Director: Tapio Kauma, Ville Väisänen

Cast: Tapio Kauma, Ville Väisänen, Heikki Kauma

Production Company: Cala Company

Runtime: 61 minutes

Ready for something completely different? Medicated (2018) is a Finnish indie film that boldly stands apart from conventional cinema…

In the movie, a mental patient takes part in a strange medical experiment. His mind opens up to a new and frightening world, but is it all real, or simply a product of his imagination?

Also known as Lääkekoe in Finland, this ambitious micro-budget film took seven years to complete. Not so hard to believe, considering Tapio Kauma did much of the production work himself.

Kauma appears in multiple roles, and co-directed with Ville Väisänen. They also edited the movie as a team, with Väisänen doing all the special effects. That’s dedication…

The digital effects are great, especially considering the extremely low budget of the movie. There’s also some practical blood effects here and there that worked well.

Most of the special effects are primarily done through the use of green screen technology. This often leads to dreamy sequences that can be a little surreal.

The weird effects actually help to develop one of the main plot points of the story. It’s hard to be sure if what you’re seeing is supposed to be authentic or illusion.

Medicated reminded me a little of Altered States (1980). In both films, drugs and other means are used to raise the user to a different plane of existence.

This movie primarily falls into the category of science fiction, but there’s also a lot of action too. There are some horror themes sprinkled in for good measure, and even some comedic moments.

Genre fans shouldn’t be concerned, especially considering that the movie has a plethora of exploding heads, bloody knife violence, bizarre characters, and even a little nudity!

Medicated is a fine example of no-budget filmmaking. It’s impressive to see how much can be done based solely on a desire to create an interesting movie…

– John Migliore

For more information on the film, check out the links below…

Official Trailer

IMDb Page

Facebook Page

Medicated on YouTube