Clinical

Clinical is a 2017 American horror thriller film directed by Alistair Legrand and written by Luke Harvis and Alistair Legrand. The film stars Vinessa Shaw, Kevin Rahm, India Eisley, Aaron Stanford, Nestor Serrano, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, and Wilmer Calderon. The film was released on Netflix on January 13, 2017. Plot Dr. Jane Mathis (Vinessa Shaw) is a psychiatrist and an expert at confrontational therapy. Two years prior, she had a patient, Nora Green, who attacked her and attempted suicide in her office. As a result, Dr. Mathis developed PTSD and sleep paralysis, which led her to seek help from Dr. Terry Drummond. She has also begun to date a police officer named Miles Richardson. Against Dr. Terry's advice, she continues her practice as a psychiatrist, albeit not prescribing medication. She reluctantly agrees to see a new patient, Alex, whose face was disfigured from a car accident. One night, he is seen sleepwalking inside her house, prompting Jane to call the police. Alex persuades her to continue their sessions, appealing to her expertise and understanding. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Nora began seeing Jane because she was being abused by her father. After confronting him, Nora attacked Jane, who received severe stab wounds to her arms. In present-day, Jane visits the institution where Nora was hospitalized and is informed that Nora was discharged due to lack of money after her father's death. She sees footage of Nora's sessions at the institution, which reveals Nora's violent rage anytime she speaks about her father. Jane installs security cameras around her home, and reveals to Alex her previous failure with Nora, chalking it up to relying too heavily on medication. Alex recalls more of his accident; after helping pull a couple from their totaled car, he noticed his daughter wandered into the path of an oncoming truck. Both were struck, but only his daughter was killed. Strange things continue to occur in Jane's house, such as dirty footprints and bloody photographs. Miles notices that someone has tampered with the security system, as whole hours of footage are missing. Jane refuses to press charges against Nora for fear that she will be sent back to the institution and drugged. She later steals prescriptions from Dr. Terry, having run out of her own medication. Alex shows up at her house even though Jane had canceled all her patients and she explains that there needs to be boundaries between doctor and patient.