The Chair

To me this is a film of two halves or really should I say a film of three thirds, whichever way you look at it, this film had a lot of potential. The story, a haunted house, which I liked and the director played this really well. The idea about he history of a chair found in the attic, not bad, still a good story. Then the film leaves the house to carry on with it's story, not so good. Now this is what I mean by a film in thirds. Also let's see about the other things that dipped in the film. The acting, every now and then it went into a b - movie zone but this can happen with a low budget film. The story when it left the house, the tension went out the window and I felt it spoilt the movie as a whole. The two main actors, who played Danielle and Anna did a very good job at the film. A good film overall but I dropped some stars because the film dipped when the story left the house. Worth a watch.

This film was almost good. It had a really cool concept about being possessed by a spirit and becoming them. It was also strange for it was a girl being possessed by a male spirit. But the film is based around building this torture chair and learning something from the past from the house that the main character is staying in. Here is the problem though, parts of the film just made no sense. Something would come up and you would wonder why it even happened. Also the film had scenes for the jumping scare factor, but seemed to ruin it. A girl sees a blanket, yes we all know there is something under the blanket because we saw earlier in the film, something was put there. So no, it was not scary on parts that worked out like that. I do respect the story of the film though, it was really a good idea. It just wasn't portrayed right.

After reading lots of positive reviews for THE CHAIR, I just had to order the DVD. Now I have seen it I got to say it's a decent effort...although not brilliant.

The film was shot entirely in Director Brett Sullivan's apartment, which is a brave thing to do if you ask me, because can you imagine having an entire film crew living in your house for a few weeks! But considering the budget he obviously had he's done a remarkable job, the reason I gave 6 out of 10 was because the first half of the film was very good, but the second half fell away I thought it did'nt capture the great atmosphere that the first half had. But nethertheless well worth seeking out.

Although a bit confusing, I found the chair to be an alright movie for such a low budget film. It started off with a bit of creepiness and led to some confusing twists and turns and I only say confusing because some audio wasn't all that great but maybe that is what they were going for. Ovverall though it had a nice psychotic/ possession feel and the ending although predictable was kinda what I was hoping for. If you have seen a lot of the horror lately I am sure you are disappointed but this was higher than my expectations for it. I would recommend if you have like Blockbusters movie pass or a friend is paying to watch it. Not a complete waste of time.

Maybe it's a testament to the low-key sex appeal of its star, Alanna Chisholm. Or the generally good direction and cinematography, but this film was definitely appealing. I usually can't get into films shot on video, but this one looked pretty good.

Also, even though it has a slower pace, it was unrelenting up until the very end. I think for horror movies to be effective, on some level they have to be mean-spirited toward the viewer. The writer/director has to want to inflict a little psychological trauma in that 2 hours. This film doesn't seem like it's got what it takes to deliver that type of wallop, so it takes you by surprise at the end when it does.

I would recommend it.