I saw this movie when it first came out, and though since then, I taped it, my tape is getting old and worn out, so I really hope that it is released on DVD soon!
I saw this movie when it came out in 1994, and it is chilling to the bone in its eerily (sp?) portrayal of these so-called "treatment" facilities. Every time I've watched it, I just want to scream, and throw things at the awful, evil people at the psych facility, and I cheered as loud as I could when Laura managed to break out and escape!
It's a sad yet realistic look at what truly goes on behind the closed, locked doors of these "treatment centers, and psychiatric hospitals.
It's about time that movies like "Without Consent", "Dancing in the Dark", "What Kind of Mother Are You??" and "On the Edge of Innocence" expose the reality of these places.
It is just SICKENING how innocent people who have done NOTHING other than be unfortunate enough to be afflicted with medical conditions like depression, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, are treated WORSE than convicted CRIMINALS in PRISON!
Even a mass murderer like Timothy McVeigh had more rights, and privileges both while awaiting trial, as well as when he was on Federal Death Row, than even psychiatric patients are afforded, under the guise of "treatment", and "protection".
The mental health care system needs to be totally re-vamped! This movie is a chilling look at the pure injustice that occurs in today's psychiatric facilities.
Laura Mills (played by Jennie Garth) is a rebellious and wayward teenager when her parents, Michelle and Robert (played by Jill Eikenberry and Tom Irwin) decide to admit her to an adolescent treatment center, run by an evil psychopath (who should be locked up and given a good taste of his own medicine - no pun intended!)called Dr. Winslow (played BRILLIANTLY by Paul Sorvino)
Dr. Winslow and his staff treat Laura and the other patients worse than criminals, and at one point, Laura even manages to break out, with the help of other patients, and she escapes only to go home to find out that Dr. Winslow is there too, and has lied to her parents, and convinced them to trick/force Laura into going back. When Laura refuses to return to the facility, Dr. Winslow, showing his true nature threatens Laura into compliance.
Meanwhile another patient at the hospital, Marty (played WONDERFULLY by Johnny Galecki) is a depressed and suicidal young man, who is hospitalized in the treatment center only as long as there is insurance coverage. The moment it runs out, he is discharged. He is just pretty much kicked out the door and left to fend for himself without any treatment or follow-up care, and as a result he ends up taking his own life.
Finally after being convinced to talk to Nora Fields a lawyer who specializes in abuses in the mental health care system, Mr. and Mrs. Mills finally come to their senses and realize what a scam these psychiatric treatment centers are. After a struggle they are eventually able to extricate Laura from their evil clutches.
Unfortunately the relationship between Laura Mills and her parents have been severely damaged by this ordeal, and soon after her return home she moves out, to go and live with her brother who is also estranged from their parents.
As the movie ends, there is hope for an eventual reconciliation, as Michelle and Robert slowly tries to to rebuild their relationship with their children.
A WONDERFUL MOVIE! A CHILLING MUST-SEE LOOK AT THE MENTAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM!
BRING THIS TO DVD, PLEASE!!
I saw this movie when it came out in 1994, and it is chilling to the bone in its eerily (sp?) portrayal of these so-called "treatment" facilities. Every time I've watched it, I just want to scream, and throw things at the awful, evil people at the psych facility, and I cheered as loud as I could when Laura managed to break out and escape!
It's a sad yet realistic look at what truly goes on behind the closed, locked doors of these "treatment centers, and psychiatric hospitals.
It's about time that movies like "Without Consent", "Dancing in the Dark", "What Kind of Mother Are You??" and "On the Edge of Innocence" expose the reality of these places.
It is just SICKENING how innocent people who have done NOTHING other than be unfortunate enough to be afflicted with medical conditions like depression, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, are treated WORSE than convicted CRIMINALS in PRISON!
Even a mass murderer like Timothy McVeigh had more rights, and privileges both while awaiting trial, as well as when he was on Federal Death Row, than even psychiatric patients are afforded, under the guise of "treatment", and "protection".
The mental health care system needs to be totally re-vamped! This movie is a chilling look at the pure injustice that occurs in today's psychiatric facilities.
Laura Mills (played by Jennie Garth) is a rebellious and wayward teenager when her parents, Michelle and Robert (played by Jill Eikenberry and Tom Irwin) decide to admit her to an adolescent treatment center, run by an evil psychopath (who should be locked up and given a good taste of his own medicine - no pun intended!)called Dr. Winslow (played BRILLIANTLY by Paul Sorvino)
Dr. Winslow and his staff treat Laura and the other patients worse than criminals, and at one point, Laura even manages to break out, with the help of other patients, and she escapes only to go home to find out that Dr. Winslow is there too, and has lied to her parents, and convinced them to trick/force Laura into going back. When Laura refuses to return to the facility, Dr. Winslow, showing his true nature threatens Laura into compliance.
Meanwhile another patient at the hospital, Marty (played WONDERFULLY by Johnny Galecki) is a depressed and suicidal young man, who is hospitalized in the treatment center only as long as there is insurance coverage. The moment it runs out, he is discharged. He is just pretty much kicked out the door and left to fend for himself without any treatment or follow-up care, and as a result he ends up taking his own life.
Finally after being convinced to talk to Nora Fields a lawyer who specializes in abuses in the mental health care system, Mr. and Mrs. Mills finally come to their senses and realize what a scam these psychiatric treatment centers are. After a struggle they are eventually able to extricate Laura from their evil clutches.
Unfortunately the relationship between Laura Mills and her parents have been severely damaged by this ordeal, and soon after her return home she moves out, to go and live with her brother who is also estranged from their parents.
As the movie ends, there is hope for an eventual reconciliation, as Michelle and Robert slowly tries to to rebuild their relationship with their children.
A WONDERFUL MOVIE! A CHILLING MUST-SEE LOOK AT THE MENTAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM!
BRING THIS TO DVD, PLEASE!!
