Opening with John Hatchett (Desmond Daly) tied to a chair surrounded by the gloom of a dark warehouse; ‘Fractional’ does not want to leave you with a smile on your face. The sight of knives and tools laid out in front of him only tease to the things to come.

John’s life as a well-established psychiatrist isn’t all it seems and David Crowe (Peter O'Toole) knows all about it. Setting him up for blackmail and promising he will have to make a choice at the end of this ordeal, David is not as insane as he may first appear. A clever, cultivating kidnapper with a twisted motive behind the madness he hides behind, things take a sinister turn when it is not only John’s life on the line but also his wife (Donna Bradley).

‘Fractional’ is full of twists that make the last 10 minutes a spiralling mindfuck that has been cleverly and well written. Both parts chilling and emotional as John’s breaks down to who he really is in front of his captor, both Daly and O'Toole hold their own for 90 minutes that needs little interaction from any other cast.

Malcolm Deegan shows he has talent behind the camera, cranking up the tension, especially in the early parts of the film. Interweaving the dark, gloomy atmosphere of the warehouse with bright vivid scenery in flashback, it’s hard to see why ‘Fractional’ hasn’t been snapped up by a big distributor.

O'Toole is nothing short of menacing and makes Jigsaw look like his apprentice. His calm tone matched with the insane methodology builds up to a series of revelations that are both unpredictable and well written. It is then unfortunate that ‘Fractional’ tries to be too clever with its topsy turvy plot that when the final twist punctures its way to the surface it feels somewhat underwhelmed to the climax it has built up to.

A closure that would have been brilliantly set, undermined by a twist that makes the whole film seem somewhat pointless. The emotional setbacks and storytelling in essence becomes meaningless in the last five minutes and a feeling of poetic justice completely overridden by a smug grin.

Take away the final moments and ‘Fractional’ is a brilliant slice of independent film making. Using the tools needed to create an atmospheric thriller that leads you to believe this is all another ‘Saw’ imitation, in fact turns into a melancholy rehabilitation of storytelling and character development that needs little blood (at least until the very end) to be an enriching horror experience. It’s a shame, as ‘Fractional’ deserves better, taking one plot twist after another until it goes just that one too far.