Sublime is one of those movies that managed to make me angry. Not the kind of anger I reserve for the truly bad movies out there (most of that anger tends to pass in about an hour), but just because the people behind it seemed to be trying way too hard to make their audience feel off-balance and on edge. It's a psychological horror-thriller that wants to be like Jacob's Ladder (another movie I didn't particularly care for, despite its cult following) but can't strike a fine balance between cohesion and horror.

As the second film from Warner's genre outfit, Raw Feed, Sublime is still better than the effort that came before it (the weak slasher, Rest Stop), but that' doesn't mean it's worth your time. Which is too bad, because it does start off and end pretty decently. It's just what's wedged in between that ruins it.

Set to go in for a routine surgery the day after his Fortieth birthday, George (Tom Cavanagh, best known for defunct TV show "Ed") isn't looking forward to it. But he's been assured it's as simple as they come and that nothing will go wrong. However, this being a horror-thriller, you know that's not the case and when George wakes-up he's thrust into a world of confusion and psychosis after noticing some weird stitches in his side and not getting any help from anyone who works at the hospital.

Amongst George's attempts to make sense of what's going on around him, director Tony Krantz (a long time television producer making his directing debut) and writer Erik Jendresen throw in various flashbacks to the night before (I suspect to give us at least some character development and make us give a rat's ass about our main character) including a scene where his son is watching some sort of "surgery exorcism" on the Internet. George also finds himself having a fling with his nurse (Shanna Collins) and having to deal with an intern named "Mandingo" (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs) who seems to have quite a chip on his shoulder (as evidenced by a somewhat out of place anti-racism rant in the finale).

Jendresen's script also tries to keep you off kilter but is mostly defeated by the fact that he's continually introducing throwaway characters who speak gibberish (like when George wakes-up and a man covered in bandages in on the bed beside him and starts ranting) while having the main ones seemingly drift in and out of the story with no real purpose. There's nothing wrong with trying to make an off-beat, intellectual, horror flick but when most of it doesn't make a lick of sense things tend to border on becoming unwatchable - a border that Sublime constantly crosses.

On top of it all, this is one incredibly boring time. Sure, Krantz tries his best to fill his movie will all sorts of over-the-top imagery and the production values are pretty high, but what it all comes down to is story. It's not like I myself demand a deep, rich story every time out (Hell, my constant love of crappy B-movies proves that) but it would be nice not to get constantly slapped in the face by events and plot twists that fail to explain anything. Eventually, Jendresen does explain things (in a revelation that's fairly easy to spot) but by then it's too late to forgive the slog it's taken to get to it.

Sublime just has nothing in it for me to even think about recommending it to you. I can't remember the last time I was this mad at a movie (and the people behind it). When it was all said and done I felt like someone had punched me repeatedly in the head and I was suffering from a mild concussion. Let's just hope Raw Feed doesn't continue it's path of mediocrity with their next release... (Chris Hartley, 4/4/07)

Directed By: Tony Krantz.
Written By: Erik Jendresen.

Starring: Tom Cavanagh, Kathleen York, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, Katherine Cunningham-Eves.

Picture Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: This certainly looks great on disc. It's clean and clear with no noticeable flaws and the picture stays crisp throughout.

Extras: As with Rest Stop the extras here aren't much to write home about. For starters we get a trailer for Rest Stop, there's interviews with both Krantz and Jendresen, we get to watch the full "exorcism" scene without interupption, and there's a commentary track with Krantz and Jendresen as well. It's not a stunning batch of extras, but it should please fans of the movie.