Film Review: "The Chair"

I’ve always loved Rowdy Rowdy Piper. Whether it’s in profession wrestling ring with his charisma to this performance in John Carpenter’s “They Live”, Piper was always entertaining. Sadly on July 31st, 2015, Rowdy Rowdy Piper passed away. “The Chair” is one of his last films. The film is based on the underground comic from Alterna Comics.

It focuses on a man who’s been sentenced to death. He’s living with no hope as he is forced to watch shocking brutal murders at the hand of the prison’s warden. In order to find a way of the warden’s game he must confront things that he’s done while creating some brutality of his own. The film stars Tim Muskatell, Bill Oberst Jr. (The Retrieval), Piper, Naomi Grossman (American Horror Story), Zach Galligan (Gremlins) and Noah Hathaway (The NeverEnding Story).

Going into this, I knew this was going to be a dark film considering the setting and what I’ve heard about the graphic novel beforehand. Never did I thing that I would be shocked and horrified with what took place in the film as it kept me glued.

This was a good film. Most of the reason why this works was Chad Ferrin’s direction. One of the things that I liked about it was that it gave you an unsettling feeling throughout. Whether it’s through his direction to the way that he and his cinematographer gave the film it’s very dark look, it felt very gritty and dark the entire time. It helps make some of the scenes feel very horrifying to watch at times. The other thing that works very well was the way that Ferrin directs his cast. He does a good job making sure the film’s performances fits it’s very dark tone. It makes the characters very demented as there is no good character in this film.

The film has a couple of really good performances from Bill Oberst Jr as the sadistic warden and the late Roddy Piper as one of the lead guards. Those performances really added to the dark and shocked tone that this film was going for.

The screenplay written by Erin Kohut and Peter Simeti (co-creator of the graphic novel which this film is based on) was a very dark one. I liked the way that they both create a dark tone throughout the film. Whether it’s the way that they the write the action to how some of the characters come off, everything has a disturbing vibe to it. It’s one of those case where it kept me feeling unhinged and shocked at times. The other thing that they do well is how they develop and focus on the relationship between the two main characters. It’s done in a way that it makes the characters interesting to keep me focused on the story.

This is one of those prison films will leave you horrified. “The Chair” is a very gritty and dark film that will shock the hell out of you.

For information on upcoming screenings of "The Chair", you can goto: http://www.thechairhorror.com/theatrical-listings

Review Rating: Four Stars