A Black Heart in White Hell

A Black Heart in White Hell (2015)

** (out of 4)

A woman (Reagan Root) gets into the shower where she sits down and blows her brain out. Shortly after she wakes up in a white room where she can't escape but instead she keeps reliving the same nightmare.

This thirty-two minute film from director Dustin Mills is actually the first thing I've seen from him. I certainly didn't love this movie but at the same time I can at least respect what he was going for and see what strong qualities were here. The strongest aspect of the film was certainly the beautiful B&W cinematography that really captured the mood and spirit of the rather dark subject matter.

As far as the rest of the film goes, I'd say it's a mix of REPULSION and GROUNDHOGS DAY as we basically see the woman trapped inside this room and no matter how many times she kills herself she just ends up starting everything over again. The story itself leaves itself up to people making up their own mind on what's actually happening, which I enjoyed but at the same time I felt the film was a bit too long for its own good.

I was impressed with the technical style of the film, its atmosphere and there's no question that it contained some brutal gore shots including one sequence of delivery that rivals what was seen in Jess Franco's LORNA THE EXORCIST. Root was good for what the role required and there's no question that Mills has a great eye.