Seclusion

When i mention the distribution company known as The Asylum i know a lot of people have different opinions about their releases. We are of course talking about all of their low budget films that´s coming out every single year, and if you look at the list of how many The Asylum releases there are out there, i swear you have to be impressed. In fact, i can barely remember more than 15 titles and i have probably seen 40 at least over the years. The Asylum are experts at delivering cheesy B movie moments that we all love, everything from terrible CGI effects to over the top acting. For the most part i can accept most releases since i know they are meant to be terrible, but then we have really horrible ones such as the 2010 low budget action adventure film Almighty Thor ( yes a low budget version of Thor - God of thunder ). What really made this film awful are the special effects of the location known as Valhalla, for example awful looking castles and even terrible looking lava from a volcano. I don´t mind bad CGI effects as long as they are fun and actually work with the plot itself. But this film barely have any qualities at all. The monsters look.....ok i guess? But the sword fights and the bad CGI effects in general makes this film fall flat to the ground. However, just 2 years after this terrible film we did get a fun release from The Asylum known as the sci fi action film Nazis At The Center Of The Earth. The film begin in May 10, 1945, in a secret airport near Wurtzberg, Germany, Nazi scientist Dr. Josef Mengele ( Christopher Karl Johnson ), along with fellow doctors and soldiers, prepare to depart to an unknown location with a mysterious package in their possession. They are soon ambushed by Allied forces, but succesfull escape. We move into present day, where a group of reseachers are located in Antarctica, find a secret Nazi base in the center of the Earth where they are creating nazi soldiers for a new Fourth Reich. Does this film have bad special effects? Yes, but far better than the whole film Almighty Thor and i do think it´s a fun plot having nazis fighting in Antarctica. It was this film where i discovered actress Dominique Swain, who i later found out have been in the 1997 action classic Face/Off. Nazis At The Center Of The Earth is a fun watch if you appreciate B movies in general. Speaking of actress Dominique Swain i decided to check out a TV thriller she released last year called Seclusion. I had only seen the poster and didn´t know much about the plot at all. Is this a solid TV thriller or is this a film that will most likely be forgotten once you have seen it?

Dr. Madeleine Faye ( Nicky Whelan ), a successfull psychiatrist and best-selling author, seeks refuge in her waelthy father´s beach house while she works on her next book. She begin to suspect that a former patient is stalking her.

TV movies can be good if they at least have a descent plot, interesting characters or have something else to offer the viewer. I have seen a few American TV thrillers over the years that´s been alright ( especially thinking about the 2022 Lifetime thriller known as Safe Room ), and i actually think TV thrillers can be good entertainment if you can accept the limited budget. In the case of Seclusion the plot did seem interesting when i finally read about it. Perhaps because i have met a lot of mentally ill patients in my almost 27 years working in health care, and i wanted to see if this film would capture a realistic portait of a person struggling with mental health. But this is not a film that´s specifically focused on mental health only, you also have the main story of Dr. Madeleine. We find out how she is dealing with her personal life being single, trying to deal with personal issues with her sister while trying to be a professional psychiatrist. The parts where the film works best is the scenes between Dr. Madeleine trying to help her mentally struggling patient Heather ( played by actress Amy Wade ). Especially when her patients doesn´t seem to respect Dr. Madeleine´s privacy and this is where it gets a little bit more fun. The acting in general is quite typical when it comes to TV thrillers, it´s pretty basic and no bigger surprises. But i do think there is a good chemistry bewteen the sister characters of Madeleine ( played by actress Nicky Whelan who can be seen in From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series ) and Kelly. Actor Fred Sullivan is quite charming as the father Mr. Faye. Ok, so let´s dig into one of the biggest issues with Seclusion. This is supposed to be a thriller and i can´t say it does a really good job capturing a psychological atmosphere surrounding a mentally ill patient and the rivalry bewteen two sisters. It´s not the actors fault, the writing by Amy Wade is simply too predictable and too much polished. There is a twist later in this film that´s supposed to be suspensful but becomes pretty dull to be honest. Is this a terrible TV thriller? No, there are parts of the film i enjoy but since this is supposed to be a thriller i think they could have done this story much more effective. Director Tom DeNucci have made a very basic TV film that have some good ideas but feels boring at times. Seclusion might be appreciated by fans of TV movies in general, just don´t have too high expectations if you decide to watch this film.

Rating: DD