Au service de Satan

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

Satan's Little Helper arrived just in time for the Halloween holiday and was perfectly fitting. It certainly has the Lieberman stamp of dark humor all over it. This is Jeff Lieberman's first genre offering in a long time (since 1987's underrated Remote Control) and it's a nice welcome back. Lieberman has loaded this thing with satire. It seems he has a lot to say about video games and parental unawareness. It could come off as heavy handed if he weren't having a blast poking fun at it. Here's the plot: Dougie's favorite game is Satan's Little Helper and he's dressed as such for Halloween. In the game, you follow Satan around and help him murder and plunder and such. Dougie happens across a serial killer dressed like a devil and, staying true to his favorite game, follows him around and lends a helping hand. It's very funny in the "should I be laughing at this?" sense. There are many moments and one-liners that would have made me spew milk from my nose if I were drinking milk at the time. This movie is definitely not for everyone, but it will surely get more laughs than scares. I would classify Satan's Little Helper as a Halloween guilty pleasure.

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

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.

In Halloween, the student of theater Jenna Whooly (Katheryn Winnick) returns to Bell Island to spend the holiday with her family and her boyfriend Alex Martin (Stephen Graham), who studies in the same class and was also raised in the island. Her young brother Douglas "Dougie" Whooly (Alexander Brickel), who is very attached to Jenna and is fascinated in the video game Satan's Little Helper, becomes jealous with the presence of Alex. He leaves home wearing his costume of Satan's little helper seeking Satan on the streets to kill Alex. Dougie meets a serial-killer that coincidently is wearing a costume of Satan and proposes him to attack Alex. He brings the insane murderer home, and Jenna and her mother Merrill Whooly (Amanda Plummer) believes that the masked killer is Alex acting like Satan to please Dougie. Later the boy walks with the criminal along the streets helping him to kill the locals.

I bought the DVD "Satan's Little Helper" with very low expectations and I found an absolutely cult-movie. The morbid story blends slasher-movie with very dark comedy, and works since it is hilarious mostly because the funny performances of the masked Satan. His piece-of-art with the bodies of his victims could be more explored in the story. The naive little moron that helps him is annoying and imbecile and Katheryn Winnick is extremely gorgeous and seductive wearing her mother's costume. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Ajudante de Satã" ("The Satan's Helper")