Donald Dafoe

Brain Sculpting Donald Dafoe

It's not a makeover. It's a takeover. Duncan Gates is a newly minted surgeon, recovering from a near-fatal car crash that has left him with a shattered face and a damaged eye. Unable to continue his promising career, he is recruited to work on the staff of a spa-surgicenter run by an odd duo: Dr. M, a flashy cosmetic surgeon, who sculpts the perfect body and Dr. Neelaka Oghob, a brilliant but anti-social neuropharmocologist who sculpts the brain by eliminating client's unwanted memories with his amnesiac drug, Nepenthe. Their rich neurotic clients emerge with a supreme makeover: a buffed body and a winning personality. This transformative approach is copped by tough-on-crime Senator Selkirk, an old warhorse in need of an invigorated campaign issue and a real-life poster child personified in serial murderer "Jack the Wrapper" Willie Jefferson. Dr. M agrees to cooperate with the Senator and also expand the bust size of the politico's coltish new wife, Missy, who has turned out to be an ill-tempered nymphomaniac. When the corpse of a comely staff member is found below the ocean cliffs, the pristine world of the spa turns nightmarish. Duncan suspects that something vile is going on and puts the shocking pieces together. But just as he discovers the spa's murky secrets, he is headed for surgery that could sculpt his brain into a total blank.