The Infernal Machine

After his first and only novel, The Infernal Machine, became linked with a school shooting in Knoxville, author Bruce Cogburn withdrew from public life and secluded himself on a California ranch. His reclusive existence is shaken up when several mail items by a supposed fan reach him: first at his post office box, then at his home address. Cogburn leaves a number of voice messages for the letter writer, driving 14 miles to the closest phone booth each time to do so. But his desperate pleas for the missives to stop fall on deaf ears, and Cogburn grows increasingly paranoid.

Not only does the framework of the story ring somewhat similar to Stephen King’s experience with his 1977 novella Rage, but quite a number of themes in the feature’s build-up are also reminiscent of the horror master‘s oeuvre (comparisons to Lisey’s Story and Secret Window, Secret Garden being the most obvious). Director Andrew Hunt’s second feature varies between drama and thriller in its opening act, and touches sinuously upon the conflicting emotions that recognition can bring. It is strongest in its sombre moments when it explores the power of the written and the spoken word and shows that, despite his unease and mistrust, there is a part of Cogburn that craves human contact after all these years of solitude.

The decision to cast Guy Pearce equips the character with an enigmatic appeal: the rather rough, stand-your-ground gun-toting cowboy speaks with an eloquent British accent, inviting the audience to muse about his background.

The camera work functions on an economical basis, finding competent ways to work around an apparently low production value but without any particularly enthralling cinematic visuals.

The Infernal Machine is loosely based on an episode of The Truth podcast entitled The Hilly Earth Society – essentially a short story written by Louis Kornfeld told in phone messages. While much of Cogburn‘s monologues are taken straight from the podcast script, there is a greater divergence towards the end of the second act – which is coincidentally where the film falls apart. In its attempt to find a clever plot twist to justify the genre elements, the feature paradoxically turns into a convoluted, bland and generic television thriller.

Selina Sondermann

The Infernal Machine is released in select cinemas on 2^nd December 2022.

Watch the trailer for The Infernal Machine here: