Devil's Den


Some people sell their souls outright, and some people just chip away at them, piecemeal, until they wake up one day and realize there's nothing left. And some people, like Quinn Taylor, are so busy selling a line of bull to everyone who will listen, that only the most extreme life altering event reminds them that they have a soul at all. During a routine Spanish Fly smuggling trip back from Mexico, on a dark lonely road in the middle of the night, Quinn and his buddy Nick decide to test their 'product' on the lovely ladies of the Devil's Den gentlemen's club.

Only these ladies are a lot less human, and a lot more dangerous than anything these small time not-so-illegal-drug dealers are capable of handling. Throw in a sexy female assassin who has been sent to put an end to Quinn's rampant infidelity spree, an armed to the teeth monster hunter who has come to the right place at the wrong time, and a legendary Japanese swordsman who doesn't really exist, and even the Devil himself isn't ready for what happens when all hell actually does break loose.

LATEST NEWS

12/12/06
Looks like the film is getting a DVD release in February instead of the old March report. Check above for the horrible DVD art. You can read my borderline-positive review for the film here.

9/23/06
Check above for some early artwork for the film, which is scheduled to hit the DVD circuit March of next year. However, before that the Starz network will most likely air the film. Also, incase you might've missed it, I've got a new interview with star Devon Sawa, who reveals a lot of juicy details for the film.

7/21/06
I got a chance to speak with ultra-cool writer Mitch Gould about this film that seemingly slid under the radar. Mitch answers many burning questions that myself and other horror fans have been dying to hear answers from. Enjoy!

1 - Being a stuntman since the early 90's has it always been a dream of yours to actually begin making your own movies?

I've been working in film since the early 90s, but have been pretty happily tied up with my stunt career. I started writing on the side mostly to pass the time sitting on set, waiting to get to my shots or scenes. It's the thing about the film business you don't see on TV or in the tabloids, all of the sitting around and waiting that goes on day after day; location changes, camera moves, lighting set ups, all of these things add up to a lot of down time. So writing for me was just a sort of creative release;, a way to pass the time and the reason I wrote screenplays was mostly because that's what I was used to working with. It was the template I was most familiar with.

So, in the summer of '04 I had just gotten back from eight months in Hong Kong and I was about to head out to Virginia to work on The New World, when an actor friend of mine called -- someone I had given a script to years ago -- says something to the effect of, 'Hey, I hope you don't mind, but I just pitched your script to Steven Cannell's company and they want to do it. I also told them about you and how you could put together and shoot all the action. What do you think?' So I'm like, 'Sure, sounds good. I'll call you when I get back from Virginia.' So I go to Virginia, where I'm working for a good friend of mine (the 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator, Andy Cheng) and I tell him, 'Hey, I just sold a script.' And he says, 'Great. I was just offered to direct this movie called End Game. But it needs a rewrite. Want to help me with it?'So, like I said, having plenty of down time while we were shooting, we completely rewrote that script.

When we finished in Virginia I went back to LA and helped make the film Cannell had bought Demon Hunter, and that's when I really got the bug. Seeing my script come to life had two effects: One, it was exciting to see my ideas come to life, and two, it was kind of depressing to see them come to life somewhat differently than I had imagined. That's when I decided being a writer wasn't enough and I needed more creative control. When I finished Demon Hunter I went up to Washington to work on End Game. That was a great learning experience as well. I had a chance to work with some top notch actors, Cuba Gooding Jr., James Woods, Angie Harmon, Anne Archer, Burt Reynolds, to name a few. I learned that when working with well established actors they are going to want a say in their own character development and how the scenes play out, which sometimes doesn't match another actors equally willful vision. So there were many moments where we were all sitting around a table trying to make a scene, or even a particular line of dialogue work for everyone, and honestly, I think the film is better for it.

2 - The story throws in a female assassin, monster hunter, and samurai into the mix, which to me sounds almost too good to be true. Tell me, how did this awesome idea behind Devil's Den come about?

