It's sick, but not slick

Rating: Null/10 (1 October 2004)

When this movie started it looked like it might be a gritty adrenaline pumping nail-biter. It opens well with two guys waking up prisoners in a room. How did they get there? Why are they chained to a wall on opposite sides of the room and who is the stiff in the middle of the room lying in a pool of blood.
Sadly the film, which is innovative for the genre in several ways, lets itself down by some plodding performances, poor pacing, mediocre lighting and mirth inducing scenes where the action is sped up.
So what's to like? The gory deaths are inventive and there's one effective suspense scene where a character illuminates his surroundings using a camera flash while searching for an intruder. I also liked the bizarre jaw breaking device which looked something out of an Edgar Alan Poe tale of Gothic horror. The obligatory twist ending did catch me completely by surprise and almost made me forgive the movie's shortcomings it was so well done! (oh - the score was good too - as was the acting by the younger prisoner who wakes up in the room at the start.)
The movie shows a lot of potential so let's hope the director's next project has better performers, cinematography and tighter editing. To come up such innovative ideas in a genre that's this old means the creative force behind the movie certainly has more to offer.
6 out 10