Mask of the Devil

As a horror fan I was pleased to be able to watch Mask of the Devil last night. The film starts with a bit of a back story of where the cursed mask came from, for a low budget film this was ambitious, but so superbly done it hooked me in right from the start! As we get to present day the believable set up with Mary still living with her strict parents again is convincing with a nice level of humour and stylishly done. When Mary starts her new job in a seedy porn production company there are lots of cringey moments and as the character has been set up well you care what happens to Her. Once the horror starts again there are some nicely done effects and visuals, it does becomes a little more predictable as the crew are picked off, but it is still an enjoyable watch!

Over all I think this is a great achievement for a low budget film, it certainly entertained me. Well done to Richard Rowntree and crew, defiantly the best film yet from Ash Mountain Films!

Wow. This movie is all over the place. Is it a take off on grindhouse movies? Is it a comedy? Is it a straight horror movie? I dunno. But I DO know that it's HORRIBLE.

Some of the worst directing I've seen in decades. The director has no clue how to move the film forward. It's slower than mollasses.

At first I thought it was a cultural thing and that the English don't know how to make a horror film. But then I remembered all those Hammer films I saw growing up. So guess what? It's the director's fault.

He shouldn't be making movies.

Sad, because there appeared to be money there for production that would bring it above the standard low budget fare.

Just caught MASK OF THE DEVIL during Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival on Sunday, August 21st, during Block 11. Clearly proves that Richard Rowntree -and his team- knows how to deliver WTF horror throwback fans want! Funny moments galore, mixed with plenty of slasher insanity, and considering most of the chaos is centered on a porn film set, it's amazing that without tons of explicit nudity, we all got the points. While the plot is pretty straightforward, the effects, atmosphere, and visuals shine.

Among the characters I have to say soundman Mike, played by Martin W. Payne, stole the show with his sleazy snark. Our audience really enjoyed all the nods to other films and horror checkpoints. Would poor Mary become a capable fluffer? Would a Small Table lead to bigger Tables? When would Mike get his? Could anyone escape from the bloodshed? Is this what the world of film making is like? While we probably know those answers all along, overall getting there is a bloody good time.

I recently met the filmmakers and got to see Mask of the Devil. I really enjoyed it. It's a good script; solid writing with some really witty one liners while maintaining believable characters. Good acting all round with Martin Payne as a standout. Technical stuff was all good. This might be low budget, but definitely doesn't look out of place among the big players. I really love the titles and credits too, so much atmosphere. No real spoilers, but this is a two-for-one in a way. The second half takes a U-turn into another genre. Keep your eyes peeled for the parody porn poster titles in the background too; there are some really creative and fun parodies. Worth your time.

Some of the cinematography is excellent, getting good value out of limited locations. The visual effects, while clearly low budget, were very well executed,

The script and acting, however, are awful.

There are one or two moments when I thought it was meant to be deliberately bad in order to parody some stereotypical situations, but then I realised it was just going to be like that all the way through.

The pacing of the film is also slow and dull, making it hard to stay engaged in what story there was. The plot itself is quite weak, you get no character development or interesting twists and turns. It's exactly what you'd expect from reading the summary.

Overall, this film was a disappointment. The limited locations were the only redeeming factor, but even they were not enough to save the film from its poor script, acting, pacing, and plot.

Unless you are studying low budget filmmaking techniques, avoid this one.