After using drugs, Nick and his girlfriend Sammy sneak into an asylum where they find a strange chair-like machine. The two boys accidentally start its mechanism unleashing horror and causing Sammy's death. Nick is accused of murder and locked up in the asylum, from where he will emerge a few years later thanks to Professor Willard, a man intent on discovering the truth.
Adam Mason (Broken) surprises us again with this feature-length film over which a perverse fascination and superb graphic violence hangs. The eyes and words of Nick, the protagonist, hurl us into a universe made of fiction and reality, a dimension in which strong Barkerian echoes are evident (the chair, chains and parallel dimensions, as well as a quote made by the protagonist) and directorial gimmicks with a personal touch. Andrew Howard, a charismatic character, plays with the audience, preparing and engaging them throughout the film. His madness, the bleak walls of the building, the monster rising from the floor accompanied by spooky music and livid cinematography, the chair ripping and tearing bodies apart, the copious blood, are all roads to hell.
The film's flaws mainly concern some naivete in the screenplay and the monotony of the dialogues addressed by Dr. Willard. Nevertheless, it is a very interesting film that departs from the wave of remakes and films branded by the usual clichés precisely because it takes its own path with originality and charm.
