I saw this brilliant, creepy horror film at the Newport Beach Film Festival. The plot concerns a woman who is wheeled into a surgery room for heart surgery. She is given anesthesia, but soon discovers that she is one of those unlucky few to experience anesthesia awareness (which I looked up afterward -- it's real!!!). She is paralyzed by the anesthesia, but remains awake and able to feel everything. She has no way of communicating with the doctors and nurses, who think she is unconscious and begin prepping for the surgery. Tension in the film mounts quickly as the surgeons get closer and closer to operating, and the patient (whose thoughts we hear in a voice-over) struggles to move a finger or give some sign that she is awake. We see things from the patient's point of view, and the film has some great imagery with some shock cuts of the patient trapped in a coffin. I won't spoil what happens, but I will say that I saw this in a packed theatre and the film was so scary that people were gasping and covering their eyes, and 2 or 3 people even ran out of the theatre! The lead actress was terrific. There is also some very funny (and dark) humor, with a great, well-timed line right before the surgeons are about to cut into the patient -- which generated lots of nervous laughter in the audience. If you're a horror fun, this a must-see, and hopefully will be in other festivals!
