The Devil's Tattoo

I caught this one on Prime under the title GHOST RIG and from the outset it's obvious that this is a cheap British rip-off of the Carpenter classic THE THING. This time around we get a group of environmentalists who take over an oddly deserted North Sea oil rig to stage a protest, only to discover something unpleasant going on. It's as cheap as chips and familiar from others of this ilk, with the sets and staging largely unconvincing and a total lack of lighting which doesn't help much. The budget is so low that we don't see any threat. Amusingly enough, GAME OF THRONES star Rory McCann stars alongside TV's Noel Fitzpatrick; who knew he was an actor before he became the country's best-loved vet?

A group of eco-warriors occupy a disused oil rig scheduled for demolition. It's not long before murder and madness erupts...

A great idea rendered unwatchable by a cast of dummies and a script seemingly written by a ten year old. Once again, the producers and director have opted for pretty or handsome faces instead of talented actors. Good actors can usually make something of bad scripts, but bad actors always fail... Worst of a bad bunch is Jaason Simmons who gives a performance of such shocking ineptitude I got the uncontrollable giggles every time he spoke, whilst other cast members are forced to repeat cheesy lines like 'I've got a really bad feeling about this' again and again. Unwatchable tosh of the worst kind.

It's a good movie, but it seems IDENTICAL to "Ghost Ship"; from the publicity image itself too... even the name, and the face of death over the rig... The best thing of this movie is the unexpected end.

I began watching this film with the lowest expectations possible. It looks like just another supernatural horror story in which `evil' is that what you cannot see. Films like this are always set in abandoned places – an oil-rig this time – where a group of people gets attacked by higher forces. This kind of movies are a trend nowadays, certainly in Britain, as there are multiple similar movies like it such as `Below', `The Bunker' and `Deathwatch'. Generally speaking, these films try to be more intelligent than they actually are and the plots twist and turn so much that it becomes pitiful. Ghost Rig (the slightly less goofy a.k.a for the Devil's Tattoo) fits perfectly in this category, only it receives a little more sympathy from me, since it's a modest and slightly creative production. A group of environmental activists occupy an oil-rig and to their surprise, the whole place is entirely deserted. It seems like the workmen have simply vanished. Fear increases as the activists – surprise surprise – start to die as well. The place seems to be possessed by the presence of pure evil and it goes from body to body, using the activists as hosts. There are constant good efforts to build up a claustrophobic tension and, despite of a few obvious holes, the script is rather solid. The ending is really good and made me appreciate the entire film a lot more. As far as I'm concerned…Ghost Rig is okay, but I've seen it by now! It could have used more excitement and a generally better character study. I sincerely hope scriptwriters will stop portraying evil as being invisible and exclusively supernatural in the future…they're not scaring anybody.

As I say time and time again, if you go into this and others of it's ilk without the expectation of seeing a big budget production you will enjoy it. It's got a decent plot with a surprising twist. It's certainly not scary, which makes it perfect for people who don't want too much of a scare. It's actually more of a mystery. I definitely think this suitable for family viewing with kids around 12.