Sanitarium (film)

Gustav, an aged, disheveled doll artist, works for his old friend, Sam, who helps showcase his creations. He is assisted by the young Mateo, whom he is unaware has been drugging his alcohol with a psychoactive drug which soon drives Gustav into believing that his creations can talk. He is especially obsessed with a female doll whom he named Madeline, who talks him into killing Sam, his assistant, and also Mateo's lover, Isabelle. After Mateo discloses what he had done, Gustav commits suicide, but not before saying that Mateo can now own his creations. The segment is closed with the deranged Mateo opening a box containing Gustav's creations, as Stenson wonders which one is controlling which.

A young boy, Steven, who has catatonic schizophrenia, lives with his abusive father, who forces him to do household chores while he goes to a stripper club every day. Steven feels stalked by a man clad in black with a black fedora. One day, while having his attention at a friend's pornographic magazine, the man stops him from leaving, revealing his monstrous face, but he suddenly disappears when Steven's teacher, the kind Ms. Lorne, arrives and holds Steven responsible for the magazine. Suspecting that his father is abusive after seeing him rudely fetching Steven home while refusing to explain his neck bruise (actually caused by the monstrous man), she trails them. Before Steven is abused, the man manifests and stuffs him into a burlap sack before killing Steven's father. He also kills Ms. Lorne when she comes in, leaving Steven unresponsive by the time the police arrive. Dr. Stenson narrates the events afterward: Steven is transferred to the sanitarium where he remains a catatonic, hallucinating the monstrous man well into his adulthood, yet Stenson sometimes can see him smiling while looking at the sky.

Presented in an anachronistic order, the segment tells the story of a college professor called James Silo, who is also an avid conspiracy theorist of the 2012 doomsday event. He believes that on 21 December 2012, the planet Nibiru will collide with the Earth and to protect himself and his family, he builds a bunker underground, containing a small bedroom and working room, hydroponic culture to sustain food, and a heater. Throughout the segment, it became apparent that James' obsession had distanced himself from reality; his students began to leave his class until no one was left, dismissing him from his university. He ignored his wife, Allison, and sons Caleb and Kyle and spent his savings to build the bunker. Eventually, Allison decided to call the staff from the sanitarium to confine James, yet he managed to escape and began to live in the bunker for over 640 days, believing that he is the last man left and that his family are dead. What James does not learn until the end, however, is that he was the one who killed them after escaping from the sanitarium. In grief, James swallows a pill and opens the bunker to find Allison framed by a white light. She catches him when he falls, caresses him, and says that everything is alright. The segment is closed with the scene before James escaped from the sanitarium. While being interviewed by Dr. Stenson, he states his belief that everything is an illusion and that "they" are laughing at him.

A mid-credits scene shows Stenson discovering James having escaped the sanitarium and left his doomsday timer under the pillow, followed by the first scene of the segment: James waking up to his 640th day in the bunker.

• John Glover as Gustav
• Robert Englund as Sam
• Walter Perez as Mateo
• Mayra Leal as Isabelle

• David Mazouz as Steven
• Lacey Chabert as Ms. Lorne
• Chris Mulkey as Father
• Brant Bumpers as Creature
• Mark Cantu as Police Officer

• Lou Diamond Phillips as James Silo
• Nova Aragon as Allison Silo
• Joseph Rivera as Caleb Silo
• Ryder Maldonado as Kyle Silo
• Dianah McGreehan as Dr. Williams
• Venda D'Abato as Reflection