Summary: While traveling across country with her fiancé, Beth wakes alone in an isolated clinic to a mother's worst nightmare. Just how far will she go to save her child?

Way Better Than Expected
Reviewed by Gavin Schmitt

While traveling across country with her fiancé, Beth (Tabrett Bethell) wakes alone in an isolated clinic to a mother's worst nightmare. Just how far will she go to save her child? Let me say first of all I had the lowest of expectations for this one. I look at the cheesy cover, lack of known actors, the plot description... and all I can think is that this is clearly going to be a knockoff of "Turistas" or "Hostel". Which, as it turns out, is completely not the case. It has some elements of "Turistas", but is a far better film, with a healthy dose of "Battle Royale" mixed in. My instinct is to fault the makers of this film for saying it was inspired by true events. Almost all books and movies are inspired in some loose way (because it only makes sense you would write about what you have experienced). But this film was not inspired by true events except in the loosest way possible. There are simply too many improbabilities. In fact, the film is full of plot holes. Why does the one woman know the farm so well? How does this happen without the cops stepping in? Where are all the other women's husbands? How did they find so many women pregnant at the same time? How are freshly surgeried mothers so energetic? And it gets weirder at the end when more is revealed. So do not try to make sense of it, because that is your first mistake. But yet, I found myself fascinated and drawn in to the story, waiting for each new twist and turn. As much as I found it hard to believe and wanted to dislike it for being far-fetched, it was entertaining and had just enough mystery to make the audience think. Thinking movies and horror together? Oh my!

Pretty Good - Clinically Speaking
Reviewed by GregMO ROberts

There is nothing out of the ordinary with Beth and Cameron (Tabrette Bethell and Andy Whitfield). Beth is pregnant and the two fiancés are enjoying a cross country trip in the heartland of Australia to spend Christmas with Beth’s parents. When stopped at a remote motel for the evening, the very pregnant Beth takes to the bed for some rest as Cameron steps out to bring back dinner. But upon his return, Beth has disappeared and the concerned Cameron calls for police involvement. The next scene plays out like many we have seen in film and on television – the police proclaim they cannot react until she is gone for at least 24-hours and Cameron is asked questions as to the state of his relationship in an obvious effort by the authorities to point the finger directly at the person who made the call. But as predictable as that scene was scripted the following scenes take us in a different direction. We shift back to Beth where she regains consciousness and finds herself submerged in a tub of ice water. She is stitched up in her lower abdomen area and it is clear that she is no longer carrying her child. She struggles out of the tub to prison type clothing that is hanging over the lone chair in the room. She dresses and tries desperately to find an exit, but her wound begins to bleed and she is unable to congregate much strength. Upon exiting her room, she is confronted with the reality that she is on some factory compound with towering gates that encumber her escape. It is here she confronts another horrifying reality – she is not alone. Other women appear, all with the same scar and wearing a yellow prison suit with a unique Roman numeral imprinted on the back. All women tell of stories of having been pregnant without recollection as to who abducted them and what has happened. Their search of the compound takes them through a room where newborn babies are kept in locked cages. The babies are unharmed but they cannot be extracted. And there is no identification to reveal which baby belongs to which mother. As the plot deepens, the mothers fight both amongst themselves and with the proprietors of the compound as they fight both for their own survival while trying to establish the identity of the unnamed children. The Clinic was an above average thriller that dissolves towards the concluding chapters, but is propelled by competent acting in all leads to keep viewers interested. Anyone with a child might have a stronger attachment to the frustrating plight of the mothers in their struggle but the threat is real and the idea that women can be kidnapped and forced to give up their child is something of incredible repulsion. The idea that the women wouldn’t band together to combat their evil keepers was a bit lost on the script which tried to force an awkward confrontation between the new mothers. An ending which pitted even the captors against each other was even more unraveling. However, in terms of rating The Clinic amongst its peers, the movie is a better than average thriller that works on more levels that it fails. This was writer/director James Rabbitts’ first feature film and there is enough tone and competent work behind the camera to suggest that he has some real talent for the genre. The Clinic might not scare the hell out of anyone, but the blood, pain and confusion that is faced by all those involved in the story makes for some interesting entertainment.