You gotta love Lance Henriksen.
He brings such gravitas to every role he portrays and with it a mantle of work to be proud of. So regardless of the storyline or plot and how thin it maybe, Henriksen will at least ground his role as deep as possible and make it believable.
In this instance, he plays chief medic, Dr. Alexander Crick who exhumes a God-like personality as he approaches his work.
Needlestick may as well play out as a modern take on the Frankenstein tale, with Dr. Crick a carbon copy of the infamous doctor, hellbent on immortality through raising the dead and with a whole hospital as his playing field.
His Igor, a suave and magnanimous assistant, Boris (Jack Noseworthy, who will always be Justin from Event Horizon in this writers’ mind) ably assists Crick in their crazed pursuit of scientific glory.
Standing in their way, is bumbling resident Everett, (Michael Traynor – The Walking Dead, Nicholas), Nurse Marie (Kate Savoy), and patient with a death wish Sarah (Jordan Trovillion).
Throw in Frankenstein’s monster – a disfigured patient under Crick’s control as an overbearing Golem walking the hospital corridors and dispatching numerous characters with infected needles and we have the terror element to the movie.
Prognosis:
Its 3.5 rating on IMDB may be a little harsh. Needlestick is a fairly simple premise which offers little to stimulate or promote horror or thrills, so admittedly it fails in this account, but the characters aren’t too formulaic with both Henriksen and Traynor chomping the scenery with much delight.
Worth a watch but may not necessarily get the pulse racing.
- Saul Muerte
Surgeons of Horror 