The Incident (2011 film)

S. Craig Zahler

The Incident (also known as Asylum Blackout) is a 2011 French horror film directed by Alexandre Courtes and written by S. Craig Zahler.

During 1989 in Washington, George (Rupert Evans), Max (Kenny Doughty) and Ricky (Joseph Kennedy) are in a band, but it is clear that the group is starting to fall apart. Ricky is unreliable, Max is immature and George is becoming distant as he builds a relationship with his girlfriend Lynn (Anna Skellern). In order to make ends meet, the three also work in the cafeteria of an asylum for the criminally insane along with William (Marcus Garvey). George is the head chef and puts effort into preparing high quality food and being courteous to the inmates. The inmates are generally docile due to the pills they take, but one inmate in particular named Harry Green (Richard Brake) creeps George out. One morning after a late-night rock show, an exhausted George has to come in early to work in a torrential downpour.

Many bad omens occur, with the chicken meat still attached to the heads, George cutting himself, and later, he loses his temper at both his band mates and Harry, who stares menacingly at him. George also thinks that he sees Harry convince a fellow inmate to spit out his pills. Max tells George to take a nap while he prepares dinner. A few hours later, however, an explosion is heard and Max wakes George up to tell him that the power has gone out in the building. Because the exterior doors are electronically locked, everyone is now trapped inside the building. Many of the inmates have already been brought into the dining room for dinner service and the head guard enlists George and William to help escort them back to their cells.

Unknown to those in the kitchen, several other inmates have seized the opportunity to overtake and kill the prison guards and nurses on the other side of the building. George and William succeed in getting the inmates to their cells, but they see that the inmates are growing restless and the locks on all the doors are not working. When they return to the kitchen, they find the head guard has disappeared and Ricky and Max have barricaded themselves in the freezer. Suddenly, several inmates walk into the dining area and begin trying to break into the kitchen. Max, William, and George manage to sneak out of the kitchen after the inmates break in, but Ricky refuses to come with them and remains barricaded in the freezer.