DVD Review: Subject Two (2006)

Adam (Christian Oliver), a medical student with problems (or a problem medical student) takes a job at an isolated facility for medical research. He finds himself at the home of one Dr Franklin Vicks (Dean Stapleton). The doctor murders Adam when Adam consents to take the job.

Adam is resurrected with the aid of nanobots, only to be murdered and re-resurrected multiple times. Dr Vicks records Adam's progress and improves his research with the results. The tagline for the movie is, "Death has its side effects", and it is apt that the movie predominantly focuses on such side effects.

I had never heard of this low budget movie before I saw it at the video shop. The DVD gives a clear indication that it is a Frankenstein story, but I think it is aligned more with Herbert West (Re-animator). The movie itself is a mixture of Michael Crichton, HP Lovecraft, and the movie "Flatliners". It also has a nice little twist at the end. There are some relationships with the Frankenstein story, for example, the name Dr Franklin Vicks, but I think such references are no more than incidental.

Dean Stapleton is a very good actor and has a good on-screen presence and I hope to see him in more horror/thriller movies in the future. I am surprised his resume is as thin as it is (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0822949/). His character and the script were also good and included some good lines such as, "I'm sorry for shooting you. It wasn't very scientific".

Overall, and despite the fact that the concept is not new, it was a good movie and well worth seeing. The characters were interesting and portrayed good dynamics, although it was difficult to understand why a person would suddenly be so committed to following through the research if they are constantly murdered. I liked the fact that Kate seemed to be a means of escape but turned out to be a red herring. I can't say this about many movies, but the character's absence actually strengthened the story.