I was sitting around talking to my girlfriend just kind of joking about writing something completely off the wall. I should take the whole thing take place in a strip club because it's so ridiculously exploitive -- you have to go for ridiculously exploitive when you're poking fun at yourself. [So] our hero should be a big Zatoichi fan, because A, I'm a big Zatoichi fan, and B, I'm going to tie a classical Zatoichi sword fight into a horror film. If anything it will be original and instead of the lead being the tough cool guy under pressure he's going to be a complete jackass and the girl will be the tough one and we've got to have a black guy, but he can't die because the black guy always dies and I'm getting sick of it. So, basically I had this idea that led to turning a lot of traditional horror conventions on their head and the result was Devil's Den.

3 - Described as in the vein of Kill Bill and From Dusk 'Till Dawn, which were both pretty action-oriented gore-fests -- I suppose with Devil's Den that we'll see an ample amount of gore and swords flying?

I think the From Dusk Til Dawn, Army of Darkness comparisons have more to do with this film's blend of quirky humor and action than anything else. The characters all have light moments, and you never quite know where the story is going until it get's there, but I promise, when you get to the end, everything from the first line on makes perfect sense. Hopefully it's the kind of film you can go back and watch a second time with a sort of 'Oh... so that's what she/he really meant.' And again, it's punctuated with some pretty intense action sequences. So the story should be a good ride from start to finish.

4 - UHM was the first site to report on the film -- how did it go under the radar for so long, especially with genre favs like Ken Foree and Jeff Burr attached to the project?

That might actually be my fault. While I was in Washington I wrote the script and sent it to Stacey Smart at IDT Entertainment, I knew her because they had financed Demon Hunter. She liked the project enough to push it up through higher channels. I called John Duffy, who had line produced Demon Hunter, to see if he wanted to partner up with me on the project, since I know a thing or two about creative film making, but not much at all about the business, which John is a wizard with. He agreed and when i got back to LA we were off and running. So I guess we were so busy making the film we forgot to tell anybody what we were up to. 

5 - Talk to me about the effects in the film and the stunts involved.

I have to say that I'm thrilled with both the makeup effects and CGI. I'll start with Make-up since it was used so extensively in the film. Mark Vinello was our make-up effects supervisor and I can't say enough good things about both the work and the work ethic of him and his team. Mark was quite innovative in coming up with unique looks for our creatures, and some of the more gruesome horror effects that they visit on the unsuspecting members of our cast.

We generally pre-shoot and pre-cut all of the action on video just using the stunt team during pre-production. That way when it comes time to put it all on film I can be very efficient in getting just shots that I need to make a sequence work smoothly. It's an important part of the process, especially on smaller budget films, since we don't have the time and money to get everything and figure it all out in post. An example would be: I worked as one of the choreographers on the film The Rundown; we had months to rehearse each action scene with the actors, and the smallest one had a week to shoot. For Devil's Den we had no rehearsal tie with the actors; a couple of days to shoot our largest scene and only a couple of hours to shoot our smaller ones. Anyway, during our pre-shoot we came up with a few very effects driven shots (which are funny to see in video with stuntmen using duct tape and red cloth in place of prosthetics and fake blood). When I sat down with Mark and showed him the tape he was excited by the shots and really came up with some great ideas to help us make it all come off effectively.

For almost the entire shoot we had cast members, extras, and stunt players in and out of effects make-up all day long. The make-up team pulled it all off like clockwork. I can't begin to stress how important it is, not just to have a team who can deliver the goods, but deliver them in the time that they are needed. If Mark and his guys said it would only take an hour to have someone ready they would be done in an hour. Sometimes even when they said it would take over an hour, and I begged and pleaded, they got the job done extra-fast, and with the same quality.

As far as visual effects, we don't have too many, but the few we do have are done amazingly well. The CGI house is called Forum, a subsidiary of Film Roman. I worked with them in pre-production as far as going over shot lists and getting the perimeters for exactly what we could and could not do, and in post when they delivered the footage that had been altered. The problem right now is, I don't really want to say too much about the CGI because it will give away elements of the story that I'd rather have people not know going in. So in summary all I can say for the CGI is that I hope you're as thrilled with the work as I am.

