Nurse 3D (2013) Horror Psycho

Nurse 3D (2013) - Sometimes advertising is a real influence in getting people to watch a film, Nurse 3D has some really great poster art and with it came my choice to watch the film. I really wish the film was half as good as the posters, but it is not. What it is at heart is a story of a psychopath damaged as a child by the so overly predictable trauma of seeing her Dad fucking someone other than her Mother. This trauma follows her into adulthood where she works as a nurse and on the side uses her ample assets to lure married men into cheating and then doling out punishment for being so weak. The film could be an homage to movies past but I don't think from listening to the director, writer Douglas Aarniokoski's commentary that this idea was in his head at all. He was trying to make a sexy, crazy thriller that he thought was cool. In fact he cared a lot more about the shots in the film more than whether the story was original. Maybe I am being a bit harsh off the top of my head I can only think of one film with a similar traumatic event, Silent Night, Deadly Night. Still the film just does not feel very original. It could be that there are some things that are small that seemed to be played over the top and I just didn't like. Later in the film when we get the flash back to the damaging events, they just did not seem that traumatizing. The fact that the killer as a child does something horrible in a tense situation between her parents I suppose is suppose to carry the idea into her adulthood but that seemed a stretch.
 There is also a real lack of subtext here..There could have been social commentary about the objectification of women but for all of the sexuality oozing through the film it really just says its a great tool for a serial killer. Abby (Paz de la Huerta) is a woman who punishes men for their infidelity but it is really not saying anything about infidelity because the character is so insane she takes the impact away. You really can't pull for the killer even though the men are cheaters because the impact of their cheating is never seen. It also does not touch the question of the impacts of those deaths on the spouses and children left behind. It all is just a premise to have this serial killer go after men.
  The story is about a serial killer woman Abby posing as a nurse who has boundary problems and a need to punish men who cheat on their wives. She is off her rocker and it is not good for the people around her. Still the avenging angel of infidelity persona only lasts enough time to establish a motivation. The story being told is how she gets interested in fellow nurse young attractive, Danni (Katrina Bowden), after a night out drinking together, whether Abby drugged her is probable, Danni wakes in Abby's apartment embarrassed because she blacked out. In the strange voice over we hear Abby explain how the finger fucking of young Danni to orgasm and it was a great experience. Then the story is about the two women, Abby who feels slighted by the non responsive Danni start a plan of fucking with her life. Danni who just wants to forget the night comes to realize just how fucked up and dangerous Abby is. As she learns the about the psycho she also realizes that Abby is setting it up so that no one will believe her if she exposes the lunatic. Eventually thing unravel for Abby in a blood soaked rampage that is so unbelievable that the viewer is left mouth agape wondering why cops and security guards do not exist in this world.
  The first is the lead Paz de la Huerta who just seeps sexuality in this film. She plays the character so strangely that it is hard to believe a single person in the story's reality would not find her creepy. She is so unreal and strange but everyone interacts with her like she is perfectly normal. The director too loves not only this character but the actress and spends a good deal of time making her look sultry. Slow motion walks with semi see through dresses, lace underwear, lots of cleavage all to make her hot and irresistible. Paz de la Huerta gives it her all and really plays a psycho really well but the character seems too bizarre not to have been found out long ago.Then on top of it the premise that she could just get a job at a hospital using someone's identity seems pretty far fetched. She takes the name of the nurse who cared for her in a psychiatric ward and goes to work as a nurse. How?  Just how does that happen that she can replace a woman twice her age and no one finds her out. The actress does all with her acting skills to sell that Abby is a very damaged and emotionally unstable woman but flaws in the screenwriting makes it hard to believe.
  In fact there are several small things done for effect that really bothered me, like needles full of fluid being displayed that are way too big and used just for effect. In one scene we see Abby give a needle with about an ounce of fluid in it to a victim and later she describes it as 4cc. You would use a tiny little needle for that. In a scene where Abby is fucking a dead victim we see like twenty needles stuck all over his chest and stomach, so ridiculous that it takes away from the tension of the movie. Then there is the age thing, we have a back story for Abby where an orderly tells her story to Danni but he tells it as he was there, the actor though looks like he is the only a few years older than her, in order for her to be eight at the asylum that man should be at least 50 years old. Then there is the Danni shower scenes, who the hell showers in her underwear? I understand if the actress does not want to do nudity. That can be respected but you do not have to shoot it so she is standing in the shower in full view with her panties on. How about just a shot of the head under the shower head or just cut out the lower half.
 Costar Bowden does a fine job as the new nurse who has her life turned upside down by Abby. She is vulnerable and then fights back with a strength that is admirable. I found myself wondering what else she was in and did not really remember her roles in other film. Seeing a lot of film makes it hard at times to place actors, but Bowden was in the very forgettable Piranha 3DD and in the recent comedy Movie 43 in the segment Super Hero Speed Dating. She holds her own here, if this film was meant to be a comedy, she would be the straight guy to de la Huerta's clown. Maybe this is a comedy and I just did not get the humor?
There are some smaller parts and cameos that should be noted here, Judd Nelson as Dr. Morris plays a great douche bag of an attending physician. In the end he gets what every harassing ass should get in a film about punishing the likes of his character. Then for one scene a quick appearance by Kathleen Turner who sounds like the smoking has finally caught up with her. Comedy actor Niecy Nash does a sassy black nurse character that is a stereotype of stereotypes but does it with the confidence to pull it off. All characters in this movie are substantiated only to drive the simple plot so are sort of wasted.
 Amazed by the final fight sequence that was so over the top that it leaves you wondering how the security at this hospital manages to get paid. Then the unbelievable scene where Abby strips and lays in a bed in a hospital room covered in blood from the destruction she has just done. When Danni and her boyfriend Steve (Corbin Bleu) come is they attend thinking she is another victim I shuddered at the stupidity. WTF she is totally recognizable!This is a film that may be a lot of fun in a roomful of drinking buddies but fails as a serious horror film. There is certainly camp value here but not enough to get a recommendation in this blog. The sequel ready ending is enough to make this reviewer want to rip his beard out.