Subject Two poster & wallpaper

Christian Oliver, Courtney Mace, Dean Stapleton

A doctor invents a resurrection formula and tests it by killing his assistant over and over and over again.

Flixster Users

49% liked it

572 ratings

Critics

60% liked it

10 critics

R

Directed by: Philip Chidel

Release Date: April 14, 2006

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: July 18, 2006

Get It:

Stats: 68 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

Dr. Vick (Dean Stapleton) leads Adam (Christian Oliver) on a hike across mountaintops in Subject Two (2006) The crew of Subject Two, preparing in the middle of a cloud at 12000 in Subject Two (2006) Subject Two (2006) Dean Stapleton as Dr. Vick/Ethan in Subject Two (2006) Subject Two (2006) Christian Oliver as Adam Schmidt, Dean Stapleton as Dr. Vick/Ethan in Subject Two (2006) Dr. Vick (Dean Stapleton) stands alone in his environment of wind and snow in Subject Two (2006) Jürgen Jones as The Hunter, Dean Stapleton as Ethan in Subject Two (2006) Subject Two - (2006) Courtney Mace as Kate in Subject Two (2006) Director of Photography Rich Confalone (l.) and Director Philip Chidel (r.) survey the next shot for Subject Two (2006) Dean Stapleton as Dr. Vick/Ethan in Subject Two (2006) Just another day in paradise... Shooting a key scene for Subject Two at 12000 for Subject Two (2006) Jürgen Jones as The Hunter, An illegal hunter stumbles upon the doctor and his experiments in Subject Two (2006) Christian Oliver as Adam Schmidt arises after an unnatural death experience in Subject Two (2006) Christian Oliver as Adam Schmidt in Subject Two (2006) 2 Dean Stapleton as Dr. Vick/Ethan in Subject Two (2006) Christian Oliver as Adam Schmidt arises after an unnatural death experience in Subject Two (2006)
Upload a Photo |

View All Subject Two Photos (20)

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (68)

  • WitchfulThinking
    December 3, 2009
    WitchfulThinking

    ...( read more)style="width:280px;">




    Subject Two

    SUBJECT TWO (2006)
    WRITTEN BY: Philip Chidel and Philip Chidel
    DIRECTED BY: Philip Chidel
    DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Rich Confalone
    FEATURING: Christian Oliver, Dean Stapleton, Courtney Mace, Jürgen Jones, Thomas Buesch, and Philip Chidel
    GENRES: HORROR, SCI-FI
    TAGS: GRIM, HEAVY, DISTURBING, TWISTED

    PLOT: A medical student gets more than he bargained for when upon accepting an experimental internship, he discovers that immortality comes with a steep price. Subject Two is a fresh twist on the Frankenstein plot. It envisions being reanimated from the undead's perspective. It is deeply disturbing and every bit as repellent and hellish as one could hope.

    COMMENTS: A misanthropic medical student named Adam who flunked his ethics exam receives a cryptic email from a Dr. Fanklin Vick. It offers him an opportunity to assist in unusual medical research and to subsequently share in revolutionary scientific advances in medicine.

    He bites on the lure, but to accept the position, he must wait on an icy mountain road in the middle of nowhere to be offered a ride by a stranger. The alluring and mysterious chauffeur obviously knows more about what is going on than he does. His journey to meet the elusive Doctor Vick is itself a snowy odyssey into the isolated, surreal drifts and folds of the Colorado Rockies.

    When Adam and his driver reach a landmark beyond which the driver is no longer allowed, Adam must hike up a snow covered mountain to the doctor's laboratory. Now he is stranded, beyond the point of no return. The research facility turns out to be a converted chalet. Something about it is reminiscent of Nikola Tesla's Colorado Springs retreat in The Prestige.

    He meets Vick who tells him that the research is very unusual and important and that Adam is uniquely qualified. Vick avoids going into much specific detail. Adam accepts. What Adam doesn't understand is that what uniquely qualifies him is that he is now a captive audience. Nobody knows where he is, he has no means of departure, and his particular background makes him an entity who nobody will ever miss if he disappears.

    On this isolated, snowbound mountain peak, Dr. Vick is indeed performing very unique research. He is experimenting with life, death, and reanimation. In combination with makeshift cryogenics, he is using a bizarre recombinant DNA serum that alters and restarts the process of cellular respiration. The problem is, because the serum, timing and method of administration are as yet unperfected and misunderstood, the process has some very unpleasant side effects. Guess who gets to be the new test subject?

    VIck murders Adam, and not very nicely. Instead of shooting him up with an overdose of Seconal, he sneaks up behind him a violently strangles him. Then he reanimates him.

    He ruthlessly butchers and reanimates Adam repeatedly, trying to get the serum component balance, dosage, cryogenic, and temporal factors just right. There isn't an objective control group. Adam is both subject and control group, which is to say that as Vick and Adam perfect the research, they proceed via trial and error. As Subject Two, Adam is captive to a continuum of horrible and invigorating side effects, continuously oscillating between two extremes of mortal perception.