6 - So, who was the brilliant mind that hooked Kelly Hu, Ken Foree, and Devon Sawa into the project? And what roles do they play?

Your question is more on point than you can imagine. This film has a very strong comedic element, which would not work at all if our cast didn't have the right chemistry. As far as whose idea it was to fill the roles with this articular cast, there really isn't a simple answer. It was a lot of going back and forth between John and I, and the distributors, trying to figure out who we liked creatively that would also satisfy their distribution requirements. This is one of those cases where it just somehow magically all fell into place, and I couldn't be happier. A few words about them:

I knew Kelly from Marital Law (I used to work as a stuntman on that show) so she was who I had in mind when I wrote it. Her character, Caitlin, carries the bulk of the action. I knew this would be okay with Kelly playing the part because we didn't have the time to rehearse with the cast but she could just step in and learn the choreography on the spot. Action aside she really plays the character well, and acting aside she looks good doing it too.

Devon Sawa was actually the last one cast for the film. I didn't know him before and didn't even think of approaching him because, honestly, I didn't think we could afford him. It was the distributors who pushed us to send his people the script and said they would cover the costs. So I have to give IDT credit for thinking of Devon. As far as his work goes, I think you'll see in the final product that this films works because of him. As Quinn he shoulders the comedy in the film. If he was flat, or not funny, or not believable then the film just wouldn't come off right. I definitely hope to work with him again in the future (hint, hint).

Ken Foree plays Leonard. He was both IDT's choice and ours as well. Watching Ken perform on that first day was kind of a magical moment for me that, I think, rarely happen for writers. When Ken delivers his dialogue it is, absolutely spot on what I had in my mind when I wrote it. His combination of humor and gravitas couldn't, in my mind, have been done any better.

7 - I don't suppose you could possibly elaborate on the tasks of these lead characters?

To be honest I really don't want to say too much. Everyone has a story that gradually unfolds during the course of the film. Whatever I say now spoils things later on. Again, not that I want to be secretive, it’s just that I really want people to sit down for the first time and watch the film with a fresh eye. I want the surprises to be a surprise, and I really want everyone to enjoy the film.

8 - How are things different now compared to your first project Demon Hunter?

Devil's Den is completely different from Demon Hunter in every respect in terms of production. In a sense I owe this film to the lat one. With Demon Hunter I sold a script, then watched something very different then my original vision being put on film. With Devil's Den I stayed absolutely creatively involved from the very beginning to the very end.

9 - Do you plan on working with more Horror films?

I'm a big fan of action / sci-fi and horror. I definitely plan to do more horror films but I'm also not limiting myself to one genre either.

10 - So, what's the status of the film right now?

It is completely finished and delivered to the distributors. I'm not quite sure what the plan is as far as when it is going out, that has to do with whatever the marketing department has planned. Right now everyone is thinking of sending it to a few horror film festivals, so we might spend a couple of months going the festival route before we get around to actually putting it out. I'm kind of torn. On the one hand I'm happy with the film and can't wait for it to be released to the public, on the other... I'm happy with the film and think it will do great in the festival (and being a stuntman I've still got that competitive urge in me) and would like to hit a few of those too. I guess either way I'll be happy so I'm just not gonna sweat it too much.

11 - Do you have any last words for the viewers?

Any last words? This was a very fun movie to make, from start to finish everyone involved; from producers, to cast [and] crew, to post production crew, [everyone] had a good time creating this film. To me this is the way films should be made. And I sincerely hope some of that fun comes through the screen when you're watching.

5/10/06
A few small pics can be found at the Fenwicks' site here. The band also got to handle the title track to the film.

4/16/06
A handful of new pics can be seen below.

12/14/05
You can now view a couple pics below.

DETAILS

- Originally set to have a March 6, 2007 DVD release.
- Described as in the vein of Kill Bill and From Dusk Til Dawn.
- Actor Steven Schub is also part of a 10-man band called The Fenwicks, who also supplied the title track to the film, which can be heard here.
- Make-up FX by Mark Viniello
- IDT Entertainment is distributing.
- Produced by John Duffy & Mitch Gould.
- Mitch Gould wrote this action/horror flick.