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 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.

Honestly, I picked this up with hopes of it being entertaining but fully expecting a lame movie. Not a lot of decent horror flicks anymore, so I usually will reach further with that particular genre.

Anywho, this film was a pleasant surprise. The story seems a bit on shaky ground in the beginning but picks up steam for a good second half of the movie. No spoilers here, but I was definitely intrigued by the ending. Quite an interesting turn.

The acting was fair to middlin' with no one giving a particularly memorable role but none sinking the rig, so to speak. Have to give mad props to the writer for naming the enviros Action Planet. No worries about trademark infringement there.

Ok so this movie definitely wasn't great. I do recommend on the basis of if you're looking for a decent movie that finishes strong give it a shot.

I wasn't expecting much from this horror set upon an oil rig, a decent ending would've helped. A group of activists set foot on an oil rig in the North Sea and plan to film what they are doing. They find no crew on the oil rig which is a bit strange. The activists start getting picked off one by one by a mysterious body shifter, once the kill someone they take over that persons body. It's been done before and better, but it's not a total turkey. The problem is all the characters are a bit bland, we've got the paranoid ones, the annoying ones and the shouty females. Once we get to the end we're not really bothered which is a nono for any type of film.

Yep, sure was unique idea.. a guy keeping evil spirit inside of him just simply by tattooing ground circle into himself. Movie? Boring.. exciting parts but slow. So slow that you had plenty of time to lose all your interest into the darn movie before something actually happened. Good scenes, sure. And if lucky enough you were still awake when they were shown. I recommend to use the fast forward button in case you have one or as an another option, pick up a nice book to read while most of the movie and follow movie when something interesting happens. It works fine.