Nurse 3D is a satisfying horror.
by Nav Qateel
Writer-director, Douglas Aarniokoski, has an interesting pedigree when it comes to his assistant directorial duties; working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, like Terry Gilliam on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and has worked under Robert Rodriguez on several films, like From Dusk Till Dawn, Spy Kids and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. More recently, Aarniokoski directed an episode of the popular TV show, Sleepy Hollow, with Criminal Minds among others in his TV directorial works.
Nurse 3D, starring the voluptuous Paz de la Huerta, is Aarniokoski’s latest feature, and has had a less than favourable critical response, but after seeing the trailer late last year, was keen to see it, trashy or not. My introduction to Paz de la Huerta was watching her playing Lucy Danziger in the brilliant Boardwalk Empire, where her sexuality was put to very good use, but the actresses other roles didn’t allow us to see what she could do, performance wise. Enter the Void and 30 Beats were two such examples of films that I found pretty awful, so, Nurse 3D was the perfect chance to see if Miss de la Huerta could carry a film on her lonesome.
- Nurse 3D
- Directed by
Douglas Aarniokoski - Cast
Paz de la Huerta, Katrina Bowden, Judd Nelson - Release Date
7 February 2014 - Nav’s Grade: B
*****
The premise isn’t exactly original but an interesting and appealing one, none-the-less. Abby Russell (de la Huerta) is a nurse by day, helping patients and assisting doctors like any other nurse in the hospital, and she takes great pride in her work. By night, Abby stalks men in bars, picking ones who are cheating on their wives and families, using her sexy looks and hot body, takes them somewhere private with the promise of seduction. The first victim we see to suffer at her hands thinks he’s about to indulge in oral pleasure, only to find his femoral artery sliced through and bleeding out fast. Abby uses several techniques to dispatch the cheating men and syringes play a large part in her murders.
A rookie nurse, Danni, starts working in the hospital who catches Abby’s eye as she finds her attractive. Abby befriends Danni (Katrina Bowden, Scary Movie 5), getting to know her family and boyfriend. Danni’s stepfather, a renowned psychiatrist, is cheating on his wife and Abby is fiercely jealous of Danni’s boyfriend Steve (Corbin Bleu, The Monkey’s Paw). Abby invites Danni out for a drink where she spikes her drinks then, along with a strange man, they end up having a threesome which Abby photographs.
Abby also becomes a patient of Danni’s father (Martin Donovan) just to get closer to Danni as her infatuation grows and becomes deadly, but when a new member of the hospital admin thinks she recognises Abby as an old neighbour who was locked up for being mentally unstable, things begin to unravel fast.
Kathleen Turner makes a brief appearance at the start of the film and veteran actor Martin Donovan does a good job playing the cheating husband. Judd Nelson played the doctor, who enjoys sexually harassing the nurses, performed his part perfectly, but we rarely see Nelson doing anything of note these days. I loved Niecy Nash’s Regina, even if it was in a stereotypical role, but she brought a certain amount of levity to Nurse 3D, that was sorely needed.
I thought Douglas Aarniokoski done a respectable job on Nurse 3D, and got the most from his $10 million budget, as well as allowing us to see that Paz de la Huerta can act as well as exude sexuality in equal measure. The story, while not even close to being original, still delivered exactly what I expected of it, with some interesting shots from cinematographer Boris Mojsovski, and as such, found myself enjoying this film quite a bit, warts and all.
