It's not often that a direct to DVD movie (at least it's DTV here in the U.S.) makes us happy. I'm talking truly happy, as in being glad we watched it as well as feeling a bit bummed that it was over. The Devil's Rock is one of those good ones, and after enduring so many clunkers lately, good lord was it ever needed.
The Devil's Rock is the story about two Kiwi soldiers (Kiwi's are New Zealand people, not living fruit) sent to destroy a Nazi anti aircraft gun encampment on one of the remote Channel Islands. Right off the bat I'm intrigued here, as Nazi's and horror tend to mix very well; Outpost, The Bunker, Below, Blood Creek, Dead Snow, The Keep... all great genre flicks that involved the Nazi's and some aspect or another of the occult.
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| I never though I'd want to put the words sexy and Swastika in the same sentence, but... |
At the start, it's a pretty tension filled war flick, with our Kiwi Heroes paddling a canoe through hostile waters, navigating a heavily mined beach, and storming a fortress filled with what we have to imagine are a bunch of evil Nazi's. Then they hear the screams, and things go from tense to creepy. Being bad ass commandos though, they keep right on going, which turns out to be a pretty horrible decision for them, but a good one for us.
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| Is she Axis or Allies? |
They split up (good plan), with one of them heading inside for a "closer look." Inside, there is only darkness and screams, which are coming from said darkness. There are also dead Nazi's everywhere, whom look to have been torn a new asshole by a meat grinder of some sort, which isn't all that far from the truth. There's also a creepy Nazi still alive, who has spell books and has been drawing pentagrams everywhere, and a sexy girl chained to a wall.
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| You know everything is about to go to hell from here on out, right? |
There's really nothing about this film that is lacking. The story is great, the atmosphere is tense and creepy, and there's a good amount of blood and gore. Something about creepy movies set in bunkers always seems to work. Nazi bunkers, even better. The most notable thing about TDR is the fact that it's so effective while being so sparse; there are only 4 characters involved (not counting a few dying Nazi extras, and corpses of course), and most of the action takes place in only a few rooms. It's a good example of good film making with a smaller budget.
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| Looks like a scene from a romantic comedy, doesn't it? Well, it's not! |
The thing that put this one over the top for us is the demon; we bought into her creepy taunting and loved it when she had an orgasm from bloodletting. How can you not love that? She also has a voracious appetite for human flesh which proves rather enjoyable to watch. Sexy former Power Ranger (lol) Gina Varela does a good job at being both seductive and menacing. The rest of the cast, small as it was, did a good job too, but she was our fave.
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| The Demonic "O-face" is a new one by us. |
If we could say anything bad about the movie, it's that the CGI, when used, was not the best. That's an Ironic statement considering the director was an FX guy for WETA on all kinds of good movies. It's not bad, but just looks more on the inexpensive side of things. Also, a longer running time would have been nice. Then again a longer running time may have made the movie wander, so that one really shouldn't count.
The Master Says- B+ The Devil's Rock is a great little horror movie. Short and to the point, it delivers both the interesting and the creepy goods. Director Paul Campion handled this one so well, we think he needs to make a sequel. If the awesome last shot of the movie doesn't beg sequel, I don't know what does. It's available right now on DVD in the U.K., it's hitting Canada's Fantasia Fest on 8/3, and will be released theatrically in NZ on 9/22. Whichever way you see it, just see it whenever you get the chance.Final Thoughts- She's in this too, though only for a second.
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