Schism

Lost arts from indie film lore are revived and unleashed in the spectacularly campy spine-tingler Schism, written and directed by Thor Moreno. One day, Nola (Cait Moira) walks into the house, opens the bedroom door, and starts screaming at what she sees inside. Four years later, she is locked in a mental institution as no one believes her about what happened. She has dreams of running through the woods in a white dress, with a dark demon watching her through the branches. Her best friend, Mara (Cheyenne Goode), offers Nola what support she can, as she has serious troubles of her own.

After confirming that Nola is no longer claiming to see ghosts, she is informed that she and Mara are being transferred to another facility. The new place is more experimental and is supposed to be much less stringent with more privileges, as it is on an island. The night before leaving, Nola is hopeful, but Mara is very anxious and does not feel good about the move at all. Nola wakes up the next morning and is informed there is a hanging. Going to the island alone, Nola is surprised that there are not only no guards but there are also no other patients.

“…Nola wakes up the next morning and is informed there is a hanging.”

Nurse Clemmy (Annette Duffy) informs her that Doctor Sherry (Hunter Phoenix) works with her “guests” individually, so it will be just them during her treatment. It all follows the methods laid out by the center’s founder. When Nola asks who the founder is, she is told it is none of her concern and to never, ever go into the basement. The first thing Doctor Sherry does is hand Nola a pill and demand she take it. She gives in and wakes up 24 hours later with no memory of what happened. Then she starts seeing other people on the island no one else is supposed to be on…

Schism caught me off-guard, as it has been years since I have run into a movie like this. I was even skeptical at first, thinking that I was being put on by director Moreno. There were a few scenes right away where the camera work was noticeably clumsy, such as that jerk that comes with panning up and down when you haven’t loosened that last screw on the tripod. There were also some sequences where the styling seemed overly exaggerated, with the synthesizer score going completely overboard.