Tom Shankland's Film wAz

graveylicious “If you carve something into the belly of a dead woman, it ain’t her you want to read it.” The body of a pregnant woman, killed by electrocution, is dumped by the river. Cut into her belly are the characters WΔZ (‘double-ewe delta zed’). Her partner also turns up hanging by the neck in a crack house attic. Bright new blonde Helen Westcott joins hard-bitten street veteran Eddie Argo in the investigation. It’s not long before they discover that WΔZ is the first part of the Price equation, which describes evolution and natural selection in mathematical terms. Only then do they realise they are in a high concept psychological thriller. The gimmick in this case is that the victims are subjected to torture while somebody they love is strapped into an electric chair. They can end their own pain and earn release by flicking the switch to trigger the lethal charge to their loved one. The unknown assailant appears to be testing them to see if any are willing to sacrifice their life for another. So far, nobody has passed. WΔZ is nicely paced, tightly shot, delivers a few well-judged surprises, and benefits from a committed lead performance by Stellan Skarsgård. The filmmakers marked their territory by discarding the working title – The Devil’s Algebra – in favour of a symbolic designation which must be at least a nod to Se7en. Indeed the early plot plays out in much the same way, as the cops are manipulated by a cunning murderer who is always one step ahead. While the backstory provides believable justification, it’s not hard to work out who is going to end up as the final resident of that torture chair, and the main question is: who will be their unfortunate partner wearing the electrodes? Director Shankland explicitly disclaims adding to the cycle of ‘torture porn’, and indeed, the knife, nail and hammer work is delivered quickly and without overtly lingering shots. Nevertheless the fact remains that it is yet another entertainment about torture, and the philosophy and mathematics take a back seat to the gunplay and the cunning torturer. The only man who actually understands the WΔZ equation, Dr Gelb, is portrayed as an unsympathetic and disposable weirdo, and he is scarcely given the chance to explain it. A gripping, edge-of-seat investigation into the existence of love, or scientific bullshit used to justify yet another second-rate shlock torture film? You decide. Or watch something else.