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RATING |
| 6 |
| DIRECTOR |
| Jeff Burr |
CAST |
Steven Schub
Ken Foree
Kelly Hu
Karen M. Maxwell
Ken Ohara
Dawn Olivieri
Devon Sawa |
YEAR |
| 2006 |
RUNTIME |
| 84 minutes |
DATE REVIEWED |
| 10 / 01 / 06 |
SHOPPING |
| BUY THIS FILM |
| REVIEWER: FrighT MasteR |
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RATE THIS MOVIE:
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RATED BY:
2 FAN(S) |
CURRENT RATING:
6.5 SKULL(S)
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Devil's Den
Devon Sawa plays "Quinn" a man lookin' to get some R&R after a long trip from Mexico, where he smuggled some new Spanish fly across the border. Little does Quinn know that this is no ordinary gentlemen’s club, in fact, it may not be a club at all, and the ladies there just happen to have a taste for flesh. A monster hunter, female assassin and an imaginary swordsman all have one thing in common in this film -- they hate ghouls and the Devil's Den is crawling with them. Yes, that's the basic premise for the film, a low-budget action-horror movie that seemingly went under the radar despite having familiar names attached like Ken Foree, Kelly Hu, and of course, Devon Sawa. Taking notes from the classic Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino film From Dusk Till Dawn, Devil's Den tries to recapture the fun and gore that made Dusk such a cult hit. Sadly, due to budget restraints a lot of the film's potential was lost. Regardless, it still manages to be quite entertaining and better than half the movies on DVD shelves now-a-days.
Devon Sawa pretty much steals the show being the comedy-relief and actually delivering some fairly funny moments. Ken Foree plays a man that's part of an organization of monster hunters -- packing a double-barrow shotgun and samurai sword. Although using a katana is always a plus in any film, Ken's awkward movements took away from some of the potential the scenes carried. The beautiful Kelly Hu plays the ass-kicking female assassin -- toting the standard handgun (silencer-and-all) in each hand. Kelly used the guns well, but I personally would have rather seen her dish out more melee attacks against the ghouls. The movie tries to be as gory as possible with its budget, but aside from a few scenes, we mostly only get blood-squirts and a couple off-screen beheadings. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed by that. Another downer the film offered were all the pauses in-between the action. Now there's nothing wrong with story build-up, but it becomes tedious after the third break from the action, especially if the characters are just gonna talk about senseless stuff for minutes at a time.
In the end the film has its ups and downs, and delivering a lot of interesting ideas, but bad executions. There was a lot of potential in this project and many fun scenes (my fav. being the appearance of the legendary blind swordsman Zatoichi), but due to its budget and limited time to film, they had to work with what they were given, and with that in mind the movie came out pretty decent. Though, the movie's not the most original, it at least stands out a little by giving us interesting characters and a cast of familiar faces. Devil's Den will hit the DVD market Spring of next year, but it'll likely air on the Starz network sometime before then.
OVERALL
By using a similar theme as From Dusk Till Dawn, the film delivers a lot of interesting characters and ideas, but due to its budget and limited filming schedule, a lot of the potential was lost. Not as gory as I wanted, but it was surprisingly funnier than I expected. Worth a rent when it hits DVD, but I suggest watching it with an open mind, and don't go in with high expectations.
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