Alison Blanchard (English) has arrived to her med school, landing smack dab in her gross anatomy class.  When she comes face to face with the cadaver of a young woman, her entire system of belief and confidence is challenged.  Soon, Alison is forced to solve the mystery of her cadaver, before she and her colleagues are killed.

Unrest is a very slick story with moody visuals and is a solid package from end to end.  The actors are very good.  The sets are appropriately numb, and the setups are captivating.  For most of the movie, viewers will be balancing between curious inspectors and grossed-out fans.

The only issue with the film is that the pay-off pitch, while gross, isn’t quite satisfying enough.  With so much emphasis on the film paid to the corpse, its involvement should have been more central to the resolution.  Instead, the one thing that gives the film bragging rights provides a limitation in the end.  What’s that?  The fact that the dead body used in Unrest is actually a dead body.

English provides a fresh, starry-eyed determination in the lead role.  The supporting cast, led by Scot Davis, uses her as an effective sounding board.  The veteran actors Reb Fleming (The Man in the Black Suit) and Derrick O’Connor (Lethal Weapon 2, End of Days) each portray their doctors with a firm dedication to their separate crafts.  Joshua Alba makes the most of his small part as Carlos.  Jay Jablonski has a few scenes but puts in a stellar performance.

Michael Cohen’s original music is appropriately eerie, using a full orchestra to provide a backdrop for the action.  A very strong nod goes to the effects team of Reed Fanning, Tyler Winegar and Shawn Davis.

Unrest is solid throughout, save for the sudden change of shot at the end of the film. Even so, it’s outright creepy and psychologically provoking enough for a wide range of viewers.

The DVD is shot in 16x9 Letterbox, with Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 audio.  English and Spanish subtitles, as well as English Closed Captioning are available.  The Extra include a commentary track with Director Jason Todd Ipson (who was a medical student when he thought up the film) and Editor Mike Saenz.  There is also a short behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the film.

Unrest is one of the eight films featured in the Lion’s Gate After Dark Horrorfest collection.  For more information, click:  www.horrorfestonline.com