So the movie starts with a commercial ad by Blackwood Pharmaceutical where they emphasize the importance of a double-blind randomized human trial. How it will help to improve human health. Here they have chosen six teens for this trial who practically had no family or real friends. First, we see Claire who was almost homeless with her mom on a deathbed at an asylum hospital. This is her first gig at any trial. At her cabin, she meets Alison who is way too chatty and excited for this five-day trial. Later, Dr. Burke welcomed everyone and explained the procedure. The trial starts with a 25mg pill and it gradually increases to 85mg on day five.
All participants will be monitored for any side effects and irregularities that they were hoping to be nil. During five days everyone will be under strict lockdown with no phone or internet services. Ray, Paul, and Vanessa knew this drill as they were on many trails like this. Amir was a medical student who had applied for an internship at Blackwood last summer. He was keen on joining it. All participants now took the prescribed doses and the trial begins.
Shortly after this everyone ate and introduced themselves to each other. The clock showed a time of 9 hours and 5 minutes. At regular intervals, blood and urine samples were tested. Just before bedtime Claire and Amir started showing the symptoms of slight nausea. At midnight all teens woke up as they were not getting sleep, the medication was causing a serious side effect of insomnia. No one was able to sleep, their heart was beating fast with all feeling strange. The time on the clock was 3 AM which means it was almost 18 hours since their first dose. Dr. Burke was surprised by this effect and by early morning she called up her higher bosses to inform the situation. Since it's a double-blind trial even she didn't know the specifics.
Apparently, there was a large brain inflammation that was causing insomnia.
Back at the center Alison and Claire played while others were playing other sports. Alison had a crush on Paul hence she had drawn his portrait. While roaming around these two discovered the room with lab mice who were locked up. Alison felt sad seeing them like that and was interested in freeing them. Claire on the other hand disagreed.
Now it's day two. Dr. Burke now increases the dosage by 200% to 75 mg and informs the change in direction of the trial. They are now trying to see how long the patients will be awake rather than the earlier outcome. Initially, the dosage where to be increased gradually but now seeing the side effects they they were jumping the gun. It is odd for a scientific trial to take a 180-degree turn during the trial. This caused a little suspicion in Amir but Dr. Burke refuted it. Later during the day, everyone went under the MRI for a scan where she started hearing her mom's voice. She started experiencing her childhood trauma again. That night too nobody slept as this was 48 hours straight without sleep. Clearly not sleeping for this long is not a healthy sign.
On day three Dr. Burke increased the dosage to 100 milligrams too which Ray and Paul refused outrightly. Their initial agreement was only up to 85 mg and that too during the course of 5 days. The doctor again reiterated by saying the test is now to check how long you will stay awake instead of the original outcome. For this, the company was willing to pay 30000 euros extra as a bonus. This was a huge money for all these kids as they were here for quick cash. Seeing this kind of money everyone quickly agreed and took the dosage. Later everyone parted and danced hard as they thought they had hit the jackpot. In their greed for money, they forgot the risk.
By the evening all of them were feeling weak and tired as their whole immune system was in in shock and shutting down. This scares the doctor, she tries to explain this to her superiors but they take it lightly. Here we see Amir sneaky entering Dr. Burke's cabin where he went through her computer. He saw the progress on all the subjects which was clearly showing an increase in the information as the dosage was increased. He tried to copy these files into a pen drive.
Back at the center, Alison seemed to be in deep sleep. As Claire tried to wake her up suddenly the blood started pouring from our eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Her body went into a shock and she died of bleeding blood on the floor. Claire and others were shocked seeing this as they didn't know what had happened. The doctor was also speechless, she had never expected this to happen. Suddenly the alarms in the centre went off as it was going under unlocked on mode. Seeing this Dr. Burke started running from there to the exit and the others followed her. But to our bad luck, she got crushed by the door while crossing it and died a painful death. All this sudden activity spooked everyone as they didn't know what was happening there.
Then Amir came rushing and explained the situation. He says, don't sleep. If you sleep you will die. I have seen the scans at D. Burke's office, our brain is on fire because of this drug. The moment we sleep the brain will shut down and we will die. To survive we have to be awake for the next 24 hours and then with medical help, we will live. Apparently, the lockdowns at centers like this were designed to prevent any bio leakages or information leakages. Amir's earlier effort of copying the files might have triggered the lockdown response which he hides from the group. He later hands down the packs of smelly salts to everyone which helps in keeping them alert.
Later, Claire records a vlog on her phone where she apologizes to her mom for not picking up her calls. She was on a deathbed in a hospital and for one last time, she wanted to see her daughter's face. It seems now that the daughter will go first then the mother. Claire now freed the mice as Alison wanted but as she guessed the mice crawled back in. It didn't welcome the freedom. I guess, it takes time to adjust to sudden changes.
