Devil's Workshop

Radha Mitchell is great and puts in a solid effort as a demonologist who attempts to mentor a struggling actor. Said actor is a twenty-something nitwit who is cool because he smokes weed and listens to the rippity rap music yo.

So we get half an hour of him behaving like a weener with occassional scenes of blaring rap in lieu of a proper soundtrack, destroying any potential atmosphere.

By the time he gets to Radha to 'study' her ways, I was bored of everything about him. Sadly, the rest of the movie starts to 'explore' his backstory while you consider taking a nap. There's a sub-plot bubbling away with an acting rival, but that's of no interest to anyone.

It asks very few questions, contains almost no horror and is in no way profound or thought-provoking.

Stop and rethink waisting your time on this movie. The trailer is much better then the film. Radha Mitchell & the poor man's Jack Black ,Emile Hirsch are very talented actors but have nothing to work with.

The plot looks to be made up by the actors as they go. I am old school and need to have more of a story to work with or lots of action and gore to make up for lack of plot, but we have neither. Lionsgate is behind this garbage? Take a look at that great poster shot of the girl and the candles, this never happens and that girl is not in this film. Keep looking for something else to watch and I am sure you will be better satisfied.

Technically, everything with this movie was fine - the acting, sound, lighting, etc. I had no issues there. In fact, the acting was spot-on.

For me, the BIG problem with this movie is the overall concept - the whole story. It's just not very good. Or, they got the pacing all wrong, jumping around from one scene and character to the next in a way that threw me off.

When you approach the topic of devils and demonology, there needs to be a certain atmosphere of respect for the enormity of the situation & a certain kind of dread or menace involved. While there was some, here it wasn't effective.

The first 2/3 of the movie I was following along and the plot was interesting. The characters were getting fleshed out and we get a backstory for the main actor and the demonologist. This was a great set up as the story kept going and you're trying to figure out where is everything going in the end. The acting, sound, lighting etc was on point and I do like the locations that they used.

However, there was very little mention of devils and demonology. There was some mention here and there but I thought okay the man is trying to get ready for his role what can he gain lore wise from the demonologist. This is why the ending failed for me since it just ends flat and doesn't answer the question on why the main actor was there for. I like closures in my movies and this one didn't really have one.

Characters are one note, and the actors present these elements in highly affected ways. Timothy Granaderos does the best in this film with making his character feel the most "real". Radha Mitchell embodies the role that she has well, but she doesn't always keep the balance of her slightly odd character and over acting. The story itself doesn't have much plotting to it: undiscovered actor is seeking to outshine obnoxious actor who is "lucky" in his seeming career. That's the main motivation in the film. It takes a surreal twist as a demonologist is engaged to learn about the pending role to increase chances with landing it. Film looks well made, and there is tension built by the production. The biggest stumbling block is that there isn't much here to make a movie. This feels like a room has been fully furnished, but everything is made out of cardboard underneath the surface. 3 stars solely for the effort of the acting and overall production values.