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[BD Review] ‘Torture Chamber’ Taps Into Ancient Fears

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Writer-director Dante Tomaselli’s latest film Torture Chamber isn’t interested in a standard three act structure. For him, horror isn’t achieved through a pedestrian narrative with jump scares and some twists thrown in during the climax. In Tomaselli’s world, horror should punch its way into our subconscious fears and anxieties – the stuff that our nightmares are made of.

To achieve this concept of true horror, Torture Chamber contains a nonlinear narrative, oppressive sound design, and a solid commitment to its creepy, gothic environment. Religious iconography and violence assault your eyeballs. All of the film’s elements serve to unnerve the viewer, with the story’s anchor being a young boy possessed by a demonic force. Torture Chamber certainly isn’t going to be for everyone, but those looking for a challenging, below-the-surface horror may be floored by Tomaselli’s film.

The film opens on a badly burned boy trapped in a small animal cage. His family believes he’s been possessed by the devil, and they kinda have a point. This rugrat can makes some seriously supernatural shit go down, which typically leads to burned appendages and lotsa blood shed. But is it more mental illness than demonic forces at work? Regardless of his state of possession, the film gradually reveals that this kid would’ve been screwed anyway thanks to his highly religious family.

The boy escapes and with his clan of rascals from the burn ward, he enacts a path of revenge against his former art therapist and others who did him dirty. The art therapist is played by Lynn Lowry (Cat People) who delivers a stirring, passionate performance. She easily steals the show. The boy and his gang bring their prey back to a shadowy castle, which just happens to contain a torture chamber within its labyrinthine hallways.

The film also features Vincent Pastore (aka Big Pussy from “The Sopranos”) as the boy’s former doctor – almost like a goomba Dr. Loomis. It’s a gritty performance, but he does spew a lot of exposition in a manner that feels forced, particularly within such a non-traditional film. He’s the focus of one scene, however, that genuinely gave me the willies. Tomaselli has taken inherently Catholic themes like guilt, shame, and spiritual desecration to create a religion-tinged nightmare. On occasion, in terms of both its visuals and disjointed structure, Torture Chamber is really like watching someone’s bad dream.

As Torture Chamber taps into these ancient fears, Tomaselli displays his knack for cinematography and sound design. Both the audio and video elements of the film immerse viewers in his nightmarish vision. As a recovering Catholic, I’ll always be shook to some degree by stories concerning the devil and possession. Torture Chamber is solid on many of these levels, but for me its story felt too grimy to be truly effective. I need a character to latch onto in order for a film to really connect emotionally to a film. But hell, that’s just my personal preference.

Like I mentioned earlier, Torture Chamber is not going to be for everyone – some may even be bored due to its pace and lack of traditional narrative. It’s worth checking out though, especially for horror fans looking for something unique to shake their nerves up.

Torture Chamber is now available on DVD.

Patrick writes stuff about stuff for Bloody and Collider. His fiction has appeared in ThugLit, Shotgun Honey, Flash Fiction Magazine, and your mother's will. He'll have a ginger ale, thanks.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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