This is another of umpteen hand-held cam films that follow the formula of a bunch of young people encountering malevolent supernatural forces that they initially are sceptical of. The movie then follows the pattern of: "What was that?", "Did you hear that?", "Quit fooling around Joe/Jane!" until the crisis point arrives in which everyone is saying "Oh my God!!!" Chaos then ensues as the POV hand- held goes ballistic until the inevitable jump to black. The End.

You have seen this before. However if you enjoy this genre this is a competent film, but it offers nothing unexpected. Which is unfortunate because what hakes this kind of film work is the apprehension of not knowing what is going to happen. I suppose so many of these films are made because they are cheap to produce and they are very likely to make a return on investment with even a modest audience.

I have certainly enjoyed some of this genre which was spawned by The Blair Witch Project, but this is nothing ground-breaking. Let's say this film is like a cheese sandwich; it's always great if that is what you are in the mood for because you know exactly what you are getting.

You know, after seeing this movie I'm shocked. I'm always introduced to crappy, CGI infested paranormal / haunting themed films, movie theaters, and DVD, and it really gets annoying. . But "Sanatorium" truly breaks the ice this time, delivering a pleasing surprise.

First off, the story of this film. O-kay, they cliché it up with the same technique of paranormal movies. A group of friends who hunt ghosts meet they're next stop, or in this case. They're final destination. It's the same story that's been seen various of times, sure, but the thing different about this film is how they execute it. For a movie that hosts an ongoing cliché; making it different, it's quite hard, but under various circumstances, this film slips through, and stands out unique. Which is something that's solid, and entertaining to see.

Next, the elements of this film, something to really talk about. This movie here is classic, using practical effects when it comes to the kills, scares, and ghosts. This film uses the old paranormal technique of which the ghosts / entities are invisible, forces of which we, the audience can't see, something of which many paranormal films no longer use, instead of crap CGI, or horrible makeup design. The particle designs, and kills are great in this movie too, displaying some nice, believable gore, blood, etc, featuring, once again I say, something that many other paranormal films seem to be absent of. It's much appreciated, and adds tremendously to the boosting fact that this film is different, and classic.

Finally, the acting, camera work, setting, etc. The setting of the film was a sanatorium. ( NEVER SAW THAT COMING! ) and it was unsettling, featuring your classic elements to an abandoned setting, including peeling paint, dust, cobwebs, creepy wheelchairs, doors and such, all that good stuff we audience look for! Now for the characters, in my opinion at least, they were fine. In this case, they weren't your annoying clichéd characters, they were actually smart, and quick thinking to where they knew something was wrong, instead of "OH! LET'S GO TOWARD THE NOISE" That kind of annoying character cliché. They had meaning, instead of constant decision that mean nothing, only annoying us audience, instead, the characters are meaningful, and we actually care when it comes to character life threatening situations. Finally the camera work. For one, this is a found footage film, but surprisingly, this film had low amount of shakiness so to speak. Or in this case, a character holding the camera, looking as if they're swinging it everywhere but the main focus. Instead, the film is nice to the audience, keeping it as steady as possible, switching from roof top cameras, to the characters. Overall solidly stable, and not disorienting..

In conclusion. This movie is a decent, solid film that holds common paranormal / ghost movie clichés, topping them with classic ghost standards ( So to speak ) steady found footage techniques, and particle effects, and gore. This film won't disappoint, though it may not be the strongest Afterdark releasing, it's defiantly a smart one, displaying a well paced film that doesn't disappoint, and doesn't waste time. I'd recommend this to ghost / paranormal fans!

I had no interest in seeing this movie. I actually skipped watching it for about 3 days, until I finally decided I was bored and I had nothing to lose by investing about 90 mins. I'm happy to say my time was not wasted. Anytime I hear a movie is based in a sanatorium - and quite a few horror movies have been - the end result has not been pleasing to me. This movie, however, did a great job with the story. The acting was very good, though I have to admit Mark was really getting on my nerves for about the first 30 minutes.

Most of the movie, like other found footage films, is shot with camcorders. Usually, I find that to be an annoying, out of date, and rather obvious sign that the movie is low budget. Some are lower budget than others. I don't know what they spent on this movie, but the special effects were fun and not overdone. As I said, the acting was good. The storyline, while not original, was executed nicely. I don't have anything to complain about with this film. Easily, it's a movie I'll watch again at some point. The end scene was gross, but necessary to keep in step with the story.

I gave this a 7-star rating because of all the above. I recommend this to anyone who likes found-footage horror films that are done very well.

SANATORIUM is yet another completely familiar and routine found footage horror film. Once again we follow around a dull young cast playing some paranormal investigators shooting a new location for their TV series. They head off to a long-abandoned sanatorium, with the usual night vision footage making up the bulk of the proceedings. There's very little in the way of horror, just lots of creeping around and not much in the way of a script; I found it very dull, and not at all frightening.

Truly nothing new in the found footage genre. After all these years it's getting to seem like they all blend together. This movie starts out like many before and is a bit monotonous at times as well as over dramatic. However, as the movie builds there are some quite good scenes to satisfy both the found footage fans and horror fans alike. This especially goes for the ending.

A friend of mine invited me over his house to watch this movie, I thought at first it would be scary because we were told the movie was so but after watching it we were speechless and I'll explain why. I really love found-footage horror films, they are quite realistic and often are scarier than the traditional one but this movie wasn't, in fact it was very predictable, boring, typical and failed at trying to scare. I remember watching another movie like this (I can't remember its name) but it was exactly the same movie, same story and even same ending, the lack of originality is evident and you'll see no attempt to enhance that during the movie, it is definitely awful but I gave 2 stars to it just because the acting was decent. There's one thing you have to keep in mind, if an horror film failed at its purpose which is to make you scared then think twice before wasting your time in a ninety-minute movie.

I was highly impressed. The plot has been used many times, but this movie was produced VERY well, the actors/actresses did a great job (and the characters were well "written"), and I actually had to sleep with all my lights on after watching. Lol. It's not often a horror flick does that to me :-D I truly hope there will be a sequel to this movie!!

This is yet another "found footage" movie in the vein of "Blair Witch" and all the "Paranormal Activity" (Part Pi) continuations. However, this one worked--for me anyway.

A crew of a local television show is set to visit a closed sanatorium to investigate rumors of an alleged ghost. You've got your cookie-cutter cast, including one male who is just so despicable you want to slap him until your arms get tired. Again, due to constrictions, I will not go further into the plot. I will say though this is yet another shining example of "less is more." Yes, there is some violence but it is not over the top. It's what you DON'T see but hear that completely creeps you out.

"After Dark Productions" has made some really good horror movies, and I'm glad to see it is up to its old tricks again! Nicely directed, acted, and edited "Sanatorium" was a pleasant (and scary) surprise. Rated R for violence and language.