The Infernal Machine

The film tells the story of a one-hit-wonder writer, Bruce Cogburn, who now lives as a recluse in southern California following a mass-shooting incident where the shooter "blamed" his motive for the crime on Cogburn's book. Now 25 years on from the incident, Cogburn begins to receive a barrage of letters from an unknown source, leading to the question that carries the film; "who is sending all these letters?".

The answer isn't an obvious one and you are genuinely wondering right 'til the last act of the film, as it leads you down various different potential "suspects". You think the film is going to take you one way, then it takes a sharp turn in another, unexpected direction. The final twist is a good one...but the execution is a little laboured and indulgent.

The film has a relatively slow pace - don't expect big shoot outs and car chases, but keeps you gripped right through. Guy Pearce is on top form as usual, playing an alcoholic, paranoid hermit. How he manages to nail all these different accents is beyond me! He's accompanied by Alice Eve and Alex Pettyfer who give solid performances as well.

This is an intelligent thriller that is well written , well acted and well shot. Think along the lines of Stephen King's "Secret Window" with less psychopathy.

Watch the movie if you like the following:

• Great acting from the lead
• Clever writing
• Good cinematography
• Compelling plot
• Twists and turns

Don't watch if you're expecting:

• Gun shoot outs
• Car chases
• Fast pace
• Over edited, over-choreographed fight scenes

The only downside is the very end, which I shan't spoil. It feels a little extravagant and is perhaps trying too hard to be prodigious.

The film certainly doesn't deserve the low ratings it has received, so don't be put off by it. Overall it is definitely worth a watch if you're in the mood for a good thriller that keeps you gripped, and if you're a fan of Guy Pearce - which you should be!

I watched The Infernal Machine with three other people. They all liked it a bit more than me, but it's not that they loved it. I wasn't impressed by it at all. The movie is just too long for that kind of story. It could easily have been half an hour lesser long. Slow paced, repetitive, just not really my thing. By the time the mystery was solved I lost all interest in the story, almost fell asleep. As for the acting it's basically all about Guy Pearce, whom isn't a bad actor, but even he couldn't make this movie better. I won't say the movie is a complete failure, as it probably will please other people, but just not me.

I don't quite know why this didn't work, but it wasn't gripping, the story was messy and was clunky. The acting was really good and I love the idea, but disappointing sadly. Some interesting twist, so not a complete flop, and whoever wrote it was clearly intellectual, just a bit of a dullard, or maybe that was the director? Had to tell.

Not as scary as I was hoping, as the advert made it look awesome. Maybe there weren't enough characters in the film? Sorry I can't quite put my finger on what the issue is here, but there we go.

I'd love to read some other reviews of this, so get posting! .....

Guy Pearce should easily win a best actor award for this. He gives it his all.

All the actors do. Maybe the director's strength is his ability to get good acting out of his actors?

He shot this wrong. There wasn't any gore or observed threat. The movie has real guts for a solid creepy horror movie but it pulled it's punch. This was more of a slap and not a hard one.

It would have been much shorter too. One seasoned producer would have made a major difference in this movie.

But Guy Pearce makes it work still. He's that good in this. The other actors try but he stands out. David Lynch should work with him.

Watch this without expectations of greatness.

I went into this with mixed feelings because Guy Pearce is a most accomplished actor and I love watching him. However, Alice Eve as co star said instantly 'B movie'.

So I was confused as to what was going to happen.

Sorry, I can't hold it in any longer. I hated this film!

It should have been a great story but the director tried to make it into surreal and high brow art. A lofty ambition, but it failed.

I was constantly left wondering what on earth was going on, who people were., what part did they play in the overall story, what has happened so far that makes sense?

The penultimate scene is almost painful as like the rest of the film, the dialogue is verbose but without much meaning. I could barely hear properly what was being said anyway.

But the ending left us still not knowing what large chunks of the film were about. It seemed to be endless unconnected scenes with drawn out meaningless dialogue and no real story at all until the final minutes. That for me is not great story telling, and it doesn't make a great movie.

It got a paltry 3 from me.