A low budget, single room thriller that owes most of its inspiration from the SAW franchise. The storyline involves a crazy guy who's arrested after being found wielding an axe beside a decapitated body in a lift. The authorities send him to jail, believing him to be a notorious serial killer, but he escapes and captures those responsible for his arrest in the first place, forcing them to work for him to prove his innocence or guilt.
What this all boils down to is a locked-room thriller in which various unappealing characters are forced, literally, to work to death. It's all an excuse for lots of gruesome gore sequences in which eyes are pulled out, foreheads are carved and there's even a little fingernail damage for the squeamish. The film is relatively fast-paced for a low budget film but the usual constraints apply, including cheesy dialogue and some very sub-par acting.
The British villain, played by Nicholas Hope, is just one of those characters you can't take seriously; maybe it's because I'm British too, but he feels like a character from THE OFFICE instead of an imposing villain. HOME AND AWAY actress Kelly Paterniti is better as the lead, but she's the only interesting one here. The best thing about the film are the authentic gore effects, done the old fashioned way by SFX maestro Tom Savini. A shame the rest of the story and its silly twists can't match them.
What this all boils down to is a locked-room thriller in which various unappealing characters are forced, literally, to work to death. It's all an excuse for lots of gruesome gore sequences in which eyes are pulled out, foreheads are carved and there's even a little fingernail damage for the squeamish. The film is relatively fast-paced for a low budget film but the usual constraints apply, including cheesy dialogue and some very sub-par acting.
The British villain, played by Nicholas Hope, is just one of those characters you can't take seriously; maybe it's because I'm British too, but he feels like a character from THE OFFICE instead of an imposing villain. HOME AND AWAY actress Kelly Paterniti is better as the lead, but she's the only interesting one here. The best thing about the film are the authentic gore effects, done the old fashioned way by SFX maestro Tom Savini. A shame the rest of the story and its silly twists can't match them.