Devil's Den

I was looking for a horror film last night and came across this one in the video store. It surprised me because I had never heard of it. What a great find! I laughed all the way through it. The plot twists were nice, especially where I assumed something was going to happen one way because it always happens in these type of genre films, then it twists for that very same reason. A certain Japanese scene that comes out of nowhere is my favorite.

Kelly Hu is hot but no where near as hot as the girl who plays Jezebel. She is smoking, and I'm surprised I haven't seen her in more stuff. Definitely got a new fan in me.

Devon Sawa is funny and Ken Foree is as solid and reliable as ever, even pretty funny himself in a gruff mentorish sort of way.

It's a low budget movie so I can see why I went straight to DVD but still, definitely worth the 90 or so minutes it takes to watch.

Hope they make a sequel.

OK, OK...so it's rip-off of several other horror-comedies. It's still fairly amusing and at least slightly unpredictable. Shoddy FX don't ruin ALL your enjoyment. Plus, you get to see Devon Sawa looking like he's been hanging around outside hotels cadging cigarette butts.

But now to the important stuff. Is everyone in horror movies completely deaf? I mean, you can have four people just yammering away in an argument just down the hall from a dozen ghouls, and the ghouls apparently don't hear a thing. At one point, a couple is just plain yelling at each other at the entrance to a cave (plus, one of them is firing a gun periodically) and the creatures inside the cave are absolutely oblivious. I've never been in a cave where that would have worked. And it's not just this movie, either. Evil slashers are always dropping out of the ceiling behind a victim, pulling up alongside cars in their own cars, and opening doors and hatches right next to potential victims. Does anyone notice anything? Nope. I mean, I'm 54 years old and I know I would have figured it out.

But enough digression. This is an OK movie. Check it out, if you like the genre.

As mentioned countless times already, "Devil's Den" really can be considered to be a "From Dusk Till Dawn" knock-off... But that doesn't mean it can't be fun, right? And indeed, I had as much fun with this one as I had with watching "The Hazing" (2004) the week before. Both can be considered good fun horror party flicks. No vampires in this den, actually, but ghouls instead. No big twist halfway through the movie, but ghoul action from the get-go. No elaborate plot whatsoever, but still a few nice character twists. And Ken"Beyond the Dawn of the Texas Sleepstalking Dentist-Reject"Foree is in it. And for the teenage ladies, there's Devon Sawa (but I must say the dude seems to have gained some weight since "Final Destination"). And guys, I don't need to tell you that there's indeed some pleasant femalish eye-candy in this one, right? Yes, this movie will very likely not go very far into horror history, but it's still a certified fun B-movie watch. The same kind of fun I recently had with "Bloodsuckers" (AKA "Vampire Wars"), now that we're talking vampires and ghouls.

The best way to describe this movie is fun. If you are looking for something to scare you, it won't, in point of fact it won't even try. If you are looking for a well scripted, entertaining little story that takes a couple of unexpected twists, and keeps you laughing along the way, then this is a definite must see.

It is a low budget movie but the production value is actually pretty good. The strip club it mostly takes place in is pretty cool looking, nothing on the scale of From Dusk 'til Dawn, but considering the budget it is better they didn't even try. The action was fast paced and well choreographed, Devon Sawa and Ken Foree were quite funny, and the chemistry between them was outstanding.

Unfortunately, my favourite moments would be considered spoilers and I cannot mention them, but suffice to say, with all of the low budget, and big budget drivel that passes for horror today, this one is quite a little gem.

Cheers

(2006) Devil's Den HORROR/ COMEDY

Conventional lower budget version of "From Dusk Til Dawn" clone which the two are almost identical! With Quinn (Devon Sawa), Caitlin (Kelly Hu) and Leonard (Ken Foree) go to strip club called "Devil's Den" down in Mexico, only to confront a bunch of ghouls. The film starts off as a gore fest to a simple minded comedy toward the end, especially the final dual between Hu and the queen of ghouls who for some reason doesn't even call out her ghoul cohorts. Inconsistently convenient and conventional which the director of this film and the producer may have collided!