Friday, October 2, 2015

Devil's Rock - a movie rant

The Devil's Rock, a 2011 horror film was recommended to me by the Netflix AI.


(Fair use image for review-Movie Cover)

So, while I appreciated the story, and enjoyed the twist... I still found the film lacking. For want of a couple of pieces of wood, the movie was lost. Let me explain... and I'll try to avoid too many spoilers.

    The film is a WW2 period horror, set just before D-Day in the Channel Islands. It ties into the Historic Witch Trials, and thus a supposed strong Occult base that the Germans are attempting to modify/weaponize. This is stumbled into by a small commando team setting up a distraction away from the true D-Day launch. 

  So far, so good... the expected chaos insures, quickly reducing the cast down to three players. The story had obligatory mayhem (enemy of my enemy, but also my enemy,whom I can't trust, but need to help me.) And a few cool nerd references, (like named 'demons' from the Cthulhu Mythos,) and believable and consistent occult rules/rituals. 

   And the sets were 'almost' great. They used some of the existing locations of old German fortifications. Which they dressed with realistic looking furniture, and period appropriate lights, radios, and posters. However, they either missed, or couldn't put in a simple set of handrails. Even just 2 six foot 2X4's to set into the existing wall hooks would have made the sets believable. This lack destroyed the suspension of disbelief, even before introducing the supernatural evil character. 

  The story does work, and the end twist feels cool, and lends the ending a feel of disturbed 'was anyone actually good?' feeling. That ending works well for the story, but to accomplish it the Allied Soldier would need precognition and to reach from one side of the room to the other without moving his feet. But, I think, if I had not already been annoyed at the set, I would not have noticed the displaced reality of where the chain was locked.

  So, in short, I thought is a good attempt at a smart horror film... 
Till next time-