''Unrest'' is an independent

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by Jason Todd Ipson and starring

Corri English Corri English (born Corri Englisby; May 10, 1978) is an American actress. Life and career As a young girl during the late 1980s and early 1990s, she was a frequent host of '' Kid's Beat'' and a few other kids shows on TBS (prior to the mer ...

, Scot Davis, Joshua Alba, Jay Jablonski, Marisa Petroro and

Derrick O'Connor Derrick O'Connor (3 January 1941 – 29 June 2018) was an Irish theatre and character actor who trained at East 15 Acting School, London. Life and career O'Connor was best known for his performance as South African mercenary Pieter Vorstedt i ...

. It was shown at the horror film festival

8 Films To Die For After Dark Horrorfest (also known as "8 Films to Die For") was an annual horror film festival featuring eight independent horror movies, sometimes with "secret" bonus films, all distributed by After Dark Films in the USA. The first HorrorFest ...

during the 2006 fall season. At the 2006 International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival it was awarded Best Picture for Horror, and the lead actress, English, won Best Actress.

Plot

The film revolves around a

cadaver A cadaver, often known as a corpse, is a Death, dead human body. Cadavers are used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue (biology), tissue to ...

who seems to bring misfortune on those who come in contact with it. Although there is very little corporeal manifestation of the

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

s, people seem to die when they enrage the spirit which is linked with a special cadaver—by disrespecting it or otherwise. The story takes place mostly inside a hospital, where a young medical student, Alison Blanchard, comes to learn anatomy. By observing the cadaver she was assigned, she discovers that the body had self-inflicted wounds and also had a child. She soon discovers that there is something wrong with the cadaver, which they have nicknamed "Norma." Mysterious deaths occur in the hospital, which include the fiancée of one of Allison's team members and several hospital employees. It is revealed that the cadaver is a person named Alita Covas, who once led an archaeological expedition on an

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

sacrificial site. There she uncovered 50,000 bodies which were offered to Tlazolteotl, the Aztec god of fertility and prostitution. Afterwards, she herself became a prostitute, and started showing symptoms of mental imbalance. Later in her life, she committed murders and was subsequently put in a mental asylum where she died—presumably by her own hand. Once Alison learns of the true nature of the cadaver, she decides the corpse must return to Brazil to satisfy the Aztec god. After a series of gruesome events, Alison and her classmate/love interest take Alita's now dismembered corpse and cremate her in the hospital. In the end, Alison heads to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

to spread the ashes in an attempt to put the spirit at rest; however, it is suggested in the final scene that the spirit remains in the hospital.

Cast

Cast listing *

as Alison Blanchard ** Stefania Barr – Alison Blanchard (10 year old) (uncredited) * Marisa Petroro as Alita Covas * Ben Livingston as Ivan Verbukh * Abner Genece as Malcolm Little *

as Dr. Walter Blackwell * Scot Davis as Brian Cross * Joshua Alba as Carlos Aclar * Jay Jablonski as Rick O'Connor * Reb Fleming as Dr. Carolyn Saltz * Anna Johnson as Jennifer * J.C. Cunningham as Medical Records * Terence Goodman as Officer * Rhett Willman as Security Uncredited appearances in the film include the film's producer Julio Bove as a psychiatrist, as well as Mario DeAngelis as an EMT-Specialist, Susan Duerden as Jasmin Blanchard, Christopher J. Ghhghhh as a medical student and Jerry Tracy as a highway patrolman.

Production

The film was shot in a real

morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...

over the span of 24 days. The film features footage of genuine

autopsies An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death; ...

and

cadavers A cadaver, often known as a corpse, is a dead human body. Cadavers are used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a liv ...

Release

''Unrest'' saw its premiere at the SoCal Independent Film Festival on September 7, 2006. The film also played at

Fantastic Fest Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas, focused on fantasy, horror, sci-fi, action and cult films, the largest genre festival in the United States. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse. Lisa Dreyer ...

. The film was released theatrically on November 17, 2006, by After Dark Films and Freestyle Releasing.

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lionsgate Studios Corp. (simply known as Lionsgate Studios) is a Canadian-American film and television production and distribution conglomerate, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and primarily based in Santa Monica, California. It was f ...

on March 27, 2007.

Reception

Johnny Butane of ''

Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...

'' wrote "you've probably not seen anything quite like ''Unrest'' before".

Michael Gingold Michael Gingold is an American journalist, screenwriter, and former editor-in-chief of ''Fangoria'' magazine. Career In his teen years, young horror fan Michael Gingold wrote and self-published the photocopied horror-review fanzine ''Scareaphana ...

for ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

'' positively compared the film to '' The Gravedancers'' and called the film "a thoughtful and spooky little movie that stands apart from the formulas that bind so many horror films".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Unrest (Film) 2006 films 2006 horror films 2006 thriller films American independent films American supernatural horror films Films shot in Utah 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language horror films English-language thriller films