WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
Iatrophobia is just a posh way of referring to ‘White Coat Syndrome’ in my opinion. This is something I won’t deny that I suffer from, may be not to such an extreme that I would refer to it as a phobia but there’s definitely been medical professionals in the past that have not helped! Well, here’s a few more with deadly bedside manor…
The Dentist
I just want to point out I have not been back to a dentist since I had braces removed, I’m that terrified of them! This film actually made me uncomfortable from the outset with that unnerving sound of the dentist’s drill. It’s disturbing the way catching his wife cheating on him with the pool boy makes him snap mentally. I say that, you get the feeling he’s already slightly cracked, with the number of times he is reminded to take a pill. The weird thing is, I remember Corbin Bernsen playing the grumpy father of Shawn Spencer in Psych but he’s so creepy in this film – and not just because dentists make me uncomfortable! Some may see removing his wife’s teeth and tongue a little bit of an overreaction to her cheating but the stranger thing for me is that it’s the regular dentistry in this film that makes me more uncomfortable than any of the murders he commits.
Nurse 3D
I’ll be honest, I found this a little bit of an awkward watch – and for once not because of the obvious ‘made for 3D’ special effects! I get a film about cheating spouses, specifically husbands, is going to contain quite a bit of sex but then at times it was just out of place! Like the scene with Danni and Steve. Truthfully, it’s not Abbie the nurse you have to worry about – it’s more her extra-curricular activities using her nursing skills that should have you scared! Weirdly, her voice over reminds me of Sin City. Even though Abbie is always after the cheats in the world – it seems the majority of the film specifically becomes about bringing herself and Danni closer together. Little warning, be prepared for some graphic sexual references.
Doctor
This film actually has an extremely similar plot line to that of The Dentist in the fact that our lead character catches his wife cheating on him. However, this is a little bit more of a slow burn in comparison but it is definitely darker! He makes his wife eat meat he cut from her own mother! I think that’s weirdly worse than removing her tongue and teeth. This is definitely gorier and I get the feeling that instead of punishing Soon-Jeung, he is trying recreate her – a version of her that will obey him. This is why he doesn’t harm her OR the boyfriend, Yeung-Gwan until right near the end. But this isn’t the darkest bit! He had actually tried to turn Soon-Jeung into someone else he had already killed! You can’t help but compare this and The Dentist based on the plot but I definitely think is the better film.
Hell Nurse
It’s one thing to decide to remake 1970s grindhouse films like I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left but it’s another to try and replicate them in the 21st century because unfortunately subtlety isn’t a thing anymore. As proven with Starky’s death. Like the previous films mentioned in this section, it has the typical revenge storyline and I like the different take on it but unfortunately the acting is very awkward and for a long time it feels like the dialogue is just trying to move the film along. I think because they spend the majority of the film building Darla’s character and process of her becoming a nurse, I started to think I had blinked and missed the moment she sold her soul to the devil. It finally happened about 40 minutes in and to think the film is only 72 minutes long! It’s funny, that once she does take on the devil – suddenly she’s hot! Truthfully, the revenge murders in this film are pretty dull in comparison to their inspiration – especially as she spends a lot of time talking beforehand!
Island of Dr Moreau
Now, this a little bit different as Dr Moreau is a scientific doctor and a lot less terrifying than the other in this article. I had always understood that Moreau was trying to turn people into animals instead of visa versa as shown in this film. But then I thought to myself, who takes Charlie at the beginning? As far as I can tell this is never explained as it’s not mentioned when Moreau experiments on Braddock towards the end of the film. I naturally assumed that the ape like creature we see stare up at Braddock earlier could have been Charlie as he seems to recognise him before Moreau shoos him away but we all know what assumptions make! I’ll be honest, I don’t think a lot of people would see this as a horror film but just imagine how at least the end would have seemed in the 70s. Also, the way Moreau is attacked at the end by his own creations is pretty chilling.
Cabinet of Dr Caligari This had to be the oddest watch so far. Not because of the plot or anything but because I was watching a silent film that someone had decided to put sound over! Something about that on its own felt rather unnatural. It is not mentioned at any point what type of doctor Caligari is, only that he is the director of a hospital, but he definitely seems like a man you do not want to cross. I understand why he kills the clerk, even though it was an overreaction – the man disrespected him in his opinion – but killing Alan has a much darker reason! Killing means that he can prove his somnambulist’s power is real! I can imagine when originally released, this film would have been pretty terrifying but the voiceovers just make parts of it really cheesy! However, this stops the film from having a rather dark ending.
