Coma

Director: Michael Crichton
Year Released: 1978
Rating: 1.5

Genevieve Bujold becomes Nancy Drew in this icy view of hospital horrors that gets worse as it goes on; by the time Crichton starts to roll out the government conspiracies and emergency appendectomies the fact that it's based on a Robin Cook novel becomes more than apparent - it's basically a TV movie. As a kid I thought this was a pretty horrifying film, but now I'm puzzled as to what, exactly, is so scary (the idea of bodies suspended from the ceiling is impressive from a set design perspective) - maybe it's easier to convince a ten-year-old things like this could happen. The ending is maddeningly inconclusive.