16 hours still to go for the lockdown to lift and the cracks are building up at the center. All participants started reflecting on their lives as they were having hallucinations and visions. Amir saw Dr. Berke's body getting up from the dead. Vanessa tried to burn her hand to be alert. Marcus experienced hallucinations of getting out and sadly died because of that. Claire saw the mice she freed near her, as it had embraced its freedom. She decides to live through this day come what may. She intentionally burns her palm so that the brain could be on alert. She takes up the role of leadership and comes up with the plan of tearing down the backside wall to get out. Amir disagrees with her by saying there is no way out, these centers are designed like a bomb shelter, and one just can't go out. These guys anyway try it out, they start hammering the wall with an axe which causes them exhaustion and fatigue. These guys were already sleep-deprived on top of that this physical work breaks some of them. Ray was frustrated seeing the metal door on the other side of the wall. He starts to suspect Amir as to how could he have known all of this. How a smart guy like that be on the trail? He thinks he might be working for Blackwood while pretending to be on trial.
Claire rushed to check on Amir at the lab where he handed her his confession. It was he who caused the lockdown while copying the files. In his guilt, he decides to die by trying to sleep. Quickly Claire stops him, helps him, and motivates him to come up with an idea to get out. He had the whole lab for himself. By this time his condition was severe, and his hallucinations had increased as he was seeing Dr. Berku's visions everywhere. He comes up with a stop-gap plan of methyl iodide shot which will cause a blood clot which in turn will cause a small brain stroke. Taking a shot of the Tissue plasminogen activator simultaneously might prevent a full-blown brain death and spare some time. Amir was not sure whether this would work or would kill them instantaneously as his brain was on fire too. Claire decides to go ahead with this.
As she heads back Paul shows her the empty bottle of stimulants which Amir told everyone not to take earlier. Paul believed Amir had taken them. As these two were taking over, power at the facility shut down and in darkness, everyone started to hallucinate. Claire heard her mom's abuses with visions of the dead Alison. Paul too started struggling, as he was about to go under Claire helped him up and saved him. When power came back Ray punched Amir and tied him up. Amir started pleading and said I never took the stimulants. I poured them out as a precaution. Ray was in no mood to listen but Claire stopped him. She and Paul decide to cook Amir's formula while Claire volunteers for the first shot. She was convinced of her death. If this backfires then she will die easily. Vanessa confronts Ray about his mischief of tripping the power. It was Ray who caused the shutdown, he wanted to check how Amir would behave. These two were convinced of Amir's guilt and hence were hell-bent on sedating him. Venessa had a shot of a strong sedative with her. As she sneakily tries to inject him, we see her soul outside her body. She sees a vision of the devil and screams.
As her body starts to seize, she accidentally hits Paul who drops Methyl iodide solution. With this, the hope of survival also dies which breaks Amir who starts to laugh hysterically. Claire ran away from there as her condition too was critical. She starts to record her last vlog where she blames her mom for all the abuses and her alcoholism. We see her soul floating away from the body yet she was determined to survive. She quickly grabs the smelly salt pack and regains her strength. She finds a hidden autopsy room and with the help of Paul, they discover a chamber through which bodies are to be transported. Amir's hallucinations peak when he sees Dr. Berke who taunts him at his failure. He was the smart one yet he was the one with his hand tied. Ray now tries to kill Amir but in a struggle, Amir escapes and stabs him multiple times. Claire and Paul saw this in horror as Amir ran after them to finish them. Paul quickly locks himself in the autopsy room leaving Claire to run for her life. As he enters the chambers to escape it turns out to be an incineration chamber. Paul dies a gruesome death by burning.
As Claire was escaping the lockdown lifted. 24 hours were over. Amir feels a sigh of relief, he escapes out but the guards from the company shoot him at point blank. They search the campus and drag all bodies. Claire saw all this in hiding, she quickly put some blood from Amir's face onto herself and acts dead. She wakes up in the van which scares the driver like hell. He loses his control and the van crashes. The driver did not survive the crash, but Claire came out alive.
We see Claire in a hospital where she was in a coma for months. The Blackwood Pharma company had created a fake narrative where they blamed all this on Dr. Burke. She was doing some unauthorized trials without anyone knowing. They pleaded ignorance and dogged all conspiracy theories. They were sure that Claire would never wake up to tell the real story but to their surprise, at the end, she opened her eyes. With this, the movie ends. I am pretty sure Claire will take the case forward and bring justice to all. Overall this is an excellent suspense horror thriller movie. The film delves into the dark side of pharmaceutical experiments, where lives hang in the balance for profit and secrecy. It keeps you on the hook. It has plenty of jump scares with added VFX which really gives you that kick.
The events depicted in this film bring to mind the catastrophic real-life drug trial that occurred at a hospital in London in April 2006. The drug in question, TGN1412, was intended to potentially address leukemia and autoimmune disorders. However, the trial conducted by the company was marred by a series of grave errors. Out of the six participants, only one received a placebo, while the others experienced dreadful side effects, with one individual even suffering from multiple organ failure. Their ordeal can only be described as a living nightmare. For those who are interested, there exists a documentary titled "The Drug Trial: Emergency At The Hospital," which meticulously recreates the incident using actors. you can check this on YouTube.
