The Nazi Germany section concerns Johann Reichhart (Krystian Amon), who employed and perfected the guillotine to be more efficient in channelling blood and speed with decapitation happening within “3 to 4 seconds” to relieve stress on the victim instead of hanging. Later, he was employed by the Allies to execute Nazi war criminals, which is a fascinating story of what is involved in the creation of the device and the efficiency of engineering.
The final segment of Guillotine is set in Iraq. Here, the film suddenly slams its foot on the tonal brakes. Gone is the playful mischief; in its place is a grim, almost claustrophobic torture-chamber atmosphere under the rule of Uday and Qusay Hussein in what was known as The Red Room. The two men are locked in their world with two women: the unfortunate Emily (Ella Williams), who checks her phone, and Missy (Brianne Oppenheimer). The two brothers randomly kill people with a crude, non-working guillotine with taunts, torture, and stomping on the blade to complete a murder, turning the film into part of the confinement horror genre.
“…rarely boring.”
And in those last moments, it goes somewhere unexpected: straight into revenge-horror territory. U.S. troops storm in like action-movie saviours, delivering justice with all the subtlety of a grindhouse action finale. Agent Bilal Austin (Imari Williams) becomes the avenging angel, bearing an intriguing Arabic first name that hints at his role. It’s bold, strange, and not in tune with the wit of the earlier chapters. You can almost sense the filmmakers wanting to end with a punch.
Guillotine is rarely boring. The machine itself becomes the constant cold witness to ideas of justice. It drifts through these five tales like a artifact, reflecting the morals of each era it slices through with tasty on camera people in every role showcasing black humor to deadly violence and vulnerability Whether it’s the fervor of the French Revolution or the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the film reminds us that the real story isn’t the blade but the people who choose to use it.
"…inventive filmmaking in the sense that it wants to entertain above all else..."
