Satan's Little Helper

This is the 2nd time that I've watched "Satan's Little Helper" now; once in 2019 and some time back around the mid 2000s. Funny how the movie actually was more enjoyable than I initially remembered it to be.

The movie is a wonderful mix of horror and dark comedy, and the movie never really takes itself too serious. Which is a good thing, because while there is an overlaying element of comedy to the movie, there is still something dark and definitely horror element to it.

I couldn't remember that it was Katheryn Winnick whom was in this movie, maybe because this was from way before "Vikings" made her famous. It was actually fun to watch her in a movie such as this. And of course it was also nice to see Amanda Plummer in this movie.

As for the killer, well it wore a little bit thin throughout the course of the movie that he didn't talk or that you didn't get to see his face. It has been done in way too many horror movies already prior to "Satan's Little Helper". The mask he wore, though, was cool.

The horror elements in the movie were not over the top, but had just the right of horror mixed with dark comedy to keep the movie interesting. While the movie does have elements of comedy to it, it is not the type of movie that will make you laugh.

"Satan's Little Helper" is enjoyable to watch, but hardly makes for a horror classic.

I had really low expectations going into this film as I haven't liked either of the Jess Lieberman films I'd seen previously (Squirm, Just Before Dawn); but what I found with this film was an inventive and moderately amusing little film that benefits from a talented cast and a clever screenplay. Satan's Little Helper is a pitch black horror comedy that finds time to poke fun at the American institution of Halloween, as well as ideas such as 'video games create killers'. The central idea is more than a little bit silly, but it also shows great imagination; as the idea of having a young boy unwittingly help a serial killer isn't immediately obvious, and the director does a good job of manipulating his characters into the situation he wants them in. Satan's Little Helper revolves around Douglas Whooly; a young boy obsessed with the video game, coincidentally called 'Satan's Little Helper', which was bought for him by his father. After witnessing the local serial killer arranging his victims outside his house, the kid mistakes it for an act and offers his help to the killer; which is duly accepted.

The fact that the lead character is a young boy gives the film a sort of childish horror feel; and Jeff Lieberman brilliantly offsets this with a number of amazingly gruesome scenes, which see things such as a cat being used to write 'boo' on the wall in blood, as well as intestines being used to tie a knot and a particularly grisly stabbing sequence towards the end. The director has also managed to pull in some good B-movie talent to act out his movie. Amanda Plummer is the biggest name on the cast list, and she bodes well with her role as slightly odd mother. The beautiful Katheryn Winnick was the highlight for me, and no doubt most other male audience members, as she looks great and her acting isn't bad either. Child actor Alexander Brickel, and Stephen Graham round off the central cast and overall, this movie doesn't have many problems where the acting is concerned. Jeff Lieberman's sense of humour may not be to everyone's taste; but I found it delightful, and the way the screenplay constantly harks back to earlier events is good. Overall, this may not be a brilliant film; but it's entertaining and fun and therefore gets a big thumbs up.

This film is exactly what a horror should aim to be. The film itself is sick, twisted and has a creepy sense of humour that is always lurking underneath the atmosphere. This film is by far no means perfect and you can very easily tell that the budget was not very high. But the director works well with what he has and gives the viewer something that up mostly scares them and makes them feel for the characters. This film is a great horror/slasher movie and whoever enjoys films like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre or House of 1000 corpses should definitely pick this up as it is well worth watching.

A scary 7/10

Satan'S LITTLE HELPER surprised me. I was expecting ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from this one, and typically avoid these low-budge, straight-to-video American films altogether...but this one was different. There were definitely a few "flaws" as most of these types of films have, but even so, SLH was a fun way to blow 100 minutes...

The story is about a kid obsessed with a video-game entitled (appropriately enough...) Satan'S LITTLE HELPER. The boy's sister comes back home from college on Halloween to go trick-or-treating with the little brat, but he gets jealous when the sister brings the new boyfriend along. The brat runs off to "go find Satan" and stumbles across some wackadoo in a weird mask who is making Halloween decorations out of his recent murder victims. The brat, having an overactive imagination, believes the masked weirdo to be the Lord Of Darkness, and asks if he can tag along and be his "helper". "Satan" agrees and the boy helps assists new-found master on a twisted and hilarious killing spree...

Two main gripes with this one. SLH would definitely have benefited from a lot more gore. There was only one or two scenes that have any gore in them, and some of the inventive kill scenes could have benefited from some more of the red stuff. But my REAL complaint is that the "sister" is so smokin' hot that it is an absolute TRAVESTY that she never gets nekkid in the film. Everyone involved in SLH should suffer a torturous Satanic death for this HUGE injustice. But those two problems aside - SLH is quite enjoyable. Some truly hilarious scenes, and the performance by "Satan" is very noteworthy. Though he never speaks a word, his body language and charisma show through even though he's in full costume. If I ever meet Satan, I hope he's exactly like this guy...

Under the surface, this film also poses some interesting questions about children's ability (or lack thereof...) to differentiate fantasy from reality, and many children's growing obsession with video-games and other modern media. Not that SLH is any sort of "morality tale" - on the contrary, it definitely has the "heart" of a dark-humored horror film - but it does pose a few interesting questions if viewed in a certain light. Overall, I would recommend this one as a fun "knock-back-a-few-drinks-and-check-it-out"-style film. Worth a look - 8/10

This movie has a pretty absurd premise (it's hidden in the title, so that doesn't count as a spoiler)! I could only hope that it would at least kind of live up to that crazy expectation ... and it did at the beginning! Also you're welcome for the pun in the summary line above.

It was as it should be, black humor and sick jokes all over the place. Just as it should be, with a movie like that. No political correctness in sight, that would've just be a distraction! A bad one, too! For a few people the first bump will be, that there is no nudity in the movie. But you know, although this is a horror movie, where you kind of expect that, I didn't think that was a bad thing. It went against expectations for once in the right place. The jokes worked without that, too!

But then it happens ... what I mentioned in the subject line ... it's a shame, but the movie just runs out of ideas and just gets annoying from a certain point on. And it's a shame too, because it all felt good and right up to that point, but after that it's downhills ...

Still worth a watch on disc or stream, if you like off-balance, black humor, that isn't political correct! (originally reviewed July 2007, slight update in June 2022)