Shame the Devil

What is it with me the last weeks seeing flicks that i didn't like at all and let this one be filed under that name, a real shame. To be honest, it's the name Doug Bradley that attracted me but face it, he's just the voice that you hear off camera. So don't think that you will see Doug in this flick, you will never will except for a few seconds.

The opening of Shame The Devil did ring a bell, did anyone of you geeks has seen the Saw franchise well then you will recognize the rip-off. But okay, I could live with that fact. But once things go wrong it goes awry wrong with this flick. You just couldn't care if someone survives or die or what is going on. While I was attending this flick I picked up a few times the remote to skip or even stop this nonsense.

There's no gore or horror to spot after the opening sequence. It's just a lot of blah blah and for the viewer a lot of yawning. Shame the director and sad to say, shame Doug!

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 1/5 Comedy 0/5

If you claim to be even just a mild fan of the horror genre then you probably know about the 'Saw' films by now. From the opening scene in 'Shame the Devil' you'll probably be thinking, 'Oh, this is a Saw rip-off.' And you'd be right. Although, maybe Shame the Devil isn't anything like Saw at all, because the Saw franchise was well-done and successful whereas Shame the Devil is total rubbish.

Sorry to be blunt, but there isn't much going for this film. It's a British version of Saw, only nowhere near as good on any level.

Yes, it's a horror film and anyone who's ever watched one probably isn't expecting amazing performances from the characters. However, the actors here take bad acting to new levels. In fact, sometimes the performances are so bad that you could be excused for thinking that they're a bunch of students, playing at being professionals.

However, maybe I'm being a little unfair on the actors. They really don't get much to work with. Every line they're forced to speak is filled with clichés and sounds like it's been copied and pasted from one generic cop movie or another. With acting and dialogue like this it makes it impossible to care for any of the characters as they sort of bumble about, trying to catch a killer who's hell-bent on making his victims confess to their darkest secrets or murdering them if they lie.

Simple verdict: don't bother. There's absolutely nothing positive about this film at all (with the possible exception of the quite breath-taking establishing shots of London, which I found quite nice!).

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This is the first time I have been driven to write a review for IMDb but have done it purely as a public service to warn people off wasting 90 minutes of their lives on this bilge.

From the opening scene one imagines a second rate, British version of Saw. Sadly it is not even 3rd or 4th rate. Where as Saw has real menace, even if the franchise grew more tired as it wore on, this lack believability, tension, emotional depth and any sense of a real narrative to drive it forward.

None of the actors is bad mind you, they have simply been given dialogue that is at best clunky and at worse downright nonsensical.

Avoid.

This movie was so boring and stupid that it hardly deserves two stars. But since it was a notch better than Agent Jade Black and The Turning, it gets two stars. Deep down, I'm embarrassed about it.

The film starts out with the main gore and pulls you in with a familiar "Let's play a game..."-type unseen villain. The rest of the film proceeds more like a psychological thriller. The story does have some plot holes and moments that a lot of viewers will spot and not be able to get around. Also, some scenes seemed to have extraneous dialogue slowing the pace of film, which may have been trimmed in a more high-end production. Introduction/explanation of some characters may also come across a little sloppy unless you are really paying attention. Nice use of locations. Decent performances by actors. Of note, Juliette Bennett pulls off the requisite balance of smart and sexy in her role. While not exactly treading new territory in the genre, it probably has enough to keep a casual viewer interested.