Perhaps it's unfair of me to say so, but I didn't really expect much. Though there are plenty of little-known films made in more recent years that quite impress, it can be a bit of a crapshoot. Adrienne Barbeau and Ray Wise are sadly both at points in their careers where their inclusion in a film doesn't necessarily guarantee quality. Just as much to the point, the premise comes across as a slight variation on Robert Louis Stevenson's 'The Suicide Club,' which means that it also unfortunately reminds of less than stellar adaptations one may have watched. Suffice to say that, though through no fault of its own, in my mind 'Chain of death' rather operates at a disadvantage from the start. Honestly, it's better than I anticipated, but I'm unsure how much that says.
The chief strength here is in a predominant psychological slant to this thriller. We're watching the film from a third-person point of view, yet as the course of events effectively unfolds from protagonist Mike's perspective, in light of his unspecified condition it's pointedly unclear at many times what's real or not. As the narrative advances and Mike grows more desperate it becomes more and more difficult to tell where reality ends and hallucination or nightmare begins. True, there are also aspects of the plot that are predictable to one degree or another, but the blanketing air of uncertainty does much to make up for any commonness. Whatever genre the movie plays in, any title that explores characters' states of mind has at least some favor with me.
Weirdly, while the tenor of the narrative is one that lends no small measure of finessed detail, this clashes in a bad way with the direction. I don't mean to wholly impugn David Martín Porras, least of all as I've not seen other pictures he's made, but 'Chain of death' strikes me as decidedly struggling with a lack of subtlety. Camerawork, and the fundamental orchestration of shots and scenes, feel brusque and plainspoken, as glaring to the eyes as cinematography that mostly comes across as unpolished. Regrettably, this quality also extends to the cast: I've seen elsewhere what Barbeau, Wise, and star John Patrick Amedori are capable of; I'm less familiar with Jamie Clayton, Madeline Zima, or Dey Young, but I fully trust that they also possess fine acting skills. I do think that everyone shows acting here that's as excellent as it could be. But that's just it - whatever range, personality, and nuance they exhibit in their performances seem to be communicated through an invisible barrier that dampens the effect. Though Andres Rosende's screenplay is imperfect, more than anything it sure looks to me like Porras' guiding hand just lacks the necessary delicate touch.
The hair, makeup work, and costume design are swell. What few effects and post-production visuals we see look great. The score is mostly kind of unremarkable, but there are some themes that ably help to build the mood of a given moment. The narrative is duly compelling, and the scene writing is strong as it keeps the film moving. In a couple instances characters' intelligence appears to come and go as the story demands, but in fairness, this could arguably be chalked up to another effect of what is essentially the third-person equivalent of the unreliable narrator. In more ways than not, 'Chain of death' is pretty well made, and those involved generally make solid contributions. Yet above all the direction just isn't entirely convincing, and with the weakness of that linchpin, the feature otherwise experiences difficulties.
I'm happy to say that this rather bested my expectations. It still has a lot of problems, and is sufficiently imperfect and unremarkable that there maybe isn't much reason to specifically seek it out. All the same, I find 'Chain of death' to be another example of a title that isn't regarded well at large, but I watched it and had a much better opinion. I guess I just wish there were more attentive care and polish in the production; a little bit would have gone a long way. Recommendable for fans of the cast more than anything else, I think 'Chain of death' is actually worth checking out, with the caveat that it falls short of its utmost potential.