    Subject Two experiences his new reality as a twisted psychedelic nightmare. It is simultaneously clarifying and hellish. While continuing to inhabit the world of the living, he is now intellectually in the bizarre plane of the beyond.

    Unsettling developments alter Adam's experience when he discovers the frozen, bloody remains of who is apparently Subject One buried in the snow. In a state of suspended animation, Subject One's head is riddled with an octopus of gruesome serum tubes. Subject One does not look pleased about it, but he is going nowhere for the time being. Then matters become complicated when a trespassing poacher stumbles onto the proceedings and Adam "corrects" him.

    The film has been criticized on two counts. Adam's character is allegedly not well enough developed so that we care about him, and the film was shot in digital video. I emphatically contest these assertions.

    Regarding character development, there isn't time in a standard movie to address every potential nuance. Subject Two is about a dreadful, inescapable cycle of perpetual violent death and reanimation. The film is a horrifying psychological thriller about the human condition in states of animation and morbid destruction. It grimly depicts what it means to be alive. It explores the existential nature and paradoxes of undeath. Subject Two is about the curse of immortality.

    With cerebral horror paradigms like this to contemplate, I couldn't give a dead lab rat's ass about Adam's hopes and dreams, his life and loves. He is an unethical, bright, curious, but naive foul-up. I want to see how he handles the situation and what becomes of him, nothing more.

    While the cinematography has been accused of giving the piece the cheap feel of a soap opera, I dispute this as well. The cinematography is as sharp and precise as the frozen alpine air. It enhances the rarefied, ionic ether of the crystalline subzero setting. One can almost feel the thin, icy atmosphere paralyzing the lungs, the sting of snowy crystals against bare skin. Direct to digital bypasses the gloomy dreary look of televised productions once shot on video tape.

    True, direct digital tracks movement the way video tape does, and lacks the lustrous detachment achieved by film stock. However it is perfectly suited to the white, snowbound, blue-skied clarity of the locale in Subject Two. The precision of digital is blissfully married to the stark, cold reality of this severe story.

    Subject Two is mostly a mental and physical dialectic between two actors. There is a cold calculation about their dispositions, rather than the emotionally wrought yelling and screaming that is standard to other horror scenarios of its type. There is no dramatically shrieked, "Give my creature life!" Subject Two is pure science fiction and squeamish dread. The appalling nature of the irreversible psychic and physiological mutilation inflicted on Adam combines with Vick's amoral descent beyond unorthodoxy into pure evil. This profane combination provides all of the excitement and turmoil that one can endure.

    WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: "Set against the bright, breathtaking world of the snow-peaked Rocky Mountains . . . Subject Two is as much a clever inversion of the resurrection horror genre as it is a profound and ethical examination of the value of life and immortality." - Sundance Film Festival
  • Nenebelle
    November 23, 2009
    Nenebelle
    Recommended by WitchfulThinking.
  • grayavec
    October 23, 2009
    grayavec
    I liked the concept. What would you do for immortality? Apparently, drink a lot of algae, bond with nature, and die half a dozen times. What I didn't get was how Subject Two could heal bullet wounds but not the damage done by the doctor with his experimental surgeries. Puttin...( read more)g the plot aside, this low-budget film had decent acting, beautiful scenery, good special effects, and excellent editing.
  • liverandcheetos
    August 1, 2009
    liverandcheetos
    This sounds pretty cool
  • sleepykiss
    July 30, 2009
    sleepykiss
    Well-acted, suspenseful, but typical plot.
  • irony
    March 26, 2009
    irony
    As weird as this movie was, I truly enjoyed it. Very different and interesting. 4/5.
  • Rickinator69
    October 4, 2008
    Rickinator69
    Strange, and not altogether coherent.
  • InVeRtDrEaMz
    August 22, 2008
    InVeRtDrEaMz
    A very suprizing storyline... not really much acting was needed for this type of film... the doctors experiments were way out there.. and in the end... the docotor becomes " The Subject "
  • morphine
    August 15, 2008
    morphine
    Lol!! Sorry I thought the storyline was funny
  • willk23
    July 20, 2008
    willk23
    Definitely worth a watch if you like psychological horrors. Not a lot of blood and gore, but a very interesting take on the Frankenstein theory.

View All Subject Two Reviews

Critic Reviews

April 14, 2006
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

There are big ideas nibbling around the edges of the screenplay, but the movie seems underwhelmed by its own startling material. full review

View more Subject Two reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Subject Two" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Official Trailer

View Larger Subject Two Trailer

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Subject Two : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Subject Two. Want to create one?

Video Clips

Upload a Video |

All Subject Two Videos

Meet Other Fans

Add Subject Two to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?