Délivre-nous du mal

How does this strike you for originality? In Satan's Cheerleaders a bunch of kids get stuck in a town full of Satan worshippers. In Devil's Prey, a bunch of kids get stuck in a town full of devil worshippers. Without the campy approach and the B list actors that made Satan's Cheerleaders entertaining, this film doesn't really have anything to offer. Just one long boring and derrative flick where everybody and everyone seems to be going through the motions.

Rated R; Sexual Situations, Nudity, Violence and Profanity.

I bought this movie to see Elena Lyons as a star in the film and she did an excellent job, of course. I'm a fan of horror movies of all type, but this type of film is becoming old, it's no Friday the 13th. It's the famous teen horror movies where someone is chasing-someone to kill someone-thing. It was made pretty good, effects and filming of it was quality. The actors were good. It was far from being scary. Overall it was decent for this type of film, worth renting if there's nothing on TV.

Five L.A. teens make the mistake of accepting an anonymous invitation to attend a backwoods rave called 'Straight to Hell' and, wouldn't you know it, that's just what the local sect of Satanists had in mind when they lured them there! Before you can say trite morality lesson, the kids (who've apparently burned too many brain cells as is) are run off the road by a van and chased around in the woods by hooded, masked cult members who want to sacrifice them to gain immortality. After the token black fifth wheel is snuffed out, the survivors (plus a young woman who escaped an earlier sacrifice attempt) stumble onto a very small town inhabited by (surprise!) more Satanists and it's time for round two.

Don't waste your time with this irritating semi-throwback to 1970s drive-in horror films. The movie doesn't look bad, a few of the actresses are pretty hot and it has one effective plot shift near the middle, but those things are a dime a dozen in horror films and not nearly enough to sustain interest during the entire length of this stupid, boring movie.

I was certain I was in for a rough ride of gore a-plenty horror with the scare factor turned up to maximum. What I got was a story that went in the wrong direction.

Devil's Prey (hereon "DP") started off almost brilliantly. A group of twenty-somethings running from a cult of Satan worshippers intent on making these innocents part of their ritual slaughter. Unfortunately the plot soon goes off-track.

The Satanic cult, known as "The Shadows", take off their masks and cloaks way too early, revealing not a bunch of evil dark-side doers, but instead a handful of stupid psychos who make up as they go along what the devil "wants of them".

Besides the cameraman seemingly being obsessed with naked dancing women's breasts at a rave party, the overall general camera work is almost as jumpy as "The Blair Witch Project", especially in the action scenes. As a result of this, a couple of times I was unable to pick up at first who stabbed who, and was often left wondering how a member of the group received their injury.

Plot holes also majorly scarred DP. The younger of The Shadows at first appeared to be the leader, telling his side-kicks to prove themselves. By the middle of the movie he has not only turned into a side-kick himself, but is a newbie to the cult.

However terribly put together DP was, it is only fair to follow criticism with praise. What looked at first like a horrible "I know what you did last summer" clichéd sequence actually turned out in a proper logical way. But that's about it.

Devil's Prey is a movie that begins with a lot of potential, but goes in the wrong direction, turning into a messed up dud. It has a very nice start, flows well (despite the plot holes), but makes you wish it was more. I liked the epilogue at the end, though!

You know you're in trouble when you can spot continuity errors in the opening sequence of a film (check out the disappearing bra) without even looking for them. "Devil's Prey" is otherwise a well-shot movie, but it's just hokum of the ninth degree. The devil worshippers are a joke compared to the satanic cults in other horror films (and, although they clearly outnumber the heroes, they persist in attacking them one by one), and I hope Patrick Bergin knows that, after a role like this, his career has little hope of reviving. (*1/2)