The Incident

Anna Skellern is definitely underused in this movie. Just wanted to write that upfront. But it's not a movie about her. It's a movie about an Asylum (as an alternate title does suggest, original title being "The Incident") and the people within. It's also a movie about madness and reality shifting (sort of).

I couldn't really start to explain what the ending is. Apart from the fact it that it would be a spoiler, it's one of those endings that will split the audience. Some will find it amazing, what the director did there and some will think he's full of himself. One thing is for sure: Up until that moment (or rather moments), the movie is pretty straightforward and has an edgy feel to it. And it is pretty good in scaring you (visually with some hard to stomach violent scenes, so not for the faint hearted then), too. If that is something you like, then go ahead and give it a try

This film is a solid take on the crazed maniac horror film. It is simply told and soundly directed. There are some really great suspense scenes, good performances, and compelling cinematography. Oh, there is also a confusing ending. In fact, the movie rushes through some really fuzzy plot maneuvering in its last ten minutes, as if it had somewhere to get to in a hurry. That said, the weak ending does not ruin the film. In fact, just tune out five minutes early and you've got a really good movie.

What I want to point out is this film's satisfying dramatic structure. The film's protagonist is a young, handsome member of a late-80s grunge band. He works a tough job to make ends meet and has apparently gotten his friends jobs to help them out. One of his friends is sweet, but unreliable. Another of his friends is reliable, but snarly. Our hero, however, is both reliable and warm. He is eminently likable. The character of George made me care about this horror movie. He drove my interest in the film. I wanted George to make it through the horror.

Other (often new) horror directors could learn from this. A movie needs a likable, rational hero to be any good. Also, tell a real story; do not just string together some mish mash of allusions to other movies. It is fine to repeat imagery from previous horror films, as this film does, but ground your film in a coherent real life situation. Asylum Blackout works because it gives its characters dignity and its story world depth. It kept me in the moment from beginning to end.

In Alexandre Courtès' film The Incident, the setting is Washington 1989 where we are introduced to a group of young band members that work in the kitchen of an insane asylum. The asylum is a concrete mass in the middle of nowhere. Its heavy doors and locked cages are highly monitored and every door, elevator and room requires either keys of a combination code. Patients in the asylum walk around like zombies and follow strict patterns in an effort to get fed at the fortified kitchen.

George (Rupert Evans), Max (Kenny Doughty) and Ricky (Joseph Kennedy) have just played a gig the night before when George is requested to come in early to accept a delivery of supplies for the kitchen. On little to no sleep, George makes his way to the compound and begins prepping for the daily meals when he is met by his fellow workers/band members.

But on this dark and rainy evening, a power outage throws the asylum into darkness. The patients are confused and get irritatingly irrational. All doors become unlocked and the monitoring station goes blind. George and the others are asked to assist in getting the excited patients back to their holding cells, but when two patients violently escape their escort, it begins a night of terror where the patients indeed run the asylum and where the guards and the young kitchen workers run from their lives from the horde of dangerously rabid maniacs.

Director Alexandre Courtes makes his feature film debut with The Incident after a fairly successful career directing music videos for bands such as U2 and The White Stripes. Courtes takes his time in unleashing the terrors that will be the mainstay of the film and uses the first 30 minutes to introduce us to the characters on both sides of the protective glass. Great effort is spent in giving us a tour of the facility and having the audience recognize the fortress as a heavily locked-down institution. We are also introduced to Harry Green (Richard Brake) – an asylum patient that George believes is the ringleader of the horde when the proverbial poop hits the fan.

When the patients begin to overrun the facility, the screenplay as written by S.Craig Zahler and Jérôme Fansten has the characters doing what is rarely evident in today's horror films – he has the characters acting intelligently and making the right decisions (even if it comes with unexpected consequences). George and his surviving followers attempt to make their way to an office to find a phone. They also equip themselves with knives and other weapons and hide out when they find safe haven rather than wandering the halls as bait for the manic fish.

The film is complimented by the great atmosphere of the setting much like the abandoned asylum in Session 9 and without windows or doors leading to an escape, you can't help but feel for the helplessness of the situation.

Courtes doesn't spend time on the background of the inmates or the guards. It doesn't matter. Hell is going to break loose and most people with either end up dead or running form impending death. Backstory does not matter.

There is a bit of a letdown in a twist implemented near the end of the film. The Incident was smart enough without having to try and M. Night itself and we think it would have had a more satisfying ending if things just ended as they were (thought to have) played out.

Still, The Incident is an above average horror film with a few good kills (ok, one) and one scene that had two audience members at the Toronto International Film Festival faint in recognition. It might not be the best asylum film ever (or even in the top 25), but it was refreshing to watching smart individuals acting smart when their lives were on the line and we appreciated the effort.

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Having seen and liked all three of S. Craig Zahler's directed films, I decided to check this one out after reading the many positive reviews on this site. Needless to say I was disappointed. I don't know what Zahler was thinking when he wrote this film but it completely lacks the conviction that his later films have. The plot is confused on whether it wants to be a siege thriller or a torture porn. The concept itself is quite terrifying and had a lot of potential that wasn't utilized here. It started off with a choppy exposition and then slowly built up promise until it all came crashing down by deciding to take an unnecessarily gory turn. It was capped off by a weird twist that didn't benefit the film.

The dialogue was actually fairly realistic and the characters made largely sensible choices for the most part, which was a breath of fresh air in such a trite genre. Unfortunately the audio quality was very unrefined and I could only understand about 75% of what they were saying. The lighting could've been better as well. This film had the potential to be a tense and original asylum thriller but unfortunately had too simple a plot and couldn't make up its mind. I don't recommend that people waste their time watching this.

Side question: How does this mess get produced when Brigands of Rattleborge is still rotting in Warner Bros' vault?

Found the movie on netflix so we decided to watch it. I had never heard of the film or any of the actors in it and the title gave me the assumption this film would be pretty bad. But i was delightfully mistaken.

it's Not great but for a low budget horror film its pretty darn good. it took a little long getting in but after that it had great pace and intensity. It had some very shocking and gory scenes but never really crossed the line.

some parts of the film don't make the most sense and leave you questioning what happened. but all in all the setting and the disturbed inmates made for a truly scary film. very good for what it was and better than a lot of big budget films out there. i would give it a view

******/10