Devil's Chair

Title: Devil's Chair
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Horror
Starring: Andrew Howard, David Gant, Elize du Toit,Matt Berry
Director: Adam Mason

“Is this what I promised you? Are we prick teasing you enough? Is this what you came here to see all my brothers? Look at this poorly written, badly acted bullshit! Is there any truth in this b-movie banality? No! No, there is no truth. Believe no one. Believe nothing. You freaks and geeks. You bloodthirsty morons, fuck you! Bring on the red parade. So are there any pulses in the house? You deadbeat, midnight, freak-geek witted torture-porn gore horse! I know what you're looking for, so have it! Take it! and fuck you all very much!”

The UK doesn't get too many good film releases these days. There simply doesn't seem to the budget for it, and with most of the resident public happily lacking up whatever spews out of the media titans over at Hollywood there hardly seems to be much of a point. Even when compared to other countries like Korea and Thailand, or remaining within Europe, France, Germany, Italy or Spain, our films seem to have a tiny budget to play around with, which is probably why the only films that seem to work are indie drama's requiring little funds beyond paying the actors. That's why every so often when a film comes by like this – a film more than aware of the limitations of what they can accomplish but still aims high – always makes me feel a little pride in our ability to do something with nothing.

From the very beginning they tear down the conventions of cinema, gratuitously breaking the fourth wall to address the viewer in person as he tries to make sense of it all himself, nonetheless explain the events for public record. This is his story, and his constant interventions to explain his thoughts throughout will keep you reminded of this fact from his tortured beginnings, witnessing the death of his partner due to some twisted chair, on to the asylum, incarcerated as being criminally insane before quickly being dragged back to the closed down mental hospital for rehabilitation. As the nightmare unfolds once more we are this time taken along for the journey to discover the truth behind the Devil's Chair.

This certainly isn't brilliance and I wouldn't claim it to be; there's some rather dodgy CGI and effects, and some of the acting – from the Gandalf fanboy of a Professor to the rather slutty receptionist – I've yet to really deduce if it was deliberate or a hazard of the territory, hastily covered with the voice-overs who are more than willing to point all this out. Either way the result works well enough for the films purposes, making use of a cast of unknowns of whom only two I managed to recognise from previous work (Matt Berry, a comedian of “The Mighty Boosh” and “The IT Crowd” fame, and the lead role played by Andrew Howard who had a minor role in “Revolver”) to carry the story forward.

There are naturally some who will invariably complain about the 'twist' at the end, which whilst obvious to the point of no longer justifiably being called a twist isn't what makes this film interesting[*] (there will also be the morons whose inability to understand anything more complex than “Dude! Where's my Car” will fob it off as nonsense, but lets not dwell on this matter). Be under no illusion that this is anything more than a B-Movie, this isn't some 'light' horror like 28 days later was, but neither is it merely a torturous, gore-riddled, splatter-fest of delights; this is a rare breed of horror with enough smart ideas behind it to raise it from the depths of mediocrity.

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* Instead it's his slow descent into madness, the delusional manner his mind twists his perceptions of reality into something altogether more sinister and allowing him to play the hero whilst questioning if that is truly the case. And when we finally emerge from his clouded mind we see just how far gone his delusions have truly taken him, and for all the blood and gore that gets spilt his insanity is far more disturbing than anything else on display.