Coma, 1978

Coma, which is based on a best-selling novel by Robin Cook, is the story of Susan Wheeler, played by Genevieve Bujold. Susan is a surgical resident at Boston Memorial Hospital and has no explanation as to why her friend died after having an abortion which is a relatively low-risk procedure. Digging deeper into why her friend died, Susan finds that several others have died after having simple, elective procedures done. The one correlating factor is that they all died in operating room 8.

Digging even deeper into what she suspects as a conspiracy, Susan discovers an organ transplant black market scheme in her own hospital. She races to reveal the truth to her boyfriend but he doesn’t believe her. Susan then turns to the Chief of Surgery which only results in a heart-pumping, on the edge of your seat ending.

Despite the suspense filled ending, there is little resolution at the end of the movie because it just kind of ends. Will the person responsible for the black market scheme be caught and punished? What happens to Susan? This is all left up to the viewer to decide and imagine. This of course is quite frustrating and is a major turn-off. Fortunately though, this is one of the only turn-offs. Bujold performs well as do her fellow actors. None of the acting seems to be forced and the plot flows well with few or no holes. Everything makes sense and it is well written so that viewers can easily follow along.