Film Review: Removal (2010)

SYNOPSIS:

There is something wrong with Cole mentally after watching a coworker of his commit suicide. He has received therapy and believes that he can make it in the outside world. His wife however disagrees with him and soon he is asked to leave his own house. Six months later we see Cole is still working as a floor cleaning specialist and just before he can get off work and get into his nice warm bed he is sent on one more job, this job however turns out to be quite a bit more work than Cole believed to be, and Cole swears he is being used to clean the scene of a murder!

REVIEW:

Directed by: Nick Simon
Starring: Billy Burke, Mark Kelly, Oz Perkins and Emma Caulfield

“I don’t feel safe with you anymore.”

A film like Removal is definitely an acquired taste, its one of those you are either really going to like this film or it just flat out won’t appeal to you. The film starts by showing a man named Cole getting a call from his coworker, when Cole gets to the house he finds himself in an uncomfortable situation because his coworker is buck naked sitting on the toilet covered in blood. The coworker is disturbed and has a gun, he tells Cole however that he has nothing to worry about because it is only a family matter. The man has also killed his wife and child. Before Cole can stop his coworker the man puts his gun in his mouth and blows his brains out. It’s a great bang for a beginning of the film and if it lures you in than you are going to enjoy the strange and suspicious thrill ride that this film can at times be.

The film rejoins Cole and over the next few scenes we learn that life has really kind of defecated on him since the whole witnessing a suicide thing. Cole’s wife has left him because she fears for her safety around him, she makes him move out of his own house. These scenes really do have some good stuff going on as far as building up tension and atmosphere. It is also through these scenes that we learn that Cole also occasionally still sees things that aren’t real; the main manifestation that he gets is that of his coworker that he saw commit suicide.

Cole has just finished another long day at work and is very much so looking forward to his night off, he is very overworked and tired. When Cole goes to clock out he is asked to go do one more job, it seems like a simple one. All he has to do is go to a remote expensive house and give an estimate as to how much it will cost to clean the floors. For doing this Cole is going to get some hefty overtime so the tired man proceeds to go to the next job sight.

Removal takes a strange twist when Cole shows up at the house. The homeowner is a strange and eccentric type who also happens to like wearing latex gloves. Subtle clues also begin to build up that start making Cole believe that his client is a murderer, but hey he’s also making $5,000 big ones to do this job so who cares right?

At this point Removal gets all dual personality on its viewer and fans of this twist will of course love it, it is however quite predictable and doesn’t draw near the shock that I think it was intended to do. I do however love the camera work, direction, cast, fx and everything visually about the film.

The score also plays a big part in this one, again this isn’t a shock shock shock type of film, Removal is subtle and almost simply whispers to you, yet the things it’s telling you are screaming in your mind.

Removal is a great little film that might get overlooked by the casual fan, yet those who like to feel a little dirty after watching a movie might want to check this one out.

Removal (2010)