Monday, January 9, 2012

The Clinic (2010)

A gorgeous Australian couple, Beth (Tabrett Bethel) and Cameron (Andy Whitfield) are traveling across the country to visit Beth's mother for Christmas.  Beth is pregnant and they are wonderfully in love, even cutely enjoying their short stay at a shitbox roadside motel. 

After dozing off in the evening, Cameron awakens to find a note from Beth saying she went out for food.  However, he looks all over for her, to no avail.  Meanwhile, Beth wakes up in a bathtub full of ice, her stomach sliced open and baby removed. 

She wanders around to find that there are several other women in the warehouse-type facility.  All with the same issue -- baby removed, but kept alive.  What is the reason for keeping them alive if they already have what they presumably want...the baby?

The women are apparently left to wander around the building(s) at will, wearing strange uniforms with Roman numerals on them.  Someone is watching their moves intently on monitors, but don't seem to interfere at any point.  Meanwhile, Cameron goes all Jim Halsey on the local police, eventually commandeering a cop car to go in search of Beth.  This, predictably, does not end well.

The women focus their efforts on finding their babies, not knowing that some among them have ulterior motives.  The premise is vaguely Saw 2-esque, with babies instead of nerve gas, mixed with a little Hostel-style adoption.  I'd say this movie was fairly mid-range.  It seemed like a lot of movies mixed together, trying to be a cohesive story.  I never got the true creepiness that was intended, although the acting was pretty good.  I wouldn't put this on the top of your list, but it would be worth a look.

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