Devil's Tomb - A caccia del diavolo

I don't know where to begin with this flick. Maybe here: Soldiers who don't at all act & move like trained soldiers, female soldiers with make-up on while in combat, some third rate CGI effects that I could do on my PC in fifteen minutes, and enough plot-holes and unexplained crap to lose count of fairly fast.

In fairness, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Bill Mosely made the film ALMOST watchable. But those two alone couldn't save the horrid storyline, and the above-mentioned things. I tried very hard to get past some of the issues that I found with this film, but it was to no avail. After 48 minutes I found myself being thankful that I was more than half way into the film.

I thought years ago (in the 80's) that low-end horror flicks couldn't get any more lame, but was DEAD WRONG. It is sad to see someone as talented as the Oscar winning Cuba Gooding taking roles in such ridiculous movies. I hope that his appearance in this one didn't ruin his career long-term.

-JB

Watch out guys - the review saying this movie is "surprisingly" good - is being sarcastic! - it's actually pretty dead on if you're in on the joke - maybe I'm just slow, but I did not get it - and now it's too late - I've wasted my time on this pile of s...! I guess a movie titled " The Devil's Tomb" is never gonna be Oscar material, but I still expected some kind of dumb entertainment of some sort - but what a letdown! Only fun to be had is trying to keep track of all the dumb moves this crew of "elite" soldiers pull off. It's truly a special team Cuba Gooding has managed to form here - there's a rookie on board too - everyone makes fun of him - but he might just be the wisest of the bunch. Speaking bout rookie stuff - this movie is just so poorly made that it's impossible to get into on any kind of level! What I'm trying to say is: whatever You do - DON'T waste your time on this one!

Really bad!!! Why actors such as Cuba G Jnr, Ray Winstone and Ron Pearlman (who i think is highly under-rated) would put their talents into this piece of crap is beyond me!! The acting is cheezy at bast, and down right awful at worst. The story is lame, the writing is lamer... Full of clichéd one liners that weren't even funny in the eighties and the characters are so 2 dimensional it isn't even funny.

If i didn't know better i'd think i was watching an Uwe Boll film.

I know films like this aren't made to win Oscars but the writer could have at least but a bit of effort into it, instead of recycling every cheezy 80's action B movies lines putting them into this film!!!

Take ideas and plot points from Alien, Aliens, Event Horizon, and (especially) Prince of Darkness and add some absurdity, sprinkle with blood and implausible characters and this is what you get.

Those were all vastly better films but this isn't quite as horrible as some junk on SyFy so if it's free to watch you could do worse. I gave it a 5 due to some familiar faces in the cast and the job they do and the average-looking blood and gore. Story-wise they didn't seem to put much effort into it besides "adapting" from better movies. Also amusing were the military tactics used in the Iraq flashbacks but I'm not sure they meant for me to chuckle during the battle scenes.

If you want a much better film along the same lines, watch Prince of Darkness instead and during the slow parts imagine space marines using electronic trackers that never seem to work, dodging acid-spewing creatures while running into long-dead loved ones without wondering how they happened to be there. The 5 is generous in my opinion but this could have been a lot worse.

It really is embarrassing to see an Oscar winner such as Cuba Gooding Jr. and other talented veterans wasting their time with such third rate material. Even horror lovers willing to check out just about anything may grow weary of this one, as it's stuff we've all seen before. It's religion / apocalypse theme nonsense (directed by Sean Connery's son Jason) with dumb, dumb characters, supposedly playing a crack Special Forces team, recruited to probe the mystery of what happened at an underground installation / archaeological dig. Cuba's character Captain Mack is the guy in charge, and it's dispiriting to see him look so weary, and clearly thinking, "Can someone please rescue me from this junk?"

The rest of the cast doesn't fare any better, despite the presence of some familiar faces. Among those on Cuba's team are Zack Ward, Jason London, and Franky G. The female cast members - Taryn Manning, Valerie Cruz, and Stephanie Jacobsen - are all attractive, but watching them fails to add much appeal to this thing. Bill Moseley, Ray Winstone, and Ron Perlman are all slumming badly here; Perlman, certainly, looks like he couldn't care less. So why should the viewer? Not even the brief nudity supplied by Holly Weber, or the casting of Henry Rollins as a priest, is really reason enough to sit through this. There is enough gore and grossness on hand to allow for some amusement.

Badly written, badly directed, and totally lacking in suspense and excitement, "The Devil's Tomb" couldn't even get up to average level, even for a B movie lover such as this viewer.

Four out of 10.