The Infernal Machine

The film tells the story of a one-hit-wonder writer, Bruce Cogburn, who now lives as a recluse in southern California following a mass-shooting incident where the shooter "blamed" his motive for the crime on Cogburn's book. Now 25 years on from the incident, Cogburn begins to receive a barrage of letters from an unknown source, leading to the question that carries the film; "who is sending all these letters?".

The answer isn't an obvious one and you are genuinely wondering right 'til the last act of the film, as it leads you down various different potential "suspects". You think the film is going to take you one way, then it takes a sharp turn in another, unexpected direction. The final twist is a good one...but the execution is a little laboured and indulgent.

The film has a relatively slow pace - don't expect big shoot outs and car chases, but keeps you gripped right through. Guy Pearce is on top form as usual, playing an alcoholic, paranoid hermit. How he manages to nail all these different accents is beyond me! He's accompanied by Alice Eve and Alex Pettyfer who give solid performances as well.

This is an intelligent thriller that is well written , well acted and well shot. Think along the lines of Stephen King's "Secret Window" with less psychopathy.

Watch the movie if you like the following:

• Great acting from the lead
• Clever writing
• Good cinematography
• Compelling plot
• Twists and turns

Don't watch if you're expecting:

• Gun shoot outs
• Car chases
• Fast pace
• Over edited, over-choreographed fight scenes

The only downside is the very end, which I shan't spoil. It feels a little extravagant and is perhaps trying too hard to be prodigious.

The film certainly doesn't deserve the low ratings it has received, so don't be put off by it. Overall it is definitely worth a watch if you're in the mood for a good thriller that keeps you gripped, and if you're a fan of Guy Pearce - which you should be!

Guy Pearce should easily win a best actor award for this. He gives it his all.

All the actors do. Maybe the director's strength is his ability to get good acting out of his actors?

He shot this wrong. There wasn't any gore or observed threat. The movie has real guts for a solid creepy horror movie but it pulled it's punch. This was more of a slap and not a hard one.

It would have been much shorter too. One seasoned producer would have made a major difference in this movie.

But Guy Pearce makes it work still. He's that good in this. The other actors try but he stands out. David Lynch should work with him.

Watch this without expectations of greatness.

A thriller as slow-burn as debut writer / director Andrew Hunt's "The Infernal Machine" relies on its ending, which here is self-satisfied, contrived & implausible... wasting some terrific dark & moody set up work. Reclusive writer Guy Pearce (always solid) lives in isolation after his only novel inspired a mass-shooter 40yrs+ ago. Then SOMEONE starts sending him persistent 'fan mail'... but is it more sinister than that (duh)? Is it the jailed shooter Alex Pettyfor? Will Pearce get help from pretty cop Alice Eve (whose performance epitomises the whole movie: surprisingly good, til ultimately it ain't)? Worthy questions all, all sadly let down by that bloated ending. Shame... sigh.

I was in for an alternate Secret Window, or something like it. This was even more contrived, and somehow snagged Guy Pearce and that guy from Lost who is usually alright. How? No idea. This script is just plain old not good.

A reclusive author of a book that supposedly revealed secrets to a man who became an active shooter and was sent to prison, is stalked, many years later, which subsequently unravels a thread bare plot about secrets kept by said author, and having to face new obstacles related to the secrets revealed.

Except... it is so contrived all the time because, well for one, he was a teacher of a writing class that hinged on a principle of writing that is so prosaic that it is only helpful for commercial fiction, basically. Which becomes quite ironic because it's a story that is about writing, specifically the conceit that when a person is understood well enough they can become as a character is situated in a story by the author. But there's no due diligence at all, the conceit is just offered and things spiral out from nonsense that isn't even attempted to be explained away, culminating in an even even more massively contrived finale than the inciting incident for this supposed arc.

It just doesn't work. I'm not sure it tries that hard to work, to be honest. All around it feels like a weak effort. Certainly none of the actors best performance. A throwaway effort on all fronts.

Better than I was expecting -- given it had an average rating of 5.4 out of 10 when I watched it -- but there was too little there to make it a must see.

I'd suggest there were a couple of key flaws.

First, so much of this seems to hinge on the central concept expounded in "The Infernal Machine", the one and only book written by Bruce Cogburn. And yet, when that concept is explained, I struggled to understand how someone fleshed it out to produce a novel rather than simply a short story.

Second, the precise motivation of Bruce Cogburn's "tormenter" wasn't clear to me, nor was it clear how that person had the financial resources necessary to inflict such torment.

Still, I enjoyed it. And you might if you don't think too much about the flaws.