The Devil's Chair

I am a big fan of English film and have been excited by recent films like The Descent, and Dead Mans Shoes in the horror genre; and I hope that filmmakers with the sort of vision that makes these films possible get all the accolades and funding that they require to continue taking English film forward.

however, this film and its director Adam 'I'm a t**t' mason, makes me embarrassed to have been born in the same country. To say this film is conceited would be a massive compliment, it attempts the self aware horror take a la 'Man Bites Dog' where the protagonist psycho talks to the audience and even at one point says 'is this what you want, this badly written, terribly acted horror movie' or something of the sort and I agree whole heartedly. The acting is shallow, the 'big plot twists' are tedious and I found it difficult to care about the characters at all.

I implore that you do not watch this movie unless you are staving off suicide with terrible self involved movies

I just got back from seeing this movie at the TIFF and I will start out by saying that if you are the type of person who likes to have everything clearly spelled out for you in a movie, this film is not for you. Likewise, if you are looking for a non-stop gorefest, you are likely to be disappointed. All of that aside, I thought the movie to be very interesting and certainly worth the watch. I've never been a fan of movies with narration, but this one executes it quite nicely. The narrative dialogue is witty and often injects a bit of humor into the film. The main story follows a man (Nick) in a mental facility for the criminally insane after he and his girlfriend enter an abandoned asylum and she dies. Nick insists that she was taken by a demonic chair. 4 years later, a doctor has him released, so that Nick, the doctor and his team can explore the scene of the murder and thing quickly go down hill from there. The cinematography in this film is interesting and the sound effects give the movie a lot more edge considering the gore is minimal aside from the liberal use of blood. Overall, this movie was definitely worth watching and I look forward to its release on DVD so I can watch it again!

I do appreciate the effort but a pair of suspenders have more suspense than this rotten egg of death. The story evolves around an evil chair adorned with a skull and placed conveniently (probably by some deranged carpenter) in a desolate building, a former asylum. To top it off the main character - a mental patient - continuously delivers a voice-over with a lisp which I believe he suffers from, listening to which is as thrilling as a boat ride on dry land.

Believe me you've seen it done before and better (Session 9 anyone?), don't punish yourself by watching the "Chair". I dosed off countless times which was about the most refreshing thing about the whole experience.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Reckless Nick West (Andrew Howard) takes his girlfriend to an abandoned warehouse to drop acid, but when she sits on a weird chair, she is sucked into a demonic hole, leaving Nick traumatized. Years later, he's in a psychiatric hospital run by Dr. Willard (David Gant) who is the first person to give his story any credence. He offers him escape from the asylum if Nick returns with him to the scene of the mystery to conduct an experiment. But as members of the group go missing, it becomes clear something evil is lurking in the walls of this eerie place...

When I first caught sight of this bizarre looking straight to DVD horror film, I soon cleared the sight of it from my mind, but finding it again in the bargain bin at Morrison's, I thought...why not give it a try? While I don't feel I completely wasted my time, it does feel like a wasted opportunity in a lot of respects.

Adam Mason's film is unsure whether it wants to play as a straight out mind fu*k, gore porn horror flick or a self referentializing parody of the genre, with the lead character giving voice overs saying how we'll like it 'if we saw Hellraiser or Pumpkinhead' and at one point lamenting what 'a poorly written, badly acted' film it's become, either the way the writing feels uncertain of itself and in turn loses the audience a bit. The gore factor really kicks in at the end, shocking even by horror standards with all the blood/distress on display. Either way, you're more likely to sit lost on The Devil's Chair than be on the edge of it. **

People in an old abandoned asylum ? Going crazy ? Dying ?

We've already seen it all before, and this time, although the production and cast are decent (the overall sound design is actually quite good despite too many squishy noises), I just can't help but think of Brad Anderson's excellent (if flawed in its own ways) "Session 9". Way better.

Sorry, but since braincells don't work on cash, a low budget doesn't excuse a poor script.

So let's make it short : if you want gore & predictable "twists" you might enjoy this one ; if you'd prefer a better film go for "Session 9". My vote is 3 out of 10, however totally unreasonably raised to a 5 due to Matt Berry's appearance (I'm a Boosh fan), and Zoe Keating's beautiful score.