Frightfest: The Glass Man (2011)

Martin (Andy Nyman) used to be somebody, but now he is broke, he’s lost his job, and his wife does not have a clue the terrible situation they are in. Martin feels pressure from all sides, bullied, humiliated, he is at the end of his tether, and then one night, a debt collector calls. Pecco (James Cosmo) is a ruthless, unforgiving debt collector, but for some unknown reason he feels sorry for Martin and offers him a solution to his problems, he will cancel out Martin’s debt, if Martin helps him for the night.

The Glass House is one of the most anticipated movies of Frightfest, Nyman a regular attendee at the yearly event a popular choice for the movie. The auditorium was almost full for the World Premier of the movie; but I’m honestly not so sure how well the movie was received.

The film is well put together by director Christian Solimeno, it looks incredible, but you cannot help but think that something is missing.

Humour is quite strong in the film; even in times of menace it places a big factor, and it feels like it is needed to take away the unpleasant feel of much of the movie, as the film progresses the humour dies down, and the more emotional and realistic factors come into play.

Something quite interesting happens around an hour in, and it completely goes against a lot of what you have seen up to this point, and you finally understand why this movie that seemed very much like a simple sign of the times is alt a horror movie festival. Sadly at exactly the same point as this happens, the movie kind of loses something, suddenly it becomes a very different movie all together, and I have to confess I’m not sure its such a good thing.

It was lovely to see the return of Don Warrington in a movie, who turns up as the incredibly unpleasant former boss of martin. Another unexpected addition is Screams Neve Campbell, sporting a British accent, a bit of an interesting choice, but not the first Brit movie she has been in.

To use a very Northern expression “my heads in the shed” I’m really not sure how I feel about The Glass Man, it is certainly entertaining, but also heavy going to, there are times you want it to go on, times you want it to end. It’s an interesting movie, but is it one I would want to see again? I’m really not sure.