Andrew Howard, David Gant, Elize du Toit

With a pocketful of drugs, Nick West (Andrew Howard) takes out his girlfriend Sammy (Polly Brown), for a shag and a good time. When they explore an abandoned asylum, the discovery of a bizarre device ...( read more  read more... )- 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. So begins British horror director Adam Mason's gore-fest The Devil's Chair, a dark and terrifying journey to the meeting place between insanity and the supernatural. Years pass and Nick, who had been locked up in a mental hospital, is released into the care of eminent psychiatrist Dr. Willard (David Gant), 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. However, the decrepit asylum hides a blood-drenched secret. With Dr. Willard's team in mortal danger, their only hope is the clinically insane Nick. Chained by memories of the horrifying event and the conflicting version of reality engendered by his psychiatric treatment, Nick is forced to fight the forces of pure darkness to save the team and prove his innocence. Events build to a brutal, gut-wrenching climax where nothing is what it seems, but everyone is ripe for slaughter. The Devil's Chair is a tale of a simple man fucked over by demons that are not just in his mind but, rather, all too real. Mason and scriptwriter Simon Boyes evoke John Hough's 1973 paranormal gothic favourite, The Legend of Hell House, fiendishly mashing it together with the crass literary stylings of Irvine Welsh and serving it up with a devilish wink to the audience. Operating under a tight budget, Mason displays considerable creative vigour. He is aided by Andrew Howard's intense performance as the brutal anti-hero, deftly flipping from pained vulnerability to savage rage. Complemented by an elegantly haunting score by Zoe Keating, buzzing flies, peeling paint and rotting debris are spun into a nightmare vision of a hell that might live in the darkest recesses of the human psyche. Written by Colin Geddes - Toronto Film Festival

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30% liked it

410 ratings

Unrated, 90 min

Directed by: Adam Mason

Release Date: January 1, 2008

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DVD Release Date: October 7, 2008

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Flixster Reviews (125)


  • October 21, 2008
    For a horror film, this is a four because of the split genre format and genre commentary in the main character's narrating voice-over, as well as the demon creature and related effects. The sets are interestingly bare and bleak, and the actors know how to overact on purpose. The ...( read more)gore is pretty great and the practical effects are fun, and I can also tolerate the bits of CG effects.

    The main reason I like this movie so much is that I would have written this script from the synopsis the same way that is done here. The framing technique gave away the ending to me, but I think that's because I was thinking about how I would do it vs. what would be the worst way to do it. The great thing is...they do it the worst way (the plot) and then switch it into the cleverer mode at the necessary points, leaving a stunner of an ending. The camera work, which is mostly brilliant save a few handheld scenes, matches which version of the story is at work, especially at the ending where the camera is most responsible for the creep-em-out factor.

    A nice break from the slew of modern B movies with a modern B movie that seeks to subtly satirize itself and its genre.

    "So Fucked Up" highlight: final reel
  • June 7, 2009
    Best thing about this movie was the closing song. I'm about to give up on British Horror, they are 2 for 2 in the under 3 star award. This is about a man who is said to be insane, and also supposed to have killed a girl, but did he or was it the chair. The devil or monster or w...( read more)hat ever it was supposed to be in the other world was real hokey. Was it the acid, was it the chair, is the guy completely insane, I am beginning to this its me who is insane. The chair now that was the movie, pretty bloody when the drills and metal objects went into the skin, not bad on the blood and gore scale but for over all movie just 1 1/2 stars..
  • October 29, 2009
    This film apparently embraced itself being a badly acted B horror film which is fine, but then my question would be...so who would want to watch it then?
  • December 21, 2008
    When Nick and his girlfriend Sammy go into a old asylum to mess around and take drugs no one expected just one of them to come out alive fast forward alittle and we find Nick now has been locked up the last 4 years in a mental hospital Nick believes his girlfriend was killed when...( read more) she sat down in a electric chair that was still inside the building now with no more episodes he is set to be released only to be taken back to the asylum by a doctor and his students to find out the truth was Nick the real killer? or was someting more sinister at work?. Really good horror film that crosses genres and i feel is worth the watch even if it is alittle overacted though.
  • October 11, 2008
    This films opening sequence and the last half-hour are arguable the only well crafted sequences in its duration.
  • November 24, 2009
    My first impression: fuck every other word does not make for good dialogue. I'm not a prude about swearing, but too much and anything you're trying to put across gets swamped and makes you sound like a 14 year old trying to impress his mates and seem 'hard'. Sadly, the fuck-fest...( read more) was not the worst of my viewing experience.
    Even when Nick West was supposed to be somewhat sympathetic, he appeared to be the kind of person I'd cross the street to avoid. I suppose the hideously sexist, angry drivelling rant of over narration (which actually worked quite well at the beginning bar the extreme potty-mouth) was supposed to be a hint to his true nature. The idea is a decent one on paper/in retrospect, but it was pretty horrid to sit through at the time.

    The scenes on the 'other side' look effective, but they quickly descend into gore-hound territory and stick there for the duration of their appearance. The dialogue is laughable (seriously), though I suppose the jar between it appearing serious and sounding ridiculous may have been intentional. This was aided by the, ahem, performance, of Matt Berry - star of lovely comedy series such as Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and The IT Crowd. I suppose he had a mortgage to pay.

    I found Hostel pretty unpleasant viewing, but this film makes it seem rather inoffensive in comparison.
  • September 8, 2009
    With horror movies, you expect a twist ending. This film uses two twists, one in the middle and one towards the end. Unfortunately, they cancel each other out and leaves a lot of questions. I normally don't like non-stop narration, but he starts to get funny half-way through. ...( read more) The very last scene in the car is probably the best one.
  • August 1, 2009
    This started out to be ok. Then it just went dumb.

    There was no real plot. There was gore but good god. What were the Brits thinking?
  • July 11, 2009
    this movie had me sayin omg
  • June 21, 2009
    not scary at all, nothing gorejua a little bloody towards the end...

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