My review was written in May 1988 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.
"The Chair" is a curious combination of black comedy and horror that features both impressive scenes and harmful lapses in taste. Angelika Films faces a tough challenge to find an audience for this oddity.
Film's basic premise is similar to that of Irwin Yablans' recent horror thriller "Prison" -the spirit of a man (the waden) executed 20 years at High Street correctional facility haunts the place, seeking revenge on the guard Eddie (Paul Benedict) who failed to come to his aid when the rioting inmates put him in the electric chair.
To this story, which also features the "Prison" genre animated effects when the spirit attacks prisoners and other people, is added a most unusual tale of unbalanced prison psychologist Dr. Langer (played by the late James Coco), who uses the nine prisoners transferred to his decrepit institution as guinea pigs for his experiments in conditioning. With his pretty new assistant Lisa (Trini Alvarado), the nutty doctor (who fancies himself as Doc in John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row") subjects his charges to idiotic word games and feeds them Chinese food before bedtime to increase their dream output.
He also covers up several murders caused by the phantom, before the prisoners finally mutiny and murder him right ahead of the phantom's revenge against Eddie.
With Coco giving a fascinating performance that adds sympathy for a generally negative character, film occasionally soars, abetted by solid ensemble playing by the cast of prisoners plus sympathetic readings by Alvarado and her prisoner beau Gary McCleery.
However, the horror elements frequently intrude, particularly the grisly murders of Coco's character and, in flashback, the previous warden whose spirit lives on. Repeated use of a stop-motion animated effect for an eyeball creature superimposed on a light bulb which torments the paranoid Eddie is silly, as is attempted comical music.
Director Waldemar Korzeniowsky sustains a gritty, realistic backdrop for the proceedings, but fails to maintain the proper tone.
"The Chair" is a curious combination of black comedy and horror that features both impressive scenes and harmful lapses in taste. Angelika Films faces a tough challenge to find an audience for this oddity.
Film's basic premise is similar to that of Irwin Yablans' recent horror thriller "Prison" -the spirit of a man (the waden) executed 20 years at High Street correctional facility haunts the place, seeking revenge on the guard Eddie (Paul Benedict) who failed to come to his aid when the rioting inmates put him in the electric chair.
To this story, which also features the "Prison" genre animated effects when the spirit attacks prisoners and other people, is added a most unusual tale of unbalanced prison psychologist Dr. Langer (played by the late James Coco), who uses the nine prisoners transferred to his decrepit institution as guinea pigs for his experiments in conditioning. With his pretty new assistant Lisa (Trini Alvarado), the nutty doctor (who fancies himself as Doc in John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row") subjects his charges to idiotic word games and feeds them Chinese food before bedtime to increase their dream output.
He also covers up several murders caused by the phantom, before the prisoners finally mutiny and murder him right ahead of the phantom's revenge against Eddie.
With Coco giving a fascinating performance that adds sympathy for a generally negative character, film occasionally soars, abetted by solid ensemble playing by the cast of prisoners plus sympathetic readings by Alvarado and her prisoner beau Gary McCleery.
However, the horror elements frequently intrude, particularly the grisly murders of Coco's character and, in flashback, the previous warden whose spirit lives on. Repeated use of a stop-motion animated effect for an eyeball creature superimposed on a light bulb which torments the paranoid Eddie is silly, as is attempted comical music.
Director Waldemar Korzeniowsky sustains a gritty, realistic backdrop for the proceedings, but fails to maintain the proper tone.