This was a film that Chris had me watch over the summer. To be honest, I have no idea why he chose it for me. It stars Calista Flockhart who you may remember as Ally McBeal. I will always remember her counterpart in the porno called Ally McFeal. Yes, that is a real thing. Look it up, or don’t Malwarebytes just detected a trojan when I went to a site to view it. Soooo, up to you. Anyway, I enjoyed the film and look forward to seeing if I still enjoy it. Fortunately, my memory is terrible, so it’s like a new experience for me.
This takes place at Mercy Falls Hospital on the Isle of Wight. There is some talk about some big train accident and 10 deaths and 35 injuries and another hospital, like St. James. We have a lady who works at the hospital taping up boxes. A young girl, Maggie, startles the lady. Maggie says that “She’s coming.” The lady tells her that this is the last night and that they will be leaving tomorrow. We see that Maggie is in a room with 5 or 7 other children. A glass near her is shaking. A boy wakes up, scream.
The doctors are rushing him down the hallway. His leg is fucked up. They take him for X-Rays. They ask the boy how it happened and he doesn’t know. This isn’t making sense to them. We see his leg break while on the table. Still brutal in its own way. This is what got me hooked, to be honest.
2 Days Later (not 28)
Hey, there’s Calista. Her character’s name is Amy Nicholls. Roy is this black dude, one of my favorite characters too, and he is here to bring Amy to the hospital. Amy is American and she traveled to England for this job. Mercy Falls Hospital is closing down, but due to the train accident, St. James Hospital doesn’t have enough beds and rooms for all of the kids. So we are dealing with a small group just waiting a few more days, it sounds like.
Mrs. Folder gives Amy the rundown. She’s there because one of the other ladies left on sick leave 2 days ago. If you need to make a call, you must use your mobile because they cut the phone lines already. Seriously, that wouldn’t ever happen at a still-functioning hospital. That just seems lazy. Oh, and no button for the second floor, and you have my attention again. I feel that this movie does this to me where I think it is stupid, then intrigues me. The second floor hasn’t been in use since 1959.
We meet Ms. Perez. Amy will be taking over the night shift, naturally. I feel like I saw a porno called Night Shift Nurses. Yup, it was definitely a thing and I definitely saw it. Ms. Perez’s first name is Helen, and she is fairly pretty. Calista has nices hair though. We see the kids in the playroom. There are 8, all lung issues. Helen introduces the kids to Amy. A boy asks about Susan, so she’s the one who left. Amy is drawn to Maggie immediately. She spells her name out in blocks, but she can talk. She doesn’t have any parents, just like Amy.
The blocks are not for playing with. They are there for talking, but to who. Helen shuts that shit down and scolds Maggie for leaving blocks around. Richard is on a respirator. We also meet David. Simon is the boy with the broken leg from the beginning. Amy goes into her bag for some medication.
The kids are brushing their teeth and Maggie is quite defiant toward Helen. Matt is like the maintenance man at night and Robert is the night doctor. Helen leaves us. That would suck having to share the room with 7 other kids. Maggie can’t sleep. Amy used to have a blanket called Mr. Sleepy. Maggie talks to Charlotte with the blocks. Charlotte is different, she’s mechanical. Charlotta rarely talks. She’s upstairs on the second floor.
The water faucet in the staff bathroom doesn’t work. There is a loud noise upstairs. Well yeah, no shit. Maggie looks terrified. Amy finds the blocks on the floor in the playroom and it spells “MINE”. The glass falls, and some horrible noise. The kids all wake up. Maggie says that Charlotte is pissed. Amy finds Matt, but he was jamming out to “Two Vaya Don Dios” by Ill Nino. He offers to call the doctor, but she declines. Amy takes a pill. I just took a headache pill. She had a weird dream.
The next day, we have a helicopter. It’s 2:59 PM. The kids want to ride the helicopter. There’s my man, Roy, and he is excited to show the kids a film. There are always kids that come there and claim to see her, like an urban legend. Now, wait just a damn second. Do new kids come in and claim to see or hear it, or do they hear it from other kids in the hospital first? I need answers!
We saw Susan going somewhere. Amy brags to Helen about getting to know Maggie well, and Helen warns Amy of her. Oh, here’s the night doctor, Robert. Simon is going to leave via helicopter. Roy lets Amy know that there’s no running water in the Nurse’s bathroom. Yeah.
