Week 13: Immunisation: Nurse's Revenge

 Type of writing: Parody of a movie review based on Kit's second round of jabs.

Immunisation: Nurse’s Revenge is the much-anticipated sequel to the box-office smash, Immunisation.

In the first instalment a two-month old called Kit came face-to-face with the dark side of the medical profession. Confined to a chair, held down by a sadistic parent, he faced three separate horrors: a syringe to the mouth followed by two needles to the thigh. Never before in cinema history had a nurse been depicted with the level of evil seen in the unnamed assailant. As injector and tormentor, actress Annie Sexton brought to the role a malevolence unparalleled in horror history. Even One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’s Nurse Ratched seems positively mild in comparison, someone you would clap for on a Thursday night, when put alongside Immunisation’s monstrous creation.

You would think watching a baby in pain would only appeal to the depraved pond life of horror fandom’s murkiest swamp, but the film became a surprise hit. With the savagery of social media abuse and the dark web desensitising teenagers to horrific images, the popularity of the original was a sad reflection of a society gone wrong.

Well, I’m pleased to say that for fans of the original, they won’t find any pleasure here. The sequel is a bore-fest. Since enjoying cult status Sexton, who played the original nurse, does not return (her wage demands were apparently too high). Just as in the Hannibal Lecter films, the role continues just with a new actor. Unlike that series, the successor doesn’t pose the menace of the original.

Other than problems with casting, the director forgets to imbue any tension in the key torture scenes. The nurse doesn’t hover over Kit wielding the needle like a knife, instead she administers it like a healthcare professional. The baby cries, but the bloodcurdling scream only lasts a second, with the child securing fast comfort in his thumb.

It’s as if the creators have forgotten what made the original so successful, so the sequel falls between two stools: one that isn’t perverse enough to please fans of the original and one that won’t generate publicity through critical outrage.

Immunisation: Nurse’s Revenge will make money though that’s for sure; the popularity of the first ensures that. However what outre appeal it once had has been lost. Ultimateely,this is the type of cinema moviegoers should be vaccinated against.