Once you saw the name "S. Craig Zahler" in the opening credits for "Asylum Blackout", aka "The Incident", you knew what to expect. If ever there was a guy whose movies exist purely to show violence, Zahler is that one. His movies have plots that are relayed so badly and told so leisurely you know he doesn't really care about them. They may or may not have climaxes, but the real pay off in a Zahler flick is the violence. These movies have some fairly violent moments scattered throughout, and then they climax with something gruesome and creative you may not have scene before. "Bone Tomahawk" had the bisection scene, "Brawl in Cell Block 99" had Vince Vaughn stomping people's heads and faces off, and "Asylum Blackout" features a man losing his nose.
Perhaps because it was directed by someone other than Zahler, the film has a more typical plot: a group of cooks at an asylum for criminally insane people find themselves having to fight for survival when the titular blackout frees the inmates. Zahler's influence is felt, however, in the fact that the movie generates no suspense whatsoever, or really any interest at all. The protagonists are impossible to tell apart, and certainly impossible to care about. I was surprised when I realised who the hero was supposed to be; he's utterly unprepossessing.
The villains are even worse. Not a one is memorable and certainly none are scary. The movie has no atmosphere, like everything else with Zahler's name on it. It feels like a flimsy justification to show his elaborately realised violence.
Perhaps because it was directed by someone other than Zahler, the film has a more typical plot: a group of cooks at an asylum for criminally insane people find themselves having to fight for survival when the titular blackout frees the inmates. Zahler's influence is felt, however, in the fact that the movie generates no suspense whatsoever, or really any interest at all. The protagonists are impossible to tell apart, and certainly impossible to care about. I was surprised when I realised who the hero was supposed to be; he's utterly unprepossessing.
The villains are even worse. Not a one is memorable and certainly none are scary. The movie has no atmosphere, like everything else with Zahler's name on it. It feels like a flimsy justification to show his elaborately realised violence.