Watched: 05/18/2025
Format: Tubi
Viewing: First
Directors: Bryan Ramirez, Bryan Ortiz, Kerry Valderrama
So, this one turned into a bit more of a rabbit hole than I was expecting.
Sanitarium (2013) is a movie independently produced in San Antonio, Texas - just down the road from my own Austin, TX. It's a great town, and I recommend it.
The film is an anthology, three stories centering around how a trio of inmates landed in a sanitarium run by Malcolm McDowell, who sort of book-ends the film and shows up here and there. But the movie is a testament to people figuring out they can afford the day rates for some actors and living out the dream of making a movie with actors they like.
The first segment stars John Glover (a personal favorite of mine) as an artist who makes tableaus with puppet-like figures. This also includes Robert Englund.
The second features Chris Mulkey as a prototypical movie drunk dad, David Mazouz of Gotham fame as a young kid who is seeing monsters, and Lacey Chabert as his teacher.
The third and longest segment features Lou Diamond Phillips.
I have no idea how indie movies like this are made, but IMDB tells me that each segment took 5 days to shoot, so I imagine a *lot* of prep work went to each segment so they could maximize everyone's time.
All in all, it's a pretty well made film, with the third and first segments a lot stronger than the second - if you asked me why Chabert's character was even in the movie, I couldn't really tell you. But I generally liked what I saw of all three. Short films are a pretty good way to keep me from lingering so long on a movie that I start to pick at it, but the shorter segments tighten everything up. It did kind of make me want to watch some other horror anthology movies later this year. Maybe a Creepshow and Twilight Zone.
The primary force behind the movie is Kerry Valderrama, who - a quick internet search tells me - passed in 2023. Sadly, he doesn't seem to have made many more films to make it to IMDB, but there's many folks online mentioning their good experiences with him.
I think his segment with Lou Diamond Phillips was actually really interesting - and Phillips solid as pre-usual. The love and care that went into it is obvious.
Is it stupid?
No! It's maybe more interesting than scary. But I was impressed with what some folks from SA pulled together in a city I don't think of as being film-heavy, and managing to do it all on their own.
And, how was Chabert? She's fine! She plays a young school teacher concerned for our hero of the segment. But she doesn't get a lot to do.
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