Devil's Bridge

The British Deliverance it is called, in some way I agree. But I was left with a hunger here. It never becomes rather brutal or messy. There are of course tough situations but some things are done off-camera due the shoe-string budget. The story itself you have seen a thousand times.

When 3 friends go to Wales for business they come across William Parry (David Schofield). He's a bit of a weirdo were even the locals are afraid of. But when the 3 friends go to the local pub guess who's coming in for a drink. Parry of course. When he's out for trouble one of the friends call him a w*nker and from there on they are in deep trouble. Survive or die. But it also bring in the shaky camera and it annoyed me sometimes.

It isn't that bad at all but rather low on blood except for the final I have seen better UK flicks concerning such stories. The acting was okay and the language for outsiders is sometimes hard to understand.

The title refers to the place the friends wanted to go but never got there due William. As this was Chris Crow's first attempt I can dig it but I do understand that some will be left with a bitter feeling.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

For the most part, this is a pretty good film.

It's quite apparent that the picture was made on a shoe-string but let us not worry, because the film crew use what little they have to keep you gripped.

Playing on many familiar strangers-in-a-strange-town themes, Devil's Bridge is menacing, gritty & dark. Just how you want it.

There were moments (especially the ending) I figured were not thought-out as well as can be, but it doesn't matter because for 90 minutes the 3 main actors plus villain do a fantastic job of cat n mouse. As the film rolled on, each actor seemed to grow more & more comfortable within their role, at times, too believable especially for the deranged, psychotic farmer.

No one-liners or Tarantino-style-rip-off speeches, just a pretty good parable painting a picture of very bad timing for three 30-something men with no respect for strangers.

I doubt you'd be disappointed.

Films that give away the end right at the start better have a good excuse for doing so. Devil's bridge doesn't even have one for existing. The whole 'getting stranded in the midst of rural Wales' schnik has already been done in Inbred, and there it was a whole village of cannibals up against the out-of-towners. Here, it's just some bearded drunk with a gun hunting down three cheeky chappies from Essex... there's just no comparison.

Particularly as in the other movie, the daft scenario is treated with the levity it deserved... whereas in this effort, it's played as serious as you could imagine. Only trouble is, this permanently soused gentleman with his habit of mumbling to himself and rubbish aim would not be a threat to anyone with a brain. And yet, the film has pretensions of being a classic cat-and-mouse type thriller. Nope. Not with these idiotic losers as our 'heroes', and certainly not with this joke of a villain.

And to add insult to injury, the camera movement is so jerky throughout you'll probably need sea sickness tablets just to last the course. It it too much to ask to keep it stationary so we can understand what the hell's going on? Or are you trying to be all 'artistic' and 'gritty'? Epic FAIL on both counts there. Chris Crow is a great name for a director... can we give it to someone else?

Oh silly me I forgot, there is a final, FINAL twist which a) is complete rubbish and b) I'd already figured out based on one line of dialogue early on. Now either I'm a genius, or the movie didn't hide it very well. Okay, both statements are probably true. Regardless, this is a complete non-starter by any definition, and a waste of a perfectly good coaster. 3/10

Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes comes to Wales with outlandish and unlikely consequences with only a few redeeming features.

The plot is as basic as it comes. A group of little Englanders head to Wales for some reason. Something about the lead role, Sean, requiring the help of a dodgy wheeler dealer to save his ailing business. To be honest, the reason is peripheral, barely explored and fairly pointless.

On the way to their holiday spot in the depths of the Welsh countryside the English group encounter local psychopath Bill and things progress from there. The Devil's Bridge in the title is a local landmark which the lads visit for less than one minute of the film. Thereafter it is never mentioned nor featured again, rendering the title as pointless as much of the pre-violence plot.

If there is a message here it's ambiguous. I suspect there is one, however, since much of the senseless violence centres around Welsh nationalism and looks suspiciously indulgent coming from Cardiff born writer/director Chris Crow. Whatever the underlying subtext, the resulting movie is an ugly mish mash with little distinction between villain and victim. Certainly too little for us to give a damn who goes under the knife and who doesn't.

The characters are one dimensional, but uncomfortably true to life. It may be for this reason that I, an Englishman with a close Welsh heritage, found the whole thing to be too grim and gritty to be anything other than disturbing. For a US audience the change of locale and the perpetuated stereotype of Brits as backwards, brainless and nationalistic thugs will probably make for a fun ride, though I doubt there's enough gore to satisfy the usual crowd.

In the end, this is little more than a redneck-gone-mad slasher plucked out