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Patient 62 – North American digital release this October.

It’s safe to say that 5D has been involved (in its own very small way) with Patient 62 for some time. In fact it was back in May 2015 when we first ran a feature on the film’s participation in Canada’s CineCoup Film Accelerator competition and the subsequent crowdfunding campaign for the movie’s production. The review of the film featured here originally featured on 5D’s old Blogger site in October 2016 when I was lucky enough to be offered a super secret early rough cut viewing of Patient 62 in all its glory.

The reason for the reprinting of my musings on this gem of a sci-fi film are not simply because I’m a lazy son of a gun who couldn’t be bothered to come up with something new (we;; at least not this time). No, the reason lies behind the email I received a day or so ago from the film’s director, Rick Anthony. He stated that he wanted to drop me a line to let me know that the film’s North American digital release will be this October (other regions will follow suit) and wanted to know whether I’d be interested in getting the word out once again. He very cleverly advised me that not only had one of the film’s promotional posters contained a quote from the 2016 review (see the pic above), but the soon-to-be-released trailer also contains some words of wisdom from yours truly. Rick seemed to think for some reason that this would sway me into helping once again……. Am I that superficial, shallow and easily convinced???!!! Of course I am……

So, in addition to the upcoming trailer that will appear on the 5D website as soon as we’re allowed to plead it, there will be an upcoming 5D comp for Patient 62 SWAG as Rick pinky-promised to send my way some tasty prizes so send out into 5D land. The rumours that I will first choose what tasty SWAG I will first keep for myself are patently slanderous and will be dealt with by my team of lawyers……. as soon as they have dealt with these numerous other charges.

So for now, see for yourself the 5D musings on Patient 62.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of being involved in 5D is witnessing the fruition of work from its early beginnings through to the final completion, especially if I have played a small part (a very small part) in helping along the way with a little publicity and promotion. It was around a year and a half ago when 5D was contacted by a Canadian Film maker asking whether we would be amenable to sharing news about his film. The said request came from Rick Anthony, who immediately claimed to be an award-winning Sci-fi/Fantasy novelist and screenwriter and went on to tell me that his latest project, Patient 62, a Sci-fi/Action film, was currently competing rather well in his country’s CineCoup film accelerator.

So after some expansive and ultra-analytically detailed investigation (which by my personal reckoning is about 2 mins) I found out that not only were the bold claims true in terms of the award-winning bits, but that Patient 62 was in fact ranked at the time as first in the Cinecoup competition. For those not in the know, Cinecoup is a unique funding model that allows filmmakers to submit concept trailers for their films to an audience who decides which gets made. The prize is a million dollar production budget and massive distribution deal – very nice.

Patient 62, I was reliably informed, was a film being produced by Factory Factory Entertainment, the creative team behind the award-winning indie film, Bread Thieves. Front runners in this year’s CineCoup Film Accelerator, the team withdrew from the competition, choosing another distribution option as their bird in hand. Although they had now got distribution covered, the large burden of budget was still upon them, and although they had significant investment in this film already, they needed more funds to extend the duration of their shooting schedule. As a consequence the team launched a crowdfunding campaign for which I was more than happy to help out with in terms of a little bit of 5D publicity and promotion.

Well some 18 months later this very week I received another message from Rick saying that the film was now complete and getting ready for its world premier. Not only that, but he asked if I would like a super sneaky preview of the film from a super secret online source? Of course I damn well would!

Before I share my thoughts on the completed Patient 62, let me refresh (or inform) your memory of the plot;

“On poor terms with his sister, Angela since their father’s death, Lucas Chase is hesitant to believe that she has been taken against her will until he learns their mother suffers from the same strange dreams of her abduction that Lucas himself has been having. Unsure of the meaning of it all, Lucas enlists the help of Angela’s ex boyfriend, Dennis, and the two set out to poke around the strip club she worked at.

The trail leads them to a drug manufacturing plant where Lucas witnesses the murder of a chemist, and accidentally comes in contact with the substance the chemist was manufacturing. Lucas soon comes to realize that the drug has given him newfound telekinetic abilities which he struggles to control as he searches for his sister in an ever-changing web of human trafficking and experimentation.”

I know for a fact that this whole project has been something of Rick’s labour of love for going on three years now and I’m so happy for him to be able to say that Patient 62 has been well worth the wait.

The plot of Patient 62 is fairly straightforward: Boy has sister………..boy doesn’t like sister working in a strip club………. girl disappears ………boy has freaky dreams about sister……… boy learns sister has been nabbed by a chemist messing around with genes ………….. things don’t quite go so well for one of them……….. boy develops telekinetic powers and kicks some bad guy ass. Ahhh, we’ve all been there……..

This is a film that in some ways took me by surprise as it takes a real-world hot topic such as genetic manipulation and wraps it up in a story of relatable family strife and all fused with a tasty action sci-fi adventure. All too often these types of films serve only to spoil the experience by being overly unrealistic and fantastical way beyond the productions limited means, thankfully this film doesn’t fall into that trap.

Another undoubted strength of the movie are the central performances of Reece Wagner (Lucas) and Andrew Valdez (Dennis). If you add to that a strong supporting cast taken from the local theatre committee the makers have avoided something that occasionally detracts from an indie film such as this poorly acted set-pieces. I have to admit that the role of the primary bad-guy (Glenn LaPoint) is exactly how a bad guy should be played – full of controlled (and sometimes uncontrolled) aggression and menace, well-played sir. Here we have a well acted production with no real weak acting links. If you add to that a fine pacy script with a number of witty exchanges of dialogue throughout, plus some inspired special effects, lighting and editing which belies the films low-budget you have a package that should not fail. I’m sure it won’t.

If all that wasn’t enough then I could add that there are a number of gorgeous sexy women inhabiting the aforementioned strip club – however I’m far too much of a gentleman to mention that……….

What we have in Patient 62 is a genuinely enjoyable and exciting sci-fi action film and a thoroughly enjoyable movie experience.

Keep your eyes peeled here for further news about the October release in North America as well as the forming Patient 62 competition here at 5D.

You can find out more about Patient 62 at the website http://factoryfactoryentertainment.com