Satan's Little Helper

Jeff Lieberman's long-awaited comeback has become a pitch-black and sadistic horror comedy in which chuckles definitely get the upper hand. I've always been a great fan of Lieberman's work and I consider him an essential director for the cult-genre, even though he only made two really notable films ("Squirm", the only creature feature revolving on killer worms and "Blue Sunshine", a splendid psychedelic drug-movie). Hopefully, this "Satan's Little Helper" will become his third cult classic within a few years! This is an outrageous satire, hilarious in case you have a morbid sense of humor but practically unendurable in case you exclusively swear by intelligently plotted films. During his rather long absence (he only made a couple of unnoticed TV-movies during the nineties), Lieberman apparently did a lot of observing, as his new screenplay is a spoof on many modern society issues such as video games, the spoiled youth, religion etc… The story centers on a spoiled little brat who wastes most of his time by playing an immoral and violent video game called Satan's Little Helper. When he encounters a man dressed like Satan on Halloween's day, he thinks it's an act and he nearly begs this guy to assist him on his murder spree. Without realizing the seriousness of his crimes, young Douglas laughs at many violent massacres and he even introduces this personification of evil to his family. The plot sounds like a bunch of absurd nonsense – and actually, it is – but it's FUNNY nonsense! The comical effect is reached by the stupidity of the characters and – especially – by the portrayal of Satan! He doesn't speak but the mask he's wearing is great and his spontaneous reactions are hilarious. The "gags" in this film are pretty unethical (a cat is smashed against a wall, pregnant women & blind men are ran over by carts, intestines are being knotted…) and I'm sure many people won't even grant this film the littlest smile. Too bad for them, because "Satan's Little Helper" is unique in its own peculiar way and certainly worth checking out for people with no morals. There's some nice acting to admire, too! Amanda Plummer (her face alone scares me) is good as the eccentric mother and the gorgeous Katheryn Winnick shines as the sexy sister. I hope to see a lot more work from this young and obviously talented actress! The only disadvantage of this film is that it's slightly too long and the end sequences could easily have been cut from the final product. Nonetheless, a very cool film!

Satan's Little Helper arrived just in time for the Halloween holiday and was perfectly fitting. It certainly has the Lieberman stamp of dark humor all over it. This is Jeff Lieberman's first genre offering in a long time (since 1987's underrated Remote Control) and it's a nice welcome back. Lieberman has loaded this thing with satire. It seems he has a lot to say about video games and parental unawareness. It could come off as heavy handed if he weren't having a blast poking fun at it. Here's the plot: Dougie's favorite game is Satan's Little Helper and he's dressed as such for Halloween. In the game, you follow Satan around and help him murder and plunder and such. Dougie happens across a serial killer dressed like a devil and, staying true to his favorite game, follows him around and lends a helping hand. It's very funny in the "should I be laughing at this?" sense. There are many moments and one-liners that would have made me spew milk from my nose if I were drinking milk at the time. This movie is definitely not for everyone, but it will surely get more laughs than scares. I would classify Satan's Little Helper as a Halloween guilty pleasure.

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)

In Halloween, the student of theater Jenna Whooly (Katheryn Winnick) returns to Bell Island to spend the holiday with her family and her boyfriend Alex Martin (Stephen Graham), who studies in the same class and was also raised in the island. Her young brother Douglas "Dougie" Whooly (Alexander Brickel), who is very attached to Jenna and is fascinated in the video game Satan's Little Helper, becomes jealous with the presence of Alex. He leaves home wearing his costume of Satan's little helper seeking Satan on the streets to kill Alex. Dougie meets a serial-killer that coincidently is wearing a costume of Satan and proposes him to attack Alex. He brings the insane murderer home, and Jenna and her mother Merrill Whooly (Amanda Plummer) believes that the masked killer is Alex acting like Satan to please Dougie. Later the boy walks with the criminal along the streets helping him to kill the locals.

I bought the DVD "Satan's Little Helper" with very low expectations and I found an absolutely cult-movie. The morbid story blends slasher-movie with very dark comedy, and works since it is hilarious mostly because the funny performances of the masked Satan. His piece-of-art with the bodies of his victims could be more explored in the story. The naive little moron that helps him is annoying and imbecile and Katheryn Winnick is extremely gorgeous and seductive wearing her mother's costume. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Ajudante de Satã" ("The Satan's Helper")

Very Original Horror The very original concept of 'Satan's Little Helper' is almost enough to overlook the poor editing, acting, and total lack of a musical score. Yep, almost.

I only saw this film to drool over blonde bombshell Katheryn Winnick after seeing her in 'Hellraiser VIII.' Well I wasn't disappointed by the fact that she spends the entire film dressed for Halloween as a renaissance bar wench showing off her "assets" and by the fact that her younger brother has a crush on her.

Anyway the original concept of 'Satan's Little Helper' revolves around an unknown serial killer dressed in the frightening rubber mask seen on the cover box. Halloween is actually a good day to go on a mindless bloody rampage. He can get away with dragging around dead bodies, or body parts, and wielding weapons without the police batting an eye. Screams for help and 911 calls are also dismissed. Attacking people in their homes is easy. Everyone is prepared to answer the door at night for a masked stranger with candy in hand, rather than a gun. (For the record I do still keep a gun by my door even on Halloween.) Maybe the ease of being a serial killer on Halloween is why Michael Myers always chooses this day. How does he spend his time the other 364 day of the year? A young boy Dougie witnesses the murders but assumes they're all part of Halloween fun and offers to become Satan's little helper. Hence the mute serial killer uses Dougie as an accomplice in his murder spree.

In a very funny scene, after realizing the killings are real Dougie prays to God. (Much more effective than calling the police or grabbing a weapon.) The serial killer now being hunted by Dougie's family changes Halloween costumes and appears a Jesus. Dougie lets him in the house believing his prayers were answered.

Where the film fails isn't in its poor production quality but in its horror movie clichés. Once the family realizes the masked serial killer is real do they, RUN LIKE HELL? Hide? Hold up and wait for help? Grab a weapon? Or simply fight back? (After all the serial killer doesn't have any super powers, he's just one man.) NO! They follow the usual horror movie clichés of splitting up wandering around dark areas and investigating strange noises in the basement.

But I do give the film credit for having a GREAT ending. Always key and very difficult in horror films. A bad ending can ruin an entire horror movie.

Worth a viewing for an original idea. Only worth a second viewing to drool over Katheryn Winnick a second time. And brace yourself for the poor production quality.