Double Blind sees seven young people check into a spartan facility to take part in a medical trial. They’re in it for the cash. Many are frequent visitors. All are down on their luck. The cheery announcement “Welcome to Blackwood pharmaceuticals … we hope you enjoy your stay” is ominous.
When a ‘mild’ dose of the drug has unexpected wide effects, the isolated holiday camp becomes more tense. When the first trialist falls asleep, they become rats literally trapped in the lab and the film firmly shifts from psycho-procedural into proper horror.
Millie Brady plays Claire, the newbie in the group, less clubbable than the others, and prone to original thought. As the near-narcoleptic triallists struggle to stave off fatal sleep, they drift into hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, and paranoia.
Darach McGarrigle’s script has no need for zombies when the human mind is already such an effective threat. Double Blind studies small group dynamics, examines what happens when sleeplessness and panic set in. It’s not a spoiler to suggest there are a lot of deaths. Each of the deceased gets a different cause of death.
Director Ian Hunt-Duffy creates a feeling of claustrophobia despite the seven rattling around an expansive underground bunker. Countdown clocks and long corridors all add to the sense of foreboding. The few splashes of solid colours are soon joined by pools of red on the floor.
The baddie is Big Pharma: the powerful rich are bribing the disposable poor. One character speculates that a mouse found in a cage may be more valuable to the company than the human triallists. There are clunky aspects to the plot, and some of the dialogue is a bit too didactic. But overall, the film succeeds in creating a sense of menace and a satisfying dispatch of its characters.
The film’s title is troubling. A double blind trial is usually one in which neither the test subjects nor those administering the experiment have full knowledge of the experiment: often, who is given the drug and who is being given the placebo. In the case of Double Blind, it feels like a stretch since everyone is receiving the same dosage of the drug, and it’s only the ill-effects that are unknown.
If you want a hit of new Irish Horror, check out Double Blind in the Queen’s Film Theatre on Saturday 4 November at 8.30pm as part of Belfast Film Festival.
The festival continues until 11 November with more recommendations in my preview post.
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