Unsane | Teen Ink

Unsane

April 18, 2019
By MovieReviewer_18 ELITE, Short Hills, New Jersey
MovieReviewer_18 ELITE, Short Hills, New Jersey
678 articles 0 photos 8 comments

Unsane is a relentless psychological thriller that proves to be quite the exhilarating adventure. The movie revolves around Sawyer Valentini, who has just recently moved from Boston to Pennsylvania in an attempt to avoid a creepy stalker. She attempts to escape from this one man, who isn't just some ordinary creep, because he's willing to go to the extreme. Because Sawyer always sees this stalker wherever she goes, including on a date and at work, she decides that she should try to work things at by speaking with a therapist. This leads to her consulting with a therapist and trying to talk through her problems. However, after Sawyer says some things that she only says because she feels she is in a safe environment, Valentini unknowingly signs a document that says she is going to sign up for a voluntary 24-hour commitment to a behavioral center that is known as Highland Creek Behavioral Center. While there, Sawyer does everything in her power to attempt to get her way out, including calling the police, except all of these attempts of escape makes the people working there begin to question her sanity. As they all begin to question her sanity, which causes the doctors to extend her stay, Sawyer believes that the stalker she spent such a long time running away from has followed her here to the hospital and is now one of the staffers, meaning he would have lots of control and power over her, because he hands out medication. Even though Sawyer thinks that she needs to do everything in her power to fight him, stay alive, and fight her way out of the hospital, everyone tries to tell her that her stalker isn't actually in the hospital, causing Sawyer to question her sanity. Despite how Sawyer originally believed she was put at Highland Creek Behavioral Center by accident or by some mistake, she starts to believe that maybe she was wrong and that she actually is losing her sanity and going insane. 


Unsane proves to be a thriller that does a wonderful job of addressing audiences' perceptions of Sawyer Valentini's psychological state, helping the movie to provoke its most important question, which is the questioning of Sawyer's sanity. The beginning of the movie does a satisfactory job of jumpstarting the movie and introducing viewers to Sawyer Valentini, although this portion of the movie is slightly on the slower side, which could be considered slightly negative for some, since they were probably expecting a fast-paced roller coaster, which the movie does eventually become. The middle of the movie magnificently progresses the movie along and showcases an entirely new side of Sawyer Valentini, which allows the conflict of the movie to further and become that much more intriguing. The enticing ending of the movie manages to be everything that viewers could have possibly hoped for, because it seizes the opportunity to take advantage of all of the drama, intensity, and suspense that is conjured up from the previous parts of the movie. The actual conclusion of the movie has a brilliant twist at the end that aids to make the movie substantially more interesting. Speaking of twists, the movie is packed to the brim with thrilling twists and turns at seemingly every inch and corner that help to elevate the movie to the next level. As a thriller, the movie needs to be unexpected and able to surprise audiences throughout. Precisely this is accomplished. Viewers never know what to expect, causing them to be on the edges of their seats as they eagerly await for what comes next. Nothing can be taken for fact, because the movie is just genuinely shocking and manages to flip around watchers' perceptions of what is occurring in the film constantly to help make an adventure that surely doesn't disappoint. 


 Unsane proves to be a surprisingly dark and twisted movie that borders on the line of being insanely maniacal. However, this is not a bad thing. Because the movie actually proves to be truly horrifying, everything that occurs in the movie seems like it could occur in real life, which makes the movie incredibly realistic. Secondly, the dark nature of the movie also helps to make the movie excellent entertainment, simply because predicting what comes next just isn't a factor. Predictions are made obsolete, because as the movie reaches new levels of terror and fright, everything viewers think they know is thrown out of the picture and reinvented with amazingly creative and new information. 


Unsane takes a topic that is pretty modern and presents it in a manner that should reside well with scores of various different groups of people. People having to deal with stalkers is more of a modern-day and age issue, mostly because of social media, so taking this concept and transforming it into a genuinely scary horror movie is just shear gold. Furthermore, not only is the concept quite original, but the manner in which the movie is filmed is also quite originative. The entire movie was filmed through a phone's camera, which allows the movie to showcase a modern topic through an equally modern manner. 

Unsane greatly benefits from a tremendous cast that shines. Claire Foy is the star of the movie, because she plays the protagonist, Sawyer Valentini, and literally transforms into the character. Claire is able to bring emotion and intensity into the character, which helps to allow watchers to truly root for her. Without her exceptional performance, the movie could have transformed into a disaster, but this is simply not the case. Despite how Claire's performance is up and away the most crucial performance to the movie, another performance that might go under the radar is Matt Damon's role as Detective Ferguson. Even though Damon's role is fairly minimal, the few minutes that he does have on-screen captures viewers' attentions and helps to make some of the most enjoyable, non-scary moments in the entire movie.

Unsane proves to be a daring film that never ceases to amaze, as well as shatter any and all previous expectations. Regardless of how the movie may be too peculiar for some, no one can deny that the movie's creative and originative methods help to make an aggressively effective thriller. This movie reinvents what it means to be sane, forever changing audiences' perceptions of the meaning of that word. 


The author's comments:

"I love it when you wear blue. I mean, I love you in anything. But you wore blue that first time I saw you, so anytime I see you in blue, it reminds me of how I felt at that moment. How I never really knew what being alive was until I saw you. You unlocked something inside me that day, something I didn't even realize was there. And right then, I knew that nothing in my life was ever going to be the same. In that moment, I was transformed permanently. You did that." - David Strine/the stalker


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