Ryan may need some medical assistance after watching Nurse…
Nurse never goes for realism nor does it get too deep into the characters but what is lacks in those departments it more than makes up for in fun. Yes the story in Nurse is slight and its one you’ve seen or heard of a million times before but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the film plays it straight with regards to the plot and lets the nutty writing and over the top acting take the film further than it probably should go.
The story – Abby Russell (Paz de la Huerta) works as a nurse, someone you wouldn’t hesitate to trust your life with. At night… she lures cheating men to their brutal deaths using her looks and body. When Abby develops an obsession over young nurse Danni (Katrina Bowden) it threatens to unravel her secret life. A voice over from Abby gets the early pesky exposition out of the way and the story really does zoom along at break neck pace with no time to stop for logic or reason but you know what? – It doesn’t matter one little bit, because it is so bloody enjoyable.
Paz de la Huerta totally and utterly owns the film. Her Abby is sex, blood and insanity all rolled up into one crazy package. She snarls, squints, murders and maims her way through the film all with a gleeful attitude and it’s a thing of beauty. Playing the straight role against her is Katrina Bowden and she does a fine job as the object of the obsession and the one person that knows the truth about Abby’s murderous pastimes. The rest of the cast are fairly one note (even though there are few well known faces popping up) which is ok as no doubt they will become victims or comedy relief.
The direction is handled well by Doug Aarniokoski keep things rolling and getting some nice shots. The writing leaves a lot to be desired with some bad dialogue and some leaps of logic taking place but if I start complaining too much about that then I’d have a huge list (the Hatchet films for example) to go on but in a carnage laden film I can quickly forgive these issues. Speaking of carnage, those seeking a lot kills will get what they want unfortunately what they won’t get is practical effects, which is a real shame but I feel that the (obvious) CGI killings take away from the atmosphere that film manages to create, it’s a minor complaint especially since the 3rd act has a lot of gore.
Nurse has a tongue-in-cheek feel about it, even if it is unintentional. The film is fast, messy, sexy and silly and it doesn’t pretend to be something that it is not, it wears its bloodied heart on its sleeve and that is fine by me. Nurse is certainly worth a look, preferably on DVD with beer or two and some friends.
Follow Ryan Morrissey-Smith on Twitter @TigersMS78
Images from Fandango and A Little Dead
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