Paul here with a DOUBLE DOSE of Paul’s Horror Flix this Wednesday!

The Devil’s Chair is one of those films you don’t really want to watch with friends.

I picked it up at Wal-Mart of all places for a measly $15 bucks.  I normally would avoid a movie with the word “Devil” in the title, merely because I don’t want to go to hell.  Still, old Satan has a pretty great track record – The Devil’s Rejects was good fun (in an “I need to take a shower after seeing this” kind of way), and The Devil’s Advocate showed Keanu Reaves shooting himself in the head.  Sure, Satan may be the king of lies, but he makes a pretty nifty flick.  So I picked up The Devil’s Chair, and a couple of other cheapos, Bryan Loves You, Five to the Eyes, and the Scream Trilogy, which for some odd reason I didn’t own yet (must be because I dislike them.  Oh well.).

I made my wife watch The Devil’s Chair with me.  “It’s good fun,” I said, pointing to the box art, a picture of the titular chair.  “Some cheesy B-Grade movie I picked up at Wal-Mart.”

Now, mind you, I didn’t know this film was made by Adam Mason, the same guy who directed Broken, which I’ve never seen, but heard is one of those torture porn extreme films that aren’t any fun to watch.

So, when the opening scene involved a guy and his girlfriend taking drugs, sitting on the chair, and masterbating while watching each other, I got a little uneasy.  It was all filmed in that quick-cut, Michael Bay meets Marcus Nispel type cinematography that I think was supposed to make you uneasy.  I don’t think I’m ruining anything to say that the girlfriend bites it, and pretty violently.  The chair drills through her wrists and sucks her up, and the main dude, who’s name escapes me, but he’s kind of a short Jason Statham, runs around screaming and crying and acting high.

Good ol’ fun for the entire family, right?

Anywho, fast forward to some time later.  Crazy drugged up Mini-Statham has shown no signs of insanity, but nobody believes that the chair killed his girl.  Most people know it was him, but still…there are some who are curious enough in his story to take him on a field trip to the asylum where he found the chair.  A research team, comprised of an old dude, two pretty nice looking girls, and a token asshole, keep him company, deciding to research to see if something really is behind this whole “chair” thing.

Sounds like a good idea, right?  I mean, something most people would do given the situation, of course!  Sigh…anywho, the movie gets really kind of interesting, involving this weird tall creature that looks like something out of Silent Hill and an alternate dimension that looks like….something out of Silent Hill.  Well, Silent Hill comparisons aside, the films really aren’t anything alike, except for the visual cues.  The last 30 minutes or so erupts into a pretty vile orgy of rape, torture, and gore that I really wasn’t prepared for, given that, save for a couple of scenes, the violence in the film is relatively tame.  Still, that last little bit was pretty brutal, and definitely shocking.

Did I like The Devil’s Chair?  You know, I’d have to say that I really did.  It’s a good looking film, entertaining if you’re a fan of good horror, and man, that ending (even though you’ll probably figure it out beforehand) is a definite mindf*ck.  Adam Mason manages to leave the film on a joke, yet it winds up so creepy, that it sticks with you.  Definitely worth a rental, since you probably won’t watch it more than once.

Oh, and don’t watch it with your wife.

Paul Awesomness Score: 7 out of 10!