Rutger Hauer, the versatile Dutch leading man of the ’70s who went on star in the 1982 “Blade Runner” as Roy Batty, died July 19 at his home in the Netherlands after a short illness. He was 75.
sin city
The Chair (Kickstarter) – ‘More than your average Horror/Thriller ‘
Written by Benjamin Gummery
THE CHAIR is a new horror/thriller based on the successful comic book mini-series & graphic novel: adapted for screen by Erin Kohut. The film is directed by Chad Ferrin and stars Bill Oberst Jr., Timothy Muskatell, Noah Hathaway, Zach Galligan, Naomi Grossman, Roddy Piper, Ezra Buzzington, Derrick Damions, and Kyle Hester.
The story revolves around Richard Sullivan (Timothy Muskatell); an innocent man that is sentenced to die. But in this prison, there are fates worse than death as the Warden (Bill Oberst Jr.) and his guards have become thoroughly corrupted with their absolute power.
“THE CHAIR is, at first glance, your average prison horror/thriller. But just beneath the dark and gritty surface, there’s a story – and a film – about the struggle to survive, the abuse of power, and the isolation and despair that all human beings face in their final hour.”
My first impressions from the trailer – ‘this is like an R-rated version of Green Mile…a modern day Marat/Sade with the comic book sensibilities of Frank Millers ‘Sin City’
“There are no demons or zombies here – the only monster on death row is man“.
THE CHAIR is currently on Kickstarter raising funds for post-production https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petersimeti/the-chair-post-production-on-our-comic-book-horror
For more information on the graphic novel and film, please visit http://thechairhorror.com
Review: Board To Death (Short – 2015)
From new director Dammie Akinmol and writer/cinematographer Kazi Zaman
comes a brand new British noir short; Board to Death. It is produced by a collective called ‘Broken Lens Productions’.
We follow a husband (Joshua Expositio) who is incredibly paranoid and vengeful. He suspects his wife (Victoria Ashford) of being unfaithful and we follow him as he hunts down those who have he feels disrespected his wife and his marriage. Performed mostly as voice-over; Expositio does a great job of creating the seeds of a complex character that is one part villain and one part victim in a larger game that we discover later in the piece.
This alone is enough to maintain interest; supported by some other pop-up characters that range from bar-tenders to priests. The flow is also propelled by a constant techno/ambient score that carries the piece along and builds momentum to the inevitable conclusion.
The noir genre has had somewhat of renaissance in recent years; thanks in part to big-budget film’s such as Sin City (Robert Rodriguez); it is once again stylistically acceptable. A lot of effort has been made in this piece to create this especially with the cinematography and it is very successful in this respect. Visually it maintains a consistent black & white noir look with a generous use of backlight. It also has that dark and menacing feel we have come to expect.
However; I can’t help but feel this is noir for noir’s sake…and it would be nice to see some of the film-makers own creative flair come into play. All that said, this piece shows some promise and I look forward to what this production team will do next.
3/5
