Quebec_Dragon This British horror film is unusual in a few aspects. It starts by showing the end (or is it?) of the story. It has the main character, Nick, as a narrator, who's more often a commentator who hits the pause button (freeze-frame) when he makes a comment. Nick is considered criminally insane because of the way his lover died 4 years ago in an abandoned asylum, but Nick insists it was due to supernatural causes (involving a weird chair). Early in the film, Nick admits he can be the only one who did it although he doesn't remember doing it. An old professor, his assistant and two students have the "genius" idea to bring back the supposedly criminally insane Nick to the asylum where the murder was committed, to study him. Right there, I had a problem believing such a dumb idea could actually happen.The "devil's chair" in the abandoned asylum is a sinister-looking chair with a skull, initially inoffensive, which "probes" people (creepiest effects of the movie) before shunting them off to another version of the asylum with a demon-skulled tentacled monster roaming. I thought sometimes it looked freakish, sometimes amateurish. The acting was unequal, but I think it might have been intentional. The pompous old professor was atrocious in his line delivery. The main character/narrator was actually good playing it serious, troubled, intense, sometimes mean, channelling Jason Statham. The others were OK, except the brown-haired assistant that was also bad, but nowhere near the level of the professor. There were jarring changes in the tone of the movie with the main character actually admonishing the viewer once. The "normal" version of the asylum was undermined by the irrational, sometimes corny, behaviour of the characters, which in a way got eventually explained. The "other" version of the asylum was sometimes unnerving with interesting cinematography.However, it's the last act (last 20 minutes or so) that was really horrifying with its final twist that I liked but that might frustrate others. For low-budget horror, it does try to be somewhat different but ends up a mixed-bag. I wondered what messages the creators were trying to convey if anything. One of them might be that the true horror doesn't lie in supernatural shenanigans but in the human psyche. Another might be simply what the main character spews out angrily at the viewer near the end. I don't think I particularly liked this movie, but I found it positively peculiar nevertheless.Rating: 6 out of 10 (Good)

FlashCallahan With a pocketful of drugs, Nick West takes out his girlfriend Sammy, for a good time.When they explore an abandoned asylum, the discovery of a bizarre device, a cross between an electric chair and sadistic fetish machine, transforms drugged-out bliss into agony and despair.After Sammy is brutally assaulted and murdered by unseen forces, Nick becomes the number-one suspect.Years pass and Nick, who had been locked up in a mental hospital, is released into the care of eminent psychiatrist Dr. Willard, who is hell-bent on exposing the truth behind the killing.Accompanied by Dr. Willard and several of his students, Nick returns to the scene of the crime....This film likes to think that it is clever, with all the breaking of the fourth wall, and the main protagonist talking to us, the viewer, but up until the very impressive final ten minutes, the film is as boring as hell.But then, is this the film makers intention, for making us truly sit through 70 minutes of very, very poor acting, until he decides to give us one of the most disturbing ten minutes committed to DVD? If that was, then the man is a genius.Jason Statham must have busy, as was Luke Goss, as the lookalike actor isn't the best, but does his job with much suffice. The rest of the cast are disposable, apart from the on who played Izzy in Hollyoaks, who makes it all a little more tolerable.So this film could be a genius piece of cinema, but to make the first two acts so mundane is unforgivable.

Ted Brown The Devil's Chair follows the story of Nick west who after taking his girlfriend out for a crazy LSD induced night with in the walls of a deserted asylum, finds himself accused of her brutal murder and is shipped off to a mental hospital. Years later a doctor who is writing a book decides to take Nick back to the scene of the grisly murder along with some other students to find out the truth about what happened that night.It's very rare that after I watch a horror movie these days that I'm totally blown away and speechless. But The Devil's Chair did just that too me, for anyone who has become jaded and heartbroken with what horror has become in the eyes of the mainstream, it will remind you of all the reasons you fell in love with the genre to begin with. This movie has it all a well written and acted script, beautiful special effects, and a ending that will leave you running the entire film over and over through your mind as if it's stuck on repeat for weeks to come.It's really sad that a movie like this did not see a nationwide theater release as it would have been a very fun and intense experience on the big screen. And I believe audiences would of left very happy with what they paid too experience something that I'm sure a lot of today's mover goers don't have the pleasure of saying too often. If you have not seen this film it should be added to the top of your too watch list. Adam Mason does a wonderful job at keeping your attention and makes it all worth your while when it comes to the end leaving you satisfied and lost in a state that can only be described as pure horror bliss. The special effects and overall setting in this movie is beautiful. The blood and gore are realistic and the kills are very intense. I was very impressed with the way this movie was filmed, at first when I was going into this movie I was expecting something along the lines of the quality you'd find in most B horror movies. But I was very wrong the special effects and overall visuals of this movie are on par with what you see Hollywood churning out these days.But unlike Hollywood horror your also blessed with a mind blowing story that's backed up with very solid and believable acting. The dialog in this movie at times is very thought provoking and really makes you take into consideration what the main character is saying. I was highly impressed with the writing in this movie, something I don't get to say about to many horror movies these days.In the end when all is said and done and I think back to the experience I had while watching this movie I believe it deserves the rating of 9 out of 10 and a spot on my list of important horror movies to see before you die.9/10Ritualistic The Liberal Dead http://liberaldead.blogspot.com

Bifrostedflake I only bought this film because it was on sale for £3, I didn't expect much from it but strangely I enjoyed it. That's not to say I thought it was a good movie, to be honest I thought it was a pretty bad movie but I still got a kick from watching it.I think as long as you don't expect a brilliant plot, you can enjoy this film. There's a couple of overblown gore scenes but it kinda feels like a cheap 80's horror film which, if you're a fan of those, is nicely nostalgic.Because they haven't over thought the plot in an attempt to seem clever, you can tell what's going to happen from about five minutes in, but the acting in the film is surprisingly decent & the effects are pretty good to boot. I liked it a whole lot more than the likes of 'Shrooms' but then this film was never going to be as good as 'Severance'. Although if you consider they only had 2 weeks to prepare this film, with only 3 days to write the script, then they did a great job.I'll be interested in seeing the other films these guys have made to see if they can do any better.