Susan shows up to an elderly ladies house and tells her that she’s not alright. Amy is in the elevator with Simon and it isn’t working properly. When do elevators ever work properly in movies? The elevator is going up and not down. She yells for Roy. Simon doesn’t have his inhaler. Amy forces open the doors and Simon says that Charlotte wants to hurt him. The elevator suddenly plunges. I’d be pissed. They get Simon out of there at least. If you’re Amy, would you quit? That is a tough one.
Amy then apologizes as if it was her fault. Helen starts blabbering on and on and Mrs. Folder offers to work Amy’s shift, but she declines. Susan is riding somewhere, Amy is popping another pill. Things are good.
Amy tries to call Matt. There was a whisper from a girl saying “I know what you’ve done” and then Robert startles her. Is Robert supposed to be a good looking dude? I can’t tell. Maggie has cystic fibrosis and no parents. Robert reveals that Maggie was very friendly with Susan. Amy goes to get her sweater and Maggie is in the room and claims that Amy must have seen Charlotte. Maggie reiterates that Charlotte is the one who hurt Simon. She suggests that Amy ask Susan about the Simon incident. Amy asks Robert about Simon. Amy suggests that Susan left because she was scared, and Robert kinda confirms that suspicion.
Amy goes to visit Susan. A sad woman opens the door, and there is a priest there. Susan died in a car accident the previous day. The priest suggests that Amy is worried about the same thing. Susan didn’t talk to the priest about what was troubling her.
Roy is showing the kids a cartoon version of Sleeping Beauty. I guess it was made specifically for this film. Amy tells Helen about Susan during the film. I like the animation of the film. Amy talks to Mrs. Folder about Susan as well. Mrs. Folder finds the talk of ghosts to be quite preposterous. Amy asks her if she knows who Charlotte is. Mr.s Folder just talks down to her and says that she knows about Amy’s record as well. I don’t understand why kids were laughing at the end of that film. It’s not a funny story.
Maggie talks to Amy about the film and love kisses. Remember this scene, Simon’s bed is empty, but it rises as if someone is under the sheets and breathing. Then it moans and Amy rips off the blanket and wakes everyone up. Robert is trying to talk some sense into Amy. Matt has calmed the kids down. Time to pop another pill. Robert tells her the pills probably won’t help. Something about Amy’s past that troubles that it was an accident, but she says that it was negligence. Amy is having a bit of a breakdown. Robert thinks that Amy is trying to over-protect the kids. She ain’t having any of that common sense. Lawd no!
Amy is with the old lady that we saw Susan visit. So we meet Adam the autistic kid who paints but doesn’t talk and is often unaware of people around him. Father Tom called these two old ladies and told them that Amy may be calling. I like old ladies. This pleases me. Susan came a few weeks ago to them The one lady talks about how there is the world of the living and the world of the dying. In the world of the living, you cannot see into the world of the dead, as a general rule. As you get closer to death, you can get glimpses of the other world though. They acknowledge that something bad is in that hospital, something that has come close to the world of the living. It doesn’t have to be that the person died in a particular place. But they often will stay near what they loved. Adam gives Amy his painting and the ladies are very surprised as Adam has never given a present before. It is a butterfly. The lady tells Amy that Maggie really needs her love.
That was probably my favorite scene of the film and it lasted like 3 minutes. They didn’t have Lin Shaye, but they doubled down and gave us two older ladies. They are actually credited as Old Lady 1 and Old Lady 2. That is rude!
Amy returns to the hospital and Folder was looking for her. Something is wrong with Maggie. Maggie is stable now, but she had another attack. By the way, the old ladies’ scene was great, but practically gives the film away if you paid an ounce of attention. Amy asks Roy to show her the files or records of other children that claimed to have seen Charlotte. One kid was named Marvin Jones. At least John Travolta didn’t shoot him in the face. Evelyn Thoms was back in the 80’s.
Amy asks Maggie if she has really seen Charlotte. Maggie nods yes. Roy is in the playroom. Something appears on my TV screen, which is odd. It’s October and the bugs are usually long gone. I turn on the light. I see nothing. I turn off the light and use my flashlight. I see nothing. Oh, it’s in the film. I think that was a mistake. Anyway, Roy goes to take care of the blocks and they move and spell out DONT TOUCH, NOT YOURS. Then he gets a nosebleed and the ceiling is cracking and he is forced to the ground and has his arm snapped and he sees something or someone. He is then flung out the window. It was definitely Charlotte. I don’t want to describe it without giving it away, but you saw metal and legs and I felt it was obvious. Nah fuck it, they looked like metal leg braces. Anybody who has seen Forrest Gump knew what they were seeing, I think. And Roy is dead and I am a sad panda.
The kids are unaware of Robert’s death. It was probably the best death in the film. Amy tells Folder and Robert that they need to get the children out of there because there is something evil there. Folder is a bitch to her. Amy ain’t letting these kids down, not again. Helen is having a freak out about walking home in the rain and washing her uniform. Helen suggests that Susan was crazy. Amy wants Helen to cover for her.
Amy takes Maggie for a walk, along with Mr. Sleepy. Maggie shows Amy where there is a door to the ceiling and she then sends Maggie to bed. Time to visit the second floor. You know what to expect here. Everything looks old and untouched and decaying. Pretty quiet, gotta build up suspense. I almost feel like this scene may drag on too long, but I am sure that other people may say that this is the closest to horror that this film gets to, and they wouldn’t be wrong. Any hears faint crying. This whole time, you are just waiting for the inevitable jump scare, probably a fake-out at first. Amy finds a wind-up toy and a music box. There’s a letter block. She accidentally steps on a doll playing the violin. There is a swing.
Amy finds a picture of Charlotte, a girl in a wheelchair with braces. Yeah, no shit. She then finds a reel of film. She takes it and hears odd sounds. In the distance down the hallway is a very mechanical looking figure. Maggie grabs Amy and tells her to run. The walls are cracking. Maggie left Mr. Sleepy upstairs.
She shows Robert the picture of Charlotte. He gets her to look up Charlotte’s files. They can’t find the files though. Time to watch the video on the projector. It is a video of Charlotte who is in pain with brittle bone disease. The bones become fragile. That’s the name of the movie!!! The treatments for her looked horribly painful. Charlotte had plenty of tantrums because of her pain. Amy tries to convince Robert that Charlotte is still there. She says that Susan could see her because she was close to death, the same for Maggie. Amy suggests that Charlotte wants others to feel her pain. She tells him that she has seen Charlotte as well.
Now hold up. This is where I get annoyed. If you have been paying attention, what is the assumption? If you can see Charlotte, you are close to death. They don’t acknowledge that Amy must be close to death though. It’s like the overlook it despite just saying it. The ceiling starts cracking and Robert suggests that it may be time to get out of there. Robert tells Matt to help get the kids ready. Oh, how convenient, Robert can’t make a call due to poor signal due to the storm. Fucking lazy ass writing. Folder lives nearby, Amy is gonna drive to her.
Helen and Matt are getting the kids dressed. The walls are cracking badly. This hospital is so huge when you see it from the outside. Like this building, how do you have something so big and refuse to do something to restore it? Richard is hyperventilating. Matt goes to the basement to find something to help. Helen is stuck getting 7 kids dressed.
Amy tells Folder that they need to evacuate the children to St. James now. Shit is going crazy. Helen fucked up with a needly, a light is on the verge of falling, so the kids naturally stare up at the ceiling while standing below it. Like, these kids had no common sense. Robert is watching the film still. I just want to say that Helen is the MVP. She is busting her ass while Matt is looking for something, Robert is watching a video, and Amy is chatting.
Amy tells Folder that she should have listened to her, but Folder said it was all absurd. It all happened right before Folder started working there, it was a scandal. Time for some storytelling.
There was a nurse there, and Charlotte was improving, but then she had a relapse of sorts. The nurse was accused of causing Charlotte’s fractures. Ohhhh shit. The nurse didn’t want Charlotte to be taken away and she would have had she continued improving. The nurse was obsessed and got fired. The nurse couldn’t handle being separated from Charlotte, so she suffocated her. The nurse then put on the braces and orthopedics and threw herself down the elevator shaft. They were going to close down the hospital but instead chose to close off the second floor. Robert sees a file in the film and gets a number to find.
