The Devil's Tattoo

I caught this one on Prime under the title GHOST RIG and from the outset it's obvious that this is a cheap British rip-off of the Carpenter classic THE THING. This time around we get a group of environmentalists who take over an oddly deserted North Sea oil rig to stage a protest, only to discover something unpleasant going on. It's as cheap as chips and familiar from others of this ilk, with the sets and staging largely unconvincing and a total lack of lighting which doesn't help much. The budget is so low that we don't see any threat. Amusingly enough, GAME OF THRONES star Rory McCann stars alongside TV's Noel Fitzpatrick; who knew he was an actor before he became the country's best-loved vet?

A group of eco-warriors occupy a disused oil rig scheduled for demolition. It's not long before murder and madness erupts...

A great idea rendered unwatchable by a cast of dummies and a script seemingly written by a ten year old. Once again, the producers and director have opted for pretty or handsome faces instead of talented actors. Good actors can usually make something of bad scripts, but bad actors always fail... Worst of a bad bunch is Jaason Simmons who gives a performance of such shocking ineptitude I got the uncontrollable giggles every time he spoke, whilst other cast members are forced to repeat cheesy lines like 'I've got a really bad feeling about this' again and again. Unwatchable tosh of the worst kind.

Pay no attention to the stupid ramblings of myzyri who could only lecture about the poor acting and low budget graphics. If, like myzyri, you'd rather have a Hollywood big budgeted, tons of graphics crapfest like The Haunting, then by all means skip past this one. But if you enjoy indie films made for the genre rather than filling the studios coffers, then give this one a try.

The Devil's Tattoo borrows much from John Carpenter's The Thing but it adds a supernatural twist to keep things interesting. Neither the cast nor crew will win any Oscars, but who really cares? These kinds of movies are about cheap thrills and keeping things interesting for 90 minutes and this film delivers on both fronts. A very pleasant surprise that only the most cynical or arrogant (myzyri) of silly fanboys won't enjoy.

It's a good movie, but it seems IDENTICAL to "Ghost Ship"; from the publicity image itself too... even the name, and the face of death over the rig... The best thing of this movie is the unexpected end.

A small group of environmental activists land on and take over an oil rig that seems to have been left vacant. No crew members can be found, but odd things start to happen nonetheless. Sound familiar? It should, as the same formula has been used in horror movies before, over and over. Isolation, internal conflicts between crew members...'Alien' turned it into a franchise, and 'Ghost Ship' wasn't half bad either. This low-budget Brit flick however is no 'Alien'.

You can tell it's director Julian Kean's first time on the wheel of a project of this magnitude. The camera work is simple, minimal. Short clips of the crew keeping a video journal try to establish a documentary-like feel, adding a sense of realism...or trying to, anyway. The acting is for the most part actually surprisingly good. However, where the movie is really lacking, is the writing. There's no credible dialogue, and while the movie takes forever to really get going, there isn't enough character development or emphasis on any one event to actually provide the audience with an interest in what is happening. Nothing happens at first, then a lot happens at once, and you are left wondering what the point was.

There's serious effort here, especially from the cast, but the material they are working with just doesn't amount to much.