THE INCIDENT aka ASYLUM BLACKOUT

by Mark'd Commode

6 out of 10 

This is a USA co-production

Release Date: 3rd June 2013 (DVD Premiere)

Director: Alexandre Courtes (The Players (2012))

Cast: Rupert Evans, Kenny Doughty, Dave Legeno, Marcus Garvey, Joseph Kennedy with Anna Skellern and Richard Brake

Writer: S. Craig Zahler

Trailer: THE INCIDENT

The Incident is a real treat for horror fans. It is taut, gory and follows it’s own warped sense of logic up until the very last delirious minute.  Four cooks at a mental asylum are going about their day to day tasks, serving up and cooking food to a bunch of dangerous inmates.  What separates the cooks from the inmates is a very thick perspex window with a serving hatch.  The cooks are also friends outside of the work, each a member of a rock band. This glimpse at life outside the asylum gives the characters a little shade and a peak into the dynamics before the sh*t hits the fan.  One night a massive storm knocks out the electricity and the back up generators fail to kick in.  In such a situation, instead of locking down the patients all the doors and automated locks spring open. Oh shit. With only said vulnerable window and errant / dead security staff as protection, it’s only a matter of time before the situation becomes ugly, very ugly.

With more painful and visceral torture than three Saw movies, fans of ‘good’ horror are going to enjoy this ride. The mostly English cast master their American accents with aplomb (are they American for commercial reasons?) and the lean script and plot is pretty effective. Director, Alexandre Courtes certainly knows his way around a horror scene, generating tension from every door left swinging open or silhouette on a blood streaked wall.   It would very be easy to make a tedious version of this but the game cast and nimble plotting keep proceedings on their toes. The inmates especially are farked up – led by a wordless Richard Brake (OUTPOST), who is ironically the only American in the principal cast!  The horror is wince-worthy, with bodies being dismembered, people being set aflame on cookers, fingers being chewed off, skin being ripped off with a potato peeler. Well, if you like this kind of film you like it, if you don’t stay away.  The Incident is a very competent horror that puts a lot of bigger budget competitors to shame. You really pull for Rupert Evans (ELFIE HOPKINS) and Kenny Doughty (CITY RATS) and wonder why on earth an asylum (of all places) doesn’t have emergency protocols in place and locks that don’t work without electricity. It’s truly beyond belief but who cares? Films like this enjoy improbabilities and exploit them to the max. And when a horror is as downright good as The Incident, it’s probably worth keeping your gob shut and enjoy your curry and six pack of lager (if you can stomach them!)

6 out of 10 – Punching way above its weight, this American-UK co-production is a slick, fast, disgusting horror thriller that tinkers with a delicious ‘what-if’ scenario. Recommended for the horror geeks! Everyone else, you’ve been warned. Way more ‘look away’ moments than recent horrors… but then you still have your own imagination and the awesome sound effects to fuck you up! Heh Heh.

WHAT HAVE I SEEN THAT ACTOR IN BEFORE?

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