You’ve heard of the haunted medical buildings on campus-the underground tunnels, the 3 a.m. dissections in the anatomy labs, the cadavers. As part of the 8 Films to Die For: After Dark Horror Fest, Jason Todd Ipson brings stories such as these to life with his chilling new horror film, “Unrest.”
Filmed within University Hospital, “Unrest” follows Alison Blanchard, a first-year medical student haunted by visions of her gross anatomy cadaver. As people begin disappearing-dying of “mysterious causes”-Blanchard is led to believe that these events have something to do with the cadavers that she and her classmates study. She tries to unravel the truth of where these bodies came from and put them to rest before she and her classmates wind up dead.
It’s a slow-burn chiller that shows accurately the skin-crawling ambiance that the medical-school setting can immerse you in, and the realities some people may not understand about cadavers.
“It sounds like a very intersting film,” said Benjamin Leudtke, an undeclared freshman at the U. “Not many films bring attention to a campus setting like this, and it’ll be an experience to see it in a setting I’m familiar with.”
“Unrest” was chosen by Lionsgate Films to be part of the After Dark Horror Fest after its success in the independent film scene. Taking the grand prize at the Illinois International Film Festival, Chicago Horror Film Festival, International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival and second place at Shriekfest, Ipson and his executive producer James Huntsman were excited to have another company put out one of their prints.
Ipson studied medicine at the U, and based this story on an anatomy class. He remembers the eerie feeling of being in a room with 20 dead bodies and said he’s glad to give Utah and the U the opportunity to have a film embrace them.
“We’re proud of the fact that we’re from Utah, that we’re two successful film makers that came from here,” Huntsman said. “It’s a great place. We’ve shot two of our four films here.”
“Hopefully we can bring some prominence to the U,” Ipson said. “It’s one of the best med schools around. Even though it’s controversial, it should be exciting. We hope it brings a positive focus (to the U). If you look at ‘The Exorcist,’ it was shot at Georgetown. If you look at ‘Flatliners,’ it was shot at MIT. Huge horror films shot at real schools. After ‘The Exorcist’ came out, admissions (at Georgetown) skyrocketed. Hopefully we can do the same for the U.”
“Unrest” opens today and will be showing at 500 theaters across the country, with five screenings in Utah.
Seats sell out quickly, so it’s best to buy them in advance. Locations and prices can be found at www.horrorfestonline.com. For more information on other films by the same production company, visit www.asgaardentertainment.com.