Gore Verbinski Returns to Horror With ‘A Cure for Wellness’

Aryeh Harris-Shapiro

Four years after “The Lone Ranger” rode out of the box office, Gore Verbinski is back. The first three films in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise helped make him one of the highest-grossing directors of all time, but his last film, a box office bomb, was widely criticized for casting Johnny Depp as a Native American. This time around marks Verbinski’s first film without Johnny Depp in the lead. Fifteen years after he directed “The Ring,” Verbinski returns to the horror genre with the new release, “A Cure for Wellness.”

“A Cure for Wellness” stars Dane DeHaan as Lockhart, a young financial executive sent to bring his CEO back from a strange spa resort in the Swiss Alps known as The Volmer Institute. When he finds himself stuck there, he begins questioning the institute’s methods and the motivations of its leader, Dr. Volmer (Jason Isaacs). Characters claim to have found a cure for the human condition and it becomes a dark meditation on modern living. In style and story, it is similar to “Shutter Island” and other B–movie horrors.

DeHaan is probably best known for his starring role in “Chronicle,” and for playing Harry Osborn in “The Amazing Spider–Man 2.” Between this and upcoming films including Luc Besson’s “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” and “Tulip Fever,” this year is one to watch DeHaan. His haunted visage is the perfect canvas for an aesthete like Verbinski, and he brings intensity and charisma to any role he’s in. The same is true for prolific actor Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” films). If his villainy in this movie matches that of his antagonist in the recent hit Netflix series, “The OA,” audiences will be in for quite a treat.

Unfortunately, early reviews have not been particularly kind to the film. While it sounds like another visually stunning effort from Gore Verbinski, some audience members find the experience to be as miserable as the characters do. “A Cure for Wellness” will be scary and feature good performances, but it may also be too long and plodding at 146 minutes. For those interested in a thriller with notable production design, acting and cinematography, but not a perfect plot, Verbinski’s touch is sure to bring a certain flair to the experience.

“A Cure for Wellness” opens nationwide February 17.