Matt is having a very bad time and he is panicking. He can’t find what he is looking for. Robert then finds the file. But here’s the twist. Seriously, scroll down to where it says End Film to avoid the twist.
Alright, you’re still with me. I knew that you would stay after all this reading. The girl’s name was Mandy Phillips, not Charlotte. The lights are flickering in the room Matt is in. Robert sees a picture of Mandy with her nurse, and on the back it has Mandy and Charlotte. Well, Matt just got attacked by Charlotte in the dumbest way possible. Terribly done.
Amy and Folder show up at the hospital. She asks Helen where Matt is. Helen basically tells her what is happening and is pissed because she doesn’t know where anybody is while she is busting her ass, and Amy talks down to her a bit here. I didn’t like that because everybody should be kissing Helen’s ass at this moment. Amy tells Helen to get the children out and to stay together.
Amy finds Matt and he tells her about Mandy. The nurse was named Charlotte Rivers. Amy is finally having an aha moment. She is realizing that Charlotte has stayed there all this time because she needs the children and has been causing the issues to keep them there. Once again, no shit. It started again when they started the transfers.
One of the girls fell with her leg broken. Lights are crashing. The paramedic team has arrived. There is a loud roar. Amy says to keep the kids there. The paramedics ain’t having that. Well, nothing is happening now. The adults are confused. Nobody knows where Maggie is. Amy is yelling at Helen aking where Maggie is. She wanted to get her blanket. Duh. That’s why Charlotte is calm, she has Maggie.
Amy is upstairs and there is random wind blowing papers. She finds Maggie. Maggie says that Charlotte won’t let her leave. Charlotte rises and looks very pissed off. I didn’t need to see Charlotte’s tits. Amy decides to fake out Charlotte and makes a run for it. She fucks her leg up in the process. like something jabbed her leg. They make it down the ladder, well they kinda fell.
Matt is still alive, multiple fractures though. Amy is carrying Maggie and Maggie is not responsive. She appears to be dead. That is a nasty wound and she is bleeding heavily. Amy is now realizing that she is gonna die because she saw Charlotte. Robert carries Amy outside. She’s not breathing. Time to defib. Time for CPR. She is still flatlining. The paramedic says it is useless, she’s dead. Robert keeps defibbing. Helen comes over to help.
We hear Maggie talking about the Prince’s kiss and we see Maggie kiss Amy so that Amy may live. She wakes up in the hospital with Robert talking to her. The two old ladies are there too. They tell Amy that she is very lucky. Amy asks why she saw Charlotte if she is still alive. The other old lady tells her sometimes, it’s best not to ask. So you don’t know. The ladies leave. Amy asks if anybody else has come. Robert tells her that Amy did the best for Maggie that she could.
We hear the old lady repeat the thing about not being where they died, but rather being near what they love. On-screen, an old person is on a bed and is rolled by Amy’s room. The person looks over and sees Maggie sitting next to Amy.
End Film
I know that ending is cheesy, but it gets me. As Butters from South Park once said, it’s a beautiful sadness. Maybe I am oddly sentimental about odd things, but both times the ending got me. It happens, I’m not ashamed of it. Rather than exploring my feelings, let’s finish up talking about this film.
This was just as good the second time, and maybe even better knowing what the twists were. I worried that it would be bad upon re-watching it, but now, it was still good. Now, it is fair to say that there is plenty to poke at, laugh about, and critique. But there is an equal amount of things to praise and enjoy. And while it is definitely a horror, it is just as much a drama. If you think about it, it tells a frightening and simultaneously incredibly sad story. And how many films can truly have an ending like that? The special effects were what they were, and that isn’t to say that they were bad. Some of the time, I groaned slightly. I didn’t enjoy Charlotte’s attack on Matt, for instance. I hated that scene and how it was done.
The acting was good for what was needed. I thought Helen and Maggie were the stars of this and Amy was fine as the central character. The writing was spotty at times. I wish that somebody would have suggested a few minor tweaks here and there. It would have increased my score to the 7 range. Still, this was good. As of today, it is free on Amazon Prime to view, and I highly recommend that you do while it’s free. You may even feel some emotions when you’re finished.
Final Rating: 6.6
All the pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are the property of:
Please go find a copy and support the creators.