Main Cast: Christian Oliver, Dean Stapleton, Courtney Mace, Jürgen Jones, Thomas Buesch
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
Far From Bismark director Phillip Chidel takes a psychological approach to death and resurrection with a modern update on the Frankenstein legend concerning a doctor who claims to have found the key to immortality and the subject who ventures to his remote cabin for a series of chilling experiments. Deep within the snowbound monoliths of the Rocky Mountains, Dr. Franklin Vick is struggling to perfect the fine art of resurrection. Bringing the dead back to life is a tricky game though, and in order to truly carry out his research Dr. Franklin is going to need an assistant. Despite the highly controversial and blatantly unethical nature of Dr. Franklin's research, troubled medical student Adam Schmidt casts aside his doubts and hastily makes way for the doctor's snowbound laboratory to help take part in the potentially historic discovery. As the pair work feverishly to perfect their resurrection methods, they quickly find out that although death may not be as permanent as medical science presently dictates, it most certainly has some troubling side effects. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review
Philip Chidel's Subject Two is a small-budget, intimate variation on the Frankenstein story, with enough existential insights to sustain it through a handful of slow patches. But in a phenomenon that's very appropriate for a movie about resurrection, the most fascinating thing to watch is the apparent reincarnation of one of Hollywood's most familiar faces. Actor Dean Stapleton, who plays the "mad scientist" role, is a dead ringer for Jack Nicholson circa One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He even wears a similar black winter cap to the one Nicholson wore in that film, making the comparison complete -- and seemingly intentional. Since Stapleton also has a modicum of Nicholson's charisma, it's all the easier to remain engaged in an essentially two-character story. His Dr. Vick is an interesting study. Bunkered away in the mountains, and so reclusive that almost no one in the region has even laid eyes on him, he's nonetheless an exceedingly rational scientist whose every strange behavior is born of experimental necessity. As with any genius on the verge of a landmark breakthrough, his methods are both controversial, and impossible to accomplish in any other way. The university student (Christian Oliver) whose disenchantment leads him to Dr. Vick's door may have no idea what's in store for him, but that's the only way any of this would work. There comes a point when the experiments start to become repetitive, with no increase in the stakes, and Subject Two starts to spin its wheels. But given its limited resources, it's an effective examination of the potential for death to be an impermanent state, and how the pendulum between life and death messes with the mind of a subject who's cognizant of what's happening to him. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Cast
Christian Oliver - Adam Schmidt
Dean Stapleton - Dr. Vick
Courtney Mace
Jürgen Jones
Thomas Buesch
Credit
Philip Chidel - Director, Philip Chidel - Editor, Erik Godal - Composer (Music Score), Joann Gross - Makeup Special Effects, Richard Confalone - Cinematographer, Christian Oliver - Producer, Dean Stapleton - Producer, Philip Chidel - Producer, Philip Chidel - Screenwriter, Cardiac Pictures - Presented by, Chabo Films - Presented by
