Haunted Hospital: Heilstätten (German: Heilstätten) is a 2018 German found footage horror film directed by Michael David Pate and written by Pate and Eckehard Ziedrich. It stars Nilam Farooq, Tim Oliver Schultz, Sonja Gerhardt, Emilio Sakraya, Lisa-Marie Koroll and Timmi Trinks as a group of YouTubers who spend a night in an abandoned sanatorium near Berlin.
The film was shot mainly at the former Grabowsee sanatorium in Oranienburg, Brandenburg. It was released in German cinemas by 20th Century Fox on 22 February 2018.
Contents
Plot
A group of young video creators plans to spend 24 hours in an abandoned sanatorium outside Berlin and film the stay for an online challenge. They set up cameras around the building. Theo, who knows the site, accompanies them and tells the others not to reveal the location or use the internet while they are there.
The group hears stories about deaths, wartime crimes and paranormal activity at the sanatorium. Betty later claims to have seen a blood-covered woman. Other incidents follow, and the group begins to think that someone else may be in the building. Their cars fail to start and members of the group disappear.
Marnie eventually discovers that Theo and an accomplice staged much of the apparent haunting as a violent prank intended to expose what they see as the stupidity and sensationalism of online video culture. The ending suggests that some of the events may not have been staged.
Cast
Nilam Farooq as Betty
Tim Oliver Schultz as Theo
Sonja Gerhardt as Marnie
Emilio Sakraya as Charly
Lisa-Marie Koroll as Emma
Timmi Trinks as Finn
Davis Schulz as Chris
Maxine Kazis as Irina
Farina Flebbe as Vanessa
Leon Machère as the night watchman
Freshtorge as himself
Production
Beelitz-Heilstätten was considered as a filming location, but Pate said that roads and surrounding development made the site unsuitable for the film. Filming instead took place at the abandoned Grabowsee sanatorium north of Berlin.
Filming took place in Berlin and Oranienburg from 21 February to 17 March 2017. The buildings at Grabowsee were unheated during the shoot. Medical props were brought to the location, and a lecture hall was built inside a former operating room.
The Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg awarded the project €150,000 in production funding in 2016. The film was produced by Schmerbeck Filmproduktion and Fox International Productions.
Release
20th Century Fox of Germany released Heilstätten in German cinemas on 22 February 2018. According to figures listed by filmportal.de from the German Federal Film Board, the film had 187,336 admissions in Germany by the end of 2018.
The film was released under different titles outside Germany. It has been marketed in English-language markets as Haunted Hospital: Heilstätten, while filmportal.de lists The Sanctuary as its British video title.
Reception
Rüdiger Suchsland of Filmdienst criticized the film for staying too close to The Blair Witch Project in both style and story.
Antje Wessels of Filmstarts gave the film 3.5 out of five stars. She praised its treatment of YouTube culture and the cast, particularly the improvised dialogue, while finding the horror elements more conventional.
Writing in Welt, Leonie Bartsch criticized the characters, dialogue and lack of suspense. She also argued that the film resembled the YouTube culture it was attempting to satirize.
