Out of Mind casts an entertaining eye on the work of American writer H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), one of the early 20th century’s masters of gothic-horror literature. The film offers an encounter with Lovecraft and enters into his world. Engaging in a kind of game around the writer, the film playfully winks at some of the themes characteristic of his work: the occult, cursed books, monstrous creatures. Out of Mind draws its inspiration from Lovecrafts personal correspondence and many of his stories, carrying the viewer through a labyrinth beyond the wall of sleep.

Hazel Fortune works in a strip club in the small Southern town of Redemption. Haunted by the death of his only daughter, Fortune has become a self-destructive, suicidal alcoholic, until he meets Starla Motes. Hazel’s downward spiral is interrupted when is befriended by Starlas daughter, Hope. But when Hope is kidnapped by Enoch Pitt, a ruthless, psychotic preacher on a bloody crusade, Hazel must make the decision to rejoin the living and risk life and limb to save her from a terrible end.

With a pocketful of drugs, Nick West takes out his girlfriend Sammy, for a shag and a good time. When they explore an abandoned asylum, the discovery of a bizarre device a cross between an electric chair and sadistic fetish machine transforms druggedout bliss into agony and despair. After Sammy is brutally assaulted and murdered by unseen forces, Nick becomes the numberone suspect. So begins British horror director Adam Masons gorefest The Devils Chair, a dark and terrifying journey to the meeting place between insanity and the supernatural. Years pass and Nick, who had been locked up in a mental hospital, is released into the care of eminent psychiatrist Dr. Willard, who is hellbent on exposing the truth behind the killing. Accompanied by Dr. Willard and several of his students, Nick returns to the scene of the crime. However, the decrepit asylum hides a blooddrenched secret. With Dr. Willards team in mortal danger, their only hope is the clinically insane Nick. Chained by memories of the horrifying event and the conflicting version of reality engendered by his psychiatric treatment, Nick is forced to fight the forces of pure darkness to save the team and prove his innocence. Events build to a brutal, gutwrenching climax where nothing is what it seems, but everyone is ripe for slaughter. The Devils Chair is a tale of a simple man fucked over by demons that are not just in his mind but, rather, all too real. Mason and scriptwriter Simon Boyes evoke John Houghs 1973 paranormal gothic favourite, The Legend of Hell House, fiendishly mashing it together with the crass literary stylings of Irvine Welsh and serving it up with a devilish wink to the audience. Operating under a tight budget, Mason displays considerable creative vigour. He is aided by Andrew Howards intense performance as the brutal antihero, deftly flipping from pained vulnerability to savage rage. Complemented by an elegantly haunting score by Zoe Keating, buzzing flies, peeling paint and rotting debris are spun into a nightmare vision of a hell that might live in the darkest recesses of the human psyche.