Review of The Electric Chair

THE ELECTRIC CHAIR is a highly obscure independent crime drama which has been rescued from the vaults by Code Red. The end result is hardly satisfying, although it does stand as one of the quirkier enterprises in American cinema in the 1970s. The story begins with a shocking murder before moving into a slow-paced character drama as a tableau of characters are introduced and explored. Halfway in it becomes a courtroom drama with lawyers arguing over the innocence or guilt of the main suspect. It's not really a horror film, although there are a couple of graphic scenes involving electric chair execution which are filmed in an disturbing and shocking way, so it's a pity that the rest of the movie is so pedestrian and plodding.