Filmmakers Adam Gierasch (co-writer/director) and Jace Anderson (co-writer/producer) have made far better features than this, including the 2009 Night of the Demons remake. Sadly, based on their latest effort they are not progressing. Fractured is shaky and jagged and feels like something from a first-time filmmaker. Callum Blue stars as Dylan, only that’s not his real name. Since waking up from a coma of more than 2 years, he has no memory. He leads a quiet, boring life and is a cook at a restaurant in New Orleans. He sleeps with Brandy (Ashlynn Yennie) from time to time, who notes that his walls are complete bare and requests permission to remedy that.
Though he has no memory, what Dylan does have are terrifying visions. Naked, bloodied women attack and devour him at his apartment and a convenience store. Why is he having these visions? Who is he and what kind of person was he before the coma? After spotting an image in the newspaper that feels familiar, he decides to find the answers, telling Brandy that she can’t join him.
Dylan shows up at a bar where people seem to know him, and before long he crosses paths with a criminal named Quincy (Vinnie Jones, in a role requiring minimum effort). It turns out that Dylan might have been involved in nefarious activities before the coma, and Quincy is none too pleased to see him. None of the above is remotely unique or interesting.The movie’s biggest problem is Blue. He displays no screen presence or charisma whatsoever. Dylan seems like he has a sleep disorder or chronic boredom. He’s barely awake in nearly every scene. It is impossible to be invested in his past, the meaning of the visions, or what happens to him.
Fractured also doesn’t know what kind of movie it’s trying to be. It’s got a bluesy score and appears to be trying for noir at times, but it has no sense of what type of mood that necessitates. The visions are out of a horror movie, but it never generates any suspense and is certainly never scary. The sex and frequent full-frontal nudity are out of something soft-core on Cinemax. Women are rarely clothed.
Speaking of women, the vast majority of them are sex slaves. The only two with significant screen time are given nothing to do save for sleep with Dylan. There’s also an extremely graphic scalping of one of them and an even more unpleasant scene featuring Quincy slaughtering a group of sex slaves. It’s grotesque and encapsulates the movie’s misogyny problem.
If forced to pay a compliment, the makeup effects are pretty good. And Vinnie Jones, even in a role he could play in his sleep, has his moments. That’s about it though. Fractured is an unpleasant bore.
