In true Dante Tomaselli style, Torture Chamber is comprised, in large part, of flashbacks and dream sequences. The story is told in a non-linear fashion, which requires one hundred percent attention from the viewer. If you do not grant the film your full attention, you will not receive the full benefit this warped and creepy tale has to offer and you will not be able to fully appreciate Torture Chamber in all of its gory glory. This is a depraved film that is filled with dark and disturbing imagery and while it is difficult to watch at times it is well worth the while.
The delight with which these children inflict torment upon their victims is nothing short of sadistic but it serves the plot and makes sense in the end, rather than just being torture for the sake of torture. Carmen LoPorto, who plays Jimmy, is creepy as all hell. Lynn Lowry is highly effective in her role as Lisa Marino. A lot of the story is told through her nightmares and flashbacks. Lowry’s character is profoundly affected by the goings on in the film and she pulls off this pivotal role well. It’s easy to understand why Dante Tomaselli cast her.
My only criticism of any of the performances is that Christie Sanford’s portrayal of Jimmy’s mother was a little bit hard to believe in some of the opening scenes but she grew on me as the film unfolded and I ended up liking the majority of her performance. The film seems to take some minor cues from classics like Carrie but Tomaselli has crafted a highly original horror film in Torture Chamber and he infused enough originality in to his script to set it apart from anything I’ve seen before. Tomaselli’s contempt for religious fanaticism is highly evident throughout the film.
Torture Chamber almost plays out like a cautionary tale, advising the religious folk of the world not to ruin their children by forcing their agenda on to their offspring against their children’s will. The film purports that if you do try to indoctrinate your child with your values, in spite of their protest, that you are forcing them in to a dark place and turning your brood into something unholy in the process of trying to do the righteous thing.
Tomaselli has often alluded to his filmmaking process as being cathartic; he sees his scripts as stories trapped inside him that are waiting to get out and it’s not hard to see that this is the case with Torture Chamber. The set design on this film made effective use of a limited budget. The abandoned castle set is particularly eerie. Ample thought went in to designing this to be a place of pure evil and evil it is.
Torture Chamber does something that not every film is able to do: It both makes a statement and entertains. It’s easy for a film to do one or the other but more of a challenge for a filmmaker to create a piece of work that makes a profound statement and simultaneously entertains. This is a challenge that Dante Tomaselli has risen to and triumphed over.
