Search - Satan's Playground on DVD

Better Than Jamming A Pencil In My Eye...

Jeffrey R. Durkin | 07/25/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"...but not by much.

Pros
The soundtrack: The best thing about this film is the sound. It is genuinely creepy at times and sets an aural mood that many films miss (I'm thinking of the bombastic sound of popular audience modern genre movies like Van Helsing). The soundtrack deserves a better movie.

Not showing the Jersey Devil: The main beastie is never shown (although we do get plenty of cliched monster POV shots). Given the low budget of the movie and the nature of the cons (see below) any creature would have undoubtedly looked horrible (as opposed to horrifying).

The setting: The Pine Barrens lend themselves to unsettling imagery and the director can, at times, compose some nice shots.

The plot: The basic premise - that the Jersey Devil and the specters of the Leed's clan still haunt the woods - has promise and the flow of the plot - stupid vacationers get lost and are picked off one by one - while a standard of horror films, is a standard because it still works. People often complain about characters in movies like this doing unrealistic things (e.g., wandering off by themselves, going back to a house they narrowly escaped from). In reality, of course, people probably wouldn't do this sort of thing...and they also wouldn't encounter flying monsters or the ghosts of people dead for 300 years.

Cons - unfortunately, everything else in this movie is pretty bad.

Acting: The actors are just not that good. It was just painful watching endless scenes of people either running about screaming or mugging for the camera.

The villains: The Leed's family doesn't come across as creepy...just annoying. In part, this is because of the bad acting. In part, it is because an old woman and two grinning, giggling, mentally and physically handicapped, middle-aged people are not the stuff of nightmares. They have no personality. Also, they mainly kill people with what looks like a croquet mallet. Sorry, but if you are trying to make a throw back to the slasher movies of the 70s and 80s, stick with a chainsaw; it is a classic for a reason.

Mrs. Leeds: One thing the director needs to be told; close-ups of an old woman's face do not equal transcendent horror.

Cinematography: While one can - and should - make allowances for lower budget movies, this film is still poorly shot. Little visual tension is built and, while the Pine Barrens are interesting visually, most of the movie takes place in a house.

Boring cliches: Cliches are not necessarily bad. The whole wandering off alone is a genre standard and yet still works to some degree because that helps build the feel of the "alone in a haunted house" feel that these films try to achieve. However, minutes spent watching some woman run about in the woods screaming is a cliche that is not entertaining.

Story holes" While the basic plot has some promise, the actual story has some numerous "WTF" moments. I'll use on as an example. Our protagonists' car breaks down on a deserted road. One by one, people wander off. At some point, a police officer shows up in at the haunted house then heads back to his car and is attacked by the Jersey Devil. Fine...except in a later shot we see that the police car is parked about 30 meters from the protagonists' car...and that the officer apparently ignored this vehicle (and the woman sitting inside at the time) and that she never heard the officer being mauled.

Summary: Basically, this is a waste of time and money. While there are a few moments when a truly creepy mood is created, they are so few and far between - and the filler is so bad - that they are simply not worth the effort. The film is not frightening, it is not particularly gory, it is hampered by poor acting and a somnabulant pace and the story has many, many problems. A Jersey Devil movie certainly has promise...but this one is not it.

"

WTF!?

Siobhan C. Fugelso | 10/06/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Okay... this movie is a waste of film. Boring to say the least. Terrible acting, no scares at all, no real monster shots, and honestly nothing worth EVER replaying this movie for....I stress the EVER part. I've seen a huge amount of really bad horror movies but this one doesn't even get good b-movie laugh credit. Throw it out, burn it...please do anything but watch this horrific piece of garbage. If it were possible to give a lower rating I would!"

Don't waste your time.

S. Donovan | Standing Right Behind You | 07/05/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Do not rent this if you love horror movies.
It was boring from begining to end. Nothing ever happens in it, nothing. I am a huge horror fan-30 days of nights, the devils rejects, Repo: the genetic opera. This was on the level to me, where I was clenching my teeth because I did not want to finish it. But I always finish a horror movie once I start it. I have to go put my mouth gaurd in now."