As I write this, many hard working people at New Line are losing their jobs. Losing their jobs because of films like The Golden Compass and a string of really awful Mandy Moore films. But, let's not forget all those great films they've given us. They introduced us to John Waters. They took a huge gamble and funded three fantasy epics, for a director who had predominantly worked on horror comedies, that went on to bring home Oscar gold. They introduced Samuel L. Jackson to his most fearsome foe yet: snakes. And despite all of these triumphs, New Line will always be the house that Freddy built. Despite the ups and downs of their franchises, they always looked out for horror fans when no one else cared and actually attempted to put out R rated features. And while we'll still be getting films from them, THE SICKHOUSE might be the last horror film completed and released by them with no involvement or interference by their parent-studio, Warner Brothers. Sure, New Line still has its own marketing, distribution and the like, but Warner Brothers is, essentially, babysitting them now and will probably be using them as a genre outlet, much like Universal uses Rogue. Who knew riding a polar bear could get you into so much trouble?

The reason for my short tribute to New Line is because I hate to see their last foray into horror be so… muddled and confusing. That's not to say THE SICKHOUSE is entirely without merit. It's certainly more entertaining than at least half of the DTV garbage I've sat through but well, I wish director Curtis Radclyffe would have focused on his vision a little better.

THE SICKHOUSE, which was originally known as The Prey during production, stars Gina Philips (Jeepers Creepers) as Anna, an archaeologist who is excavating a 17th century plague hospital. Discovering some remnant of the plague virus, the CDC decides to shut down her project. Thinking she may have found evidence of a murderous plague doctor visiting the hospital, Anna sneaks back into the hospital one last time, before its torn down at 6am the following morning. Oh, she finds evidence of the doctor all right. She releases his spirit after knocking down a wall and, along with a group of delinquent teens who have broken into the hospital after a car accident, tries to find a way out of the hospital before the doctor or the demolition crew kill her.

What I really liked about the film is that it's got this greenish-gray tint through most of it. That might seem like I'm grasping at straws, trying to find something I like, but it really does stand out. It makes the hospital looks very dingy and gross, which is, you know, what an abandoned plague hospital should look like. The atmosphere created by this and the actual hospital design completely drew me into the film.

The acting is where it starts to get iffy. The actors themselves, most notably Alex Hassell and Kellie Shirley as a bad ass punk and a pregnant girl, are decent. They occasionally display a sense of dread and fear, which is surprisingly absent from most horror flicks these days, although this is the first thing filmmakers should be concerned about. Now, once you got beyond that, you start to realize how stupid these characters really are. For example, Nick and Anna just realized that the tablature they're found could be showing them how they're suppose to die: by fire or by hanging. The next thing to pop out of Anna mouth is, “I need a torch.” Not to mention, Nick decides to put on a giant scarf and go walking around. How big is that scarf? Large enough to hang yourself with? Yeah...

And then there's this whole time travel thing, which is where the film becomes totally confusing (I'll just leave it at that, since I don't want to ruin the ending). It's like Radclyffe knew he was ripping off House on Haunted Hill big time and decided to gravitate towards Donnie Darko for the finale. And, I don't have a problem with that, because most slasher films are copying off of a previous one anyway, but the two halves just don't make a good whole. It leaves a lot of “why” and “how come” questions that I just can't completely answer. It's one thing to not give me a back story, a la Carpenter's Halloween, and have me just accept the film. In that sort of instance, its not important what happened but rather what is happening. This, though, is totally different. It felt like I got left high and dry, to finish a puzzle that was missing too many pieces to even make out the picture.

Other grievances aside (the villain looks like a cross between a member of Slipknot and the inbred mutant from “The Post Modern Prometheus” episode of The X-Files... could've been a little more creative here guys), it still managed to keep my attention for an hour and a half. Granted, THE SICKHOUSE isn't exactly a good movie or even an average one but its certainly watchable. RIP New Line Pictures.