Novocaine – Film Review
by Fran Winston

Directed by: Dan Berk, Robert Olsen
Starring: Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh, Jacob Batalon

In cinemas March 28

Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) can’t feel pain is the whole premise of this film. The mild-mannered assistant bank manager suffers from congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA). Obviously, an inability to feel anything even after suffering the most horrific injury opens the door to many hilarious and often gross possibilities – and Berk and Olsen exploit them all here

When his crush on co-worker Sherry Margrave (Amber Midthunder) appears to be requited, it sets him on a life-changing path. The object of his affections is taken hostage in a heist at his bank on Christmas Eve, and rather than trusting the police to find her, he decides to take matters into his own pain-free hands.

Having been terrified to even eat solid food in case he bit his tongue off, he goes all gung-ho, chasing down the bad guys and getting himself into all sorts of scrapes in the process. It acts as a licence to subject him to all manner of tortures that would paralyse the average person with pain. Be warned – Beck and Olsen do not hold back in showcasing his condition with a series of increasingly ludicrous and incredibly gross injuries he works his way through the bad guys.

Basically, this is a gore fest held together by a very thin plot and premise. It is not for those with a weak stomach, as even I, who have watched some of the goriest horror movies known to man, winced at some of the injuries inflicted on Nathan.

Quaid and Midthunder have great chemistry, and that does help to sweeten some of the more gruesome scenes. However, Ray Nicholson plays bad guy Simon Greenly as a cliché, all snarling and gurning. Jacob Batalon as Nathan’s online gaming friend Roscoe Dixon is there purely for comic relief, and most of the characters seem to be written from a template.

Quaid is fast becoming one of the busiest actors in Hollywood and is extremely likeable, so he does keep you engaged. But the premise is dragged out longer than feels necessary, and at 110 minutes long, it felt like it could have been 15-20 minutes shorter.

If you can stomach the gallons of blood, it is relatively entertaining. The premise is thin, and it is too long, but Quaid keeps you engaged. Although don’t analyse the science of how he survived some of his injuries, or you will drive yourself mad.