Au service de Satan

Very Original Horror The very original concept of 'Satan's Little Helper' is almost enough to overlook the poor editing, acting, and total lack of a musical score. Yep, almost.

I only saw this film to drool over blonde bombshell Katheryn Winnick after seeing her in 'Hellraiser VIII.' Well I wasn't disappointed by the fact that she spends the entire film dressed for Halloween as a renaissance bar wench showing off her "assets" and by the fact that her younger brother has a crush on her.

Anyway the original concept of 'Satan's Little Helper' revolves around an unknown serial killer dressed in the frightening rubber mask seen on the cover box. Halloween is actually a good day to go on a mindless bloody rampage. He can get away with dragging around dead bodies, or body parts, and wielding weapons without the police batting an eye. Screams for help and 911 calls are also dismissed. Attacking people in their homes is easy. Everyone is prepared to answer the door at night for a masked stranger with candy in hand, rather than a gun. (For the record I do still keep a gun by my door even on Halloween.) Maybe the ease of being a serial killer on Halloween is why Michael Myers always chooses this day. How does he spend his time the other 364 day of the year? A young boy Dougie witnesses the murders but assumes they're all part of Halloween fun and offers to become Satan's little helper. Hence the mute serial killer uses Dougie as an accomplice in his murder spree.

In a very funny scene, after realizing the killings are real Dougie prays to God. (Much more effective than calling the police or grabbing a weapon.) The serial killer now being hunted by Dougie's family changes Halloween costumes and appears a Jesus. Dougie lets him in the house believing his prayers were answered.

Where the film fails isn't in its poor production quality but in its horror movie clichés. Once the family realizes the masked serial killer is real do they, RUN LIKE HELL? Hide? Hold up and wait for help? Grab a weapon? Or simply fight back? (After all the serial killer doesn't have any super powers, he's just one man.) NO! They follow the usual horror movie clichés of splitting up wandering around dark areas and investigating strange noises in the basement.

But I do give the film credit for having a GREAT ending. Always key and very difficult in horror films. A bad ending can ruin an entire horror movie.

Worth a viewing for an original idea. Only worth a second viewing to drool over Katheryn Winnick a second time. And brace yourself for the poor production quality.

This film is exactly what a horror should aim to be. The film itself is sick, twisted and has a creepy sense of humour that is always lurking underneath the atmosphere. This film is by far no means perfect and you can very easily tell that the budget was not very high. But the director works well with what he has and gives the viewer something that up mostly scares them and makes them feel for the characters. This film is a great horror/slasher movie and whoever enjoys films like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre or House of 1000 corpses should definitely pick this up as it is well worth watching.

A scary 7/10

What we have here with Satan's Little Helper is a pretty predictable, occasionally silly, and overall average written and acted film. But it's also a pretty fresh and unique flick that should be a welcome viewing for any horror fan.

The story revolves around a little Jewish looking kid, who because of his new favorite video game, Satan's Little Helper, has now combined the game's ideas with everyday life. His sister is home from college and all he wants is to trick or treat with her. Well, young lovely sister has brought home college boyfriend and this is ruining lil brother's dreams of a great Halloween. With this new found love for Satan, because of the video game, he runs out and looks for Satan to go trick or treating...I think. Well, luck be told he finds a creepy lookin guy dressed up like Satan. Even though this guy may or not may be Satan, he sure doesn't lack in the evil department. Unbeknownst to lil boy, he's befriended a serial killer on the loose during Halloween, and he's truly become, Satan's Little Helper.

The flick overall, isn't really anything that special. Even at just over 90 minutes, the film felt a tad too long. I was constantly checking the time during the last 30 or so minutes. Plus the kid who plays the lead, is one annoying little kid with one-dimensional acting skills. Watch the little girl in The Fall to really watch good child acting. Anyways, the film does succeed in it's unique idea. Having a silent murderer leading a little kid around to help kill people is pretty sweet. For a low-budget horror flick, it's definitely a nice treat for any horror fan. But all the ridiculous high praise is just a lot of hot air. It's good, but it ain't that good.

I had really low expectations going into this film as I haven't liked either of the Jess Lieberman films I'd seen previously (Squirm, Just Before Dawn); but what I found with this film was an inventive and moderately amusing little film that benefits from a talented cast and a clever screenplay. Satan's Little Helper is a pitch black horror comedy that finds time to poke fun at the American institution of Halloween, as well as ideas such as 'video games create killers'. The central idea is more than a little bit silly, but it also shows great imagination; as the idea of having a young boy unwittingly help a serial killer isn't immediately obvious, and the director does a good job of manipulating his characters into the situation he wants them in. Satan's Little Helper revolves around Douglas Whooly; a young boy obsessed with the video game, coincidentally called 'Satan's Little Helper', which was bought for him by his father. After witnessing the local serial killer arranging his victims outside his house, the kid mistakes it for an act and offers his help to the killer; which is duly accepted.

The fact that the lead character is a young boy gives the film a sort of childish horror feel; and Jeff Lieberman brilliantly offsets this with a number of amazingly gruesome scenes, which see things such as a cat being used to write 'boo' on the wall in blood, as well as intestines being used to tie a knot and a particularly grisly stabbing sequence towards the end. The director has also managed to pull in some good B-movie talent to act out his movie. Amanda Plummer is the biggest name on the cast list, and she bodes well with her role as slightly odd mother. The beautiful Katheryn Winnick was the highlight for me, and no doubt most other male audience members, as she looks great and her acting isn't bad either. Child actor Alexander Brickel, and Stephen Graham round off the central cast and overall, this movie doesn't have many problems where the acting is concerned. Jeff Lieberman's sense of humour may not be to everyone's taste; but I found it delightful, and the way the screenplay constantly harks back to earlier events is good. Overall, this may not be a brilliant film; but it's entertaining and fun and therefore gets a big thumbs up.

Satan'S LITTLE HELPER surprised me. I was expecting ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from this one, and typically avoid these low-budge, straight-to-video American films altogether...but this one was different. There were definitely a few "flaws" as most of these types of films have, but even so, SLH was a fun way to blow 100 minutes...

The story is about a kid obsessed with a video-game entitled (appropriately enough...) Satan'S LITTLE HELPER. The boy's sister comes back home from college on Halloween to go trick-or-treating with the little brat, but he gets jealous when the sister brings the new boyfriend along. The brat runs off to "go find Satan" and stumbles across some wackadoo in a weird mask who is making Halloween decorations out of his recent murder victims. The brat, having an overactive imagination, believes the masked weirdo to be the Lord Of Darkness, and asks if he can tag along and be his "helper". "Satan" agrees and the boy helps assists new-found master on a twisted and hilarious killing spree...

Two main gripes with this one. SLH would definitely have benefited from a lot more gore. There was only one or two scenes that have any gore in them, and some of the inventive kill scenes could have benefited from some more of the red stuff. But my REAL complaint is that the "sister" is so smokin' hot that it is an absolute TRAVESTY that she never gets nekkid in the film. Everyone involved in SLH should suffer a torturous Satanic death for this HUGE injustice. But those two problems aside - SLH is quite enjoyable. Some truly hilarious scenes, and the performance by "Satan" is very noteworthy. Though he never speaks a word, his body language and charisma show through even though he's in full costume. If I ever meet Satan, I hope he's exactly like this guy...

Under the surface, this film also poses some interesting questions about children's ability (or lack thereof...) to differentiate fantasy from reality, and many children's growing obsession with video-games and other modern media. Not that SLH is any sort of "morality tale" - on the contrary, it definitely has the "heart" of a dark-humored horror film - but it does pose a few interesting questions if viewed in a certain light. Overall, I would recommend this one as a fun "knock-back-a-few-drinks-and-check-it-out"-style film. Worth a look - 8/10