of one of his victims, after which he delves into his memories.
In the process of freeing Edward, the electric charge goes to Finn, after ignition of which the hospital lights up. Newgate finds Lamb and rescues him. At the end of the film, the young man leaves England with Eliza, in fact, being far from the one he pretended to be.
Roles and characters
The main role in the film was played by Jim Sturgess, known for his acting work in projects such as Through the Universe, Twenty-One, and Gentleman the Robber. According to many viewers in reviews of "The Abode of the Damned," he brilliantly played a graduate of the English Medical School Edward Newgate.
The role of the patient in the hospital, Eliza Graves, was played by Kate Beckinsale, whose acting “portfolio” includes such films as “Click: With a Remote Control for Life”, “Nothing But the Truth”, “Another World: Awakening”.
Transformed into the killer maniac Mickey Finn, the English actor David Thewlis, known throughout the world primarily for his role as Professor Remus Lupine in a series of films about Harry Potter, as well as for his work in such films as “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” and “Seven Years in Tibet. "
The legend of British cinema Michael Kane played the role of Dr. Benjamin Salt. For many viewers, the actor is known for his work in the films: Remove Carter, Quiet American, The Dark Knight.
The director of the Silas Lamb Psychiatric Hospital was played by British actor Ben Kingsley, known for films like Schindler's List, The Lucky Number of Slevin, Fifty Walking Corpses.
Minor Actors and Roles
In the film "The Abode of the Damned" one of the important characters was performed by the popular Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, known for such films as "Kingdom of Heaven", "Gangs of New York", "Once Upon a Time in Ireland".
The secondary cast of characters was replenished by the English actor Jason Fleming, who played in Guy Ritchie's films "Cards, Money, Two Trunks" and "Big Jackpot".
The role of Mrs. Pike was played by the Irish actress Sinead Cusack. In addition to her in the "Resident of the Damned" took part such actors as Sophie Kennedy Clark, Edmund Kingsley, Velizar Binev and others.
Roles duplicated
In order to make it more convenient for the Russian audience to watch the film, as well as the dialogues in it, the Abode of the Damned was finalized, namely, dubbing. Voicing the main characters of Jim Sturgess and Kate Beckinsale was honored by Sergei Smirnov and Tatyana Shitova, respectively. Also, the headquarters of dubbing actors replenished: Nikita Prozorovsky, Alexander Gruzdev, Igor Staroseltsev, Boris Bystrov and others.
Musical accompaniment
The film "Resident of the Damned", like any other representative of the cinema, would be insufficiently complete without instrumental compositions accompanying each emotion of the viewer throughout the entire action. To work on the musical component of the picture, one of the most sought-after Hollywood composers, John Debney, was involved. In addition to working with Mel Gibson in the film “Passion of Christ,” the musician worked on projects such as “Children of Spies,” “Bruce Almighty,” “Iron Man” and many others.
Primary source
The screenwriter of the film "Resident of the Damned" Joe Ganjemi, drawing on the work of Edgar Allan Poe, borrowed only the main idea of a classic work of art. The novella of the writer "The system of Dr. Smol and Professor Perrault" was written in 1844. In it, for the sake of interest, the storyteller arrives at a mental institution shelter, but discovers that the staff of the institution is locked up and mad patients are living a free life, unrelated to treatment.
The content of the script depicts a certain doctor and a certain lyrical connection with the heroine patient, and also complements the meaning of the work with various ambiguous elements and social metaphors, which were not found in the original source by Edgar Allan Poe.
Interesting Facts
Filming took place in Bulgaria. For some scenes, real scenery was chosen in the form of the walls of the royal palace of Vrana, in which Simeon the Second, the last Bulgarian monarch, still lives.
Actor Ben Kingsley, who played Silas Lamb, took part in the creation of Martin Scorsese's film “Island of the Damned,” where he played a similar role.
Criticism
Reviews of the film "Resident of the Damned" in 2014 from professional critics were mixed. In particular, on the Rotten Tomatoes website, the picture received only 55% positiveness. In general, most experts agreed that the fans of the Victorian thriller genre will certainly enjoy the picture, but to everyone else it might seem terribly boring.
The film "Resident of the Damned" received a strict review from the critics of the Los Angeles Times - they wrote that the plot does not have a real fear factor, because of which the picture becomes more tasteless than insane.
Feedback from the audience. Positive
There are a lot more positive reviews about the “Resident of the Damned” on the Web in 2014 than there are negative reviews. For example, on the Kinopoisk domestic resource, the ratio of “green” and “red” reviews is 70 to 14. In addition, 16 viewers left neutral opinions.
On individual sites, including the ability to comment, as well as on social networks, the positive reviews about the film "The Abode of the Damned" are overwhelming. In their opinions and enthusiasm, most viewers agree that there are very few good psychological thrillers that can be reviewed even after learning the ending. But this picture is just one of those. Separately, in the gracious reviews of the film "Resident of the Damned," they note the magnificent, "addictive" camera work and the brilliant acting of Ben Kingsley and Michael Kane.
Feedback from the audience. Negative
As mentioned above, negative and neutral reviews of the audience about the film "Resident of the Damned" also found a place. Most of the claims fell on the plot of the picture - viewers who left a negative opinion on the Internet found it boring, banal and sagging in the most inappropriate places. Some of the viewers even called the film a "pseudo-thriller", that is, one in which the clue is given at the very beginning, and the ending does not lead to anything, giving the inexperienced viewer the impression of thoughtful mystery.
In neutral reviews of the film “Resident of the Damned,” viewers expressed the opinion that, separately, the plot, directorial and cameraman work, and the acting were good, but together they got a too predictable thriller, with template tricks and an abundance of all kinds of cliches of this genre.