It
is yet another storm of the century, but this one might be the real deal. Amy
Barrett would know. She keeps reliving the approach of a class five hurricane
from a macabre slasher hospital. Time loops get distinctly sinister in Christopher
Lawrence Chapman’s Inoperable (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in select cities.
One
minute, Barrett is stuck in traffic. Then she suddenly wakes up in a hospital
bed. At first, it is a disorienting experience, but she will get used to it as
it repeats over and over. Initially, the skeleton staff of the mostly evacuated
hospital does not seem to notice her, but they will during her next “cycle,” in
a violently menacing kind of way. However, unlike other time loops movies, she
is not in this by herself. Ryan, a sheriff’s deputy, and Jen, an accident
victim, are also fully cognizant of the horrors unfolding around them.
Each
time she reconnects with them, they will try to figure out how to escape the
madness. Based on the couple’s past experience, Barrett might have a slim advantage
over them. Since she entered the loop alone, she can most likely leave alone,
but because they came in together, they must also exit together.
Just
when we thought the time loop movie had been driven into the ground and left
for dead, Chapman figures out a way to breathe new life into the sub-sub-genre—and
he manages to do it on a budget that looks like twelve cents. Frankly, it sort
of works to his benefit. This has to be the grimmest, grayest, most Spartan
hospital you have ever seen, but if you woke up in a bed there, you would want
to skedaddle as fast as your feet would carry you. There is a fair amount of
gore, but Inoperable is as likely to
appeal to fans of science fiction and Twilight
Zone-style ironic mind-benders. In any event, Chapman definitely redeems
himself for producing and co-starring in the lame ClownTown.
Inoperable’s star Danielle
Harris has a genre following, but it is Katie Keene and Jeff Denton, who really
elevate it to the next level, as Jen and Ryan. Granted, there is not much time
for character development here, especially as Barrett’s cycles accelerate, but
they give us the feeling they are more fleshed out than they really are. Frankly,
we really want to see them get back together and out of there—and whenever a
film inspires a strong response like that, it must be onto something. Harris
does not quite connect like they do, but you have to give her credit for
keeping the energy level up as she constantly runs down corridors and keels
over in cycling convulsions.
Alas,
films like this often end in a frustrating, unsatisfying manner, which is
particularly true of Inoperable. Nevertheless,
it is the ride that matters, not the awkward dismount. Genre fans should be
impressed by the extent to which it exceeds expectations. Recommended with
surprising enthusiasm, Inoperable opens
in limited release this Friday (12/1).
