The Chair

One thing there wasn't a shortage of during the late 80s were horror movies set in prisons and featuring electric chairs. "The Chair" is already the fourth I've seen, after the superior "Prison", the enjoyable "The Horror Show", and the lousy "Shocker".

Of those, "The Chair" is most reminiscent to Renny Harlin's "Prison" in terms of plot and storyline, but certainly not in terms of quality level and entertainment value. In fact, this might even be one of the weakest and dullest horror movies of the 1980s, and that is saying a lot. You know you're in trouble when an allegedly blood-soaked and grisly horror film opens with the mushiest tearjerker blues-song you ever heard. Those boring opening credits seemingly go on forever, by the way.

The set-up is decent, the locations and set pieces are more than adequate, and the cast is excellent. So where did the unknown and inexperienced director Waldemar Korzeniowsky mess up? Well, maybe partially because he's inexperienced, his film is woefully incoherent and uneven. It's harrowing drama mixed with (unintentional?) comedy and cheesy horror. For example, there are dead-serious psychiatric therapy sessions as well as goofy stop-motion eyeball in a light bulb. One scene luckily compensates for a lot namely, the electrocution footage in which we witness - in extreme closeup - eyes popping out of their sockets and exploding. Yay. Rewind this particular scene a few times, because the rest of the film is dreadfully boring.

I remember borrowing this movie when I couldn't find anything else I wanted.I've rented quite a few bad videos and The Chair was one of them.I didn't follow it too well and come to think of it I didn't even end up watching the whole thing.

So videos are like books,what you see on the cover isn't always what you get.

The late 80s saw a spate of prison/electric chair themed horror movies: Prison (1987), Shocker (1989), House III (1989), and The Chair (1988), the latter easily being the worst of the bunch. The Chair is clumsily directed, poorly written, badly acted trash, with just a few seconds of reasonable make-up effects preventing the film from being a total waste of time.

Andie MacDowell lookalike Trini Alvarado (The Frighteners) plays Lisa Titus, who takes a job at the High Street Correctional Facility, run by Dr. Harold Woodhouse Langer (James Coco), who hopes to rehabilitate a group of prisoners (including Fright Night's Stephen Geoffreys) through his emotional guidance and growth project. What they don't realise is that the building is haunted by the angry spirit of a warden who was fried in the electric chair by his prisoners during a riot.

The one and only film to be directed by Waldemar Korzeniowsky, this film is ineptly made drivel from the outset, the action moving clumsily from one terrible scene to the next with zero regard for narrative cohesion. The whole film has a bizarre, offbeat vibe that is reflected in the quirky performances, all of which feel completely out of place in a horror film -- the whole thing is just too damn strange to be scary.

2/10.

This film is okay for a 1988 B-movie. Feature released on HBO and direct to video in the day.

I remember renting it at a Blockbuster because Stephen Geoffreys (Fright Night) starred. The other core cast, Trini Alvarado, James Coco, Paul Benedict hold their own. The direction is mediocre at best, but Interesting. With the prisoners inflected in some lame rehabilitation program that lacks luster and goes nowhere. The plot surrounds the gruesome murder of the prison's former warden. And strange things begin happening. Which is typical for a horror suspense thriller. It has its moments. One area seems to highlight a potential romance between the female intern and a streetwise inmate.

When I went down to the video store to rent this movie I looked at the back of the film and read the short description of the movie. It looked kind of cool and had a somewhat interesting story so I decided to rent it.

In the introduction of the movie you see people cleaning out an old prison and in the background you hear this blues/soul music. This was the first hint that the movie was bad.

If I wanted blues I would have rented The Blues Brothers, but I wanted a horror movie so the tune felt all wrong.

To sum this up. The movie was bad and not really a horror movie. More of a drama/thriller. I have three carefully chosen words for this movie. Avoid, avoid and avoid.