Adam is a troubled medical student, flunking out of medical ethics class, & suffering severe migraines. When a mad scientist offers him a research position in the snowy hinterlands of Colorado, he's the eager beaver.

When no one in a story is the least bit likeable, the incidents had better be way interesting to make up for it. No one in the mimalist cast of Subject Two (2006) is the worthy of concern. Unfortunately the events aren't much better.

Franklin Vick (Victor Frankensteine, get it, get it) & Adam (another childishly "symbolic" name) are both borderline sociopaths, good company in the improbable mountain research cabin that has no road to it, no rearch equipment in it, & no evidence of sufficient supplies for anyone to actually live there.

Vick (Dean Stapleton) & Adam (Christian Oliver) act like two crabby faggots sizing each other up in a public restroom as prelude to rough trade. Then Vick kills Adam so as to reanimate him.

The process works really well & Adam comes back to life "improved." At first the revived Adam talks like Yoda in spazzy philosophic expressions, & has cool contact lenses.

But the reanimation process has also excellerated his antisocial proclivity so that he's now a violent nutter.

Despite that Adam has the name of the First Man, he's actually Subject Two. Subject One (played by writer-director Philip Chidal) was a failure and is buried out in a snow pile. But not so much a failed subject after all, as he does eventually rise up from the snow. Who'd've guessed!

This is mainly a two-man show. It's sometimes creepy with it's gay sadomasochistic subtext, but basically a crappy film in no way improved by its serious intentions. With no story complications & hardly any characters, it basically boils down to Vick killing & reviving Adam over & over again, trying to get it right.

It's a little different from typical horror cheapies, yet nothing actually unexpected occurs. There is a coda in which we learn Dr. Vick is not who he claimed to be, but who cares.

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl