Tribeca Film Festival – Hospitals by their very nature are creepy. They’re where life and death hang in the balance. In his second feature, Rounding, director Alex Thompson exploits that setting. His film focuses on a driven young medical resident who transfers to a rural hospital after an elderly patient dies in his care during his first residency. However, he can’t shake his past and outrun his demons, no matter how hard he tries.

The film opens with a nod to Greek mythology, specifically the first physician in ancient Greece who was thought to be the son of Apollo. The physician-God visited patients in dream states, and treatments may have included the exorcism of a demon with prayers, rituals, and sacrifice. Initially, this brief explainer doesn’t make sense, but as the film progresses, it does, at least somewhat. When we first meet the lead James (Namir Smallwood), he loses his patient Vivien Spurlock (Cheryl Lynn Bruce). After she flatlines, James passes out in the hallway, has a mental breakdown, and then seeks a fresh start in a town called Greenville. At first, he seems okay and up to the job. However, he becomes obsessed with a 19-year-old asthma patient named Helen Adso (Sidney Flanigan). James can’t understand what’s wrong with her. Her charts baffle him.  She’s constantly re-admitted to the hospital, and soon, James suspects foul play by Helen’s mom (Rebecca Spence).

During the tight 90-minute runtime, James’ obsession worsens. He unravels, drifting in and out of chilling dream states. There are some true scenes of terror here, including narrow hallways with flickering lights, a creature that chitters, and snarling dogs with candles crowned upon their heads. Is James possessed, or is he simply haunted by the loss of his past patient and the feeling that he won’t be able to save Helen?

This film’s setting really enhances this thriller. The hospital transforms into a place of nightmares when James suddenly slips from reality. Shot in Illinois, the movie also has several snowy exterior shots that just feel cold and isolating. The use of running is a bit heavy-handed here, but it works. James trains for a marathon. When he’s not working, he runs on wintery roads, even after he stumbles down a stairway while on shift and sprains his ankle. In fact, the more his obsession grows, the more his ankle torments him, eventually turning into one nasty wound. One scene, in particular, offers a great bit of body horror.

Rounding is a film that holds a lot of secrets, and it gives very few answers until the closing minutes. Smallwood does a fine job in the lead, playing a character possessed by demons of his past. He just looks exhausted on-screen, strained by the difficulty of the job and making the rounds. I especially like how James is contrasted by Dr. Harrison (Michael Potts), a level-headed man of science, pure and simple, who tries to reel James back to reality.

Overall, this is a smart thriller with haunting sequences, an intriguing character study, and some real pathos. Just don’t go into this one expecting everything to be spelled out. Thompson has some layered material here, and it requires a bit of patience until everything finally adds up in a satisfying conclusion. It’s an engaging 90 minutes with a few frights lurking in shadowy hospital hallways.

7.5 Out of 10