Unrest (2006)

No one's going to credit Jason Todd Ipson with revolutionizing the horror genre through this chiller about cadavers getting into the heads of med-school students. But anyone who knows what limited resources the writer/director had to produce his first feature should be impressed with its scare factor. Unrest made the rounds of horror festivals in the fall of 2006, and viewers were treated to a handful of genuinely effective moments taking place within a hauntingly rendered hospital setting. Full of blinking halogen bulbs and ominous quiet, this hospital is even more spooky as a dormitory for financial-aid-challenged first-year Alison Blanchard (Corri English), whose only other roommates are the corpses, at least one of whom died under possibly occultish circumstances in South America. It's not that these ingredients aren't somewhat standard; they are, right down to the buxom English getting one of her greatest frights while showering. But Ipson gets self-assured performances from his mostly neophyte cast, with an injection of veteran know-how from Derrick O'Connor as a doubting instructor, and his script is witty and self-aware. Moreover, Unrest reminds viewers of the inherently perverse nature of this practice of operating on dead bodies, long since institutionalized and taken for granted in medical training. Namely, if these vessels of rotting flesh do still possess souls, they're not likely to be pleased by this type of poking and prodding. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide