Nerdly » ‘Reign of Chaos’ Review

16th Mar2022

‘Reign of Chaos’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Rebecca Finch, Peter Cosgrove, Mark Sears, Rita Di Tuccio, Georgia Wood | Written by Tom Joliffe | Directed by Rebecca Matthews

Proportion Productions are back with a slice of apocalyptic horror directed by Rebecca Matthews, flying solo this time without her partner in crime Scott Jeffrey; and writer Tom Joliffe, who some may know from his work on the website Flickering Myth but has also penned a number of British genre films in recent years, including Tooth Fairy: The Last Extraction, The Legend of Jack and Jill and The Leprechaun’s Curse. So we should know what to expect from Reign of Chaos, whose plot seems a bit more extravagant (i.e. larger scale) than the typical Proportion Productions film.

Reign of Chaos sets its stall out from the get-go, with an opening narration that explains that chaos has ravaged earth, literally (its the god Chaos), with a plague of the gods that is overwhelming mankind, turning humans into rabid savages, each infecting the next. However descendants of the goddess Nike (yes, that is a god, not just a sneaker manufacturer) can stop what’s happening, yet there are also those that would hunt them down and kill them, all in the name of chaos, leaving only a select few alive… A good excuse for a small cast in a story about a biblical apocalypse if ever there was one!

Reign of Chaos follows the fortunes of three of these descendants (told you this was small-scale), who are plucked from their lives by a stranger (Peter Cosgrove; Escape from Cannibal Farm, Winterskin) who looks like he’s stepped out of Pirates of the Caribbean rather than being someone who’s going to train the saviours of humanity! And train them he does, in a cliched training montage that turns into a fight against a bunch of savages – that are called “joiners” – who invade their training facility, an old gym. Which means these women crack out boxing moves AND wrestling moves to take down the monsters!

Speaking of the women, there’s one thing that can be said for Proportion Productions (or Jagged Edge films), they know how to, and do, try to cast strong performers in their female leads. And hey they have FEMALE LEADS(!). It doesn’t always work, especially when the company works with new, up and coming, talent but here they’ve put together three women who both work well together and as individuals. Our main protagonist is played by Rebecca Finch, who has appeared in small roles in The Flash, Doctors and the Charmed reboot, but also appeared in 2019s Cyber Bride, which was also written by Tom Joliffe! Finch clearly has the experience and you can see that in her performance from the very moment she appears on the screen; however her two “sisters” in Reign of Chaos, Georgia Wood and Rita Di Tuccio – both of whom have appeared in other Scott Jeffrey/Rebecca Matthews films before – aren’t slouches either.

In terms of the rest of the cast, a special mention should go to Du’aine A. Samuels, who plays pub landlord Gavin. A brilliant comic relief Samuels imbues Gavin and the film with a real human element, laughing in the face of imminent death – a counterpoint if you will, to the more super-human/supernatural aspects of the film.

Speaking of super-human, eventually our trio of heroines suit up, literally (in black “leather” catsuits no less), to take on the forces of chaos having not only acquired fighting skills but also super-human like powers! Which means that Reign of Chaos ultimately feels very much like the British equivalent of The Asylum’s Avengers Grimm – another low-budget superhero-esque tale of people defending the Earth from annihilation. When the final battle comes however, it’s all fisticuffs and techno music with everyone wearing black like this is some kind of Matrix-inspired shenanigans! We also get the obligatory evil villain monologue which leads to his demise, fallen heroes… and the set-up for a possible sequel.

All in all Reign of Chaos is another solid, if unremarkable, British genre film. The obvious lack of budget hurts the execution of a more grandiose concept but look past that and this is still another win for Proportion Productions and low-budget British filmmaking as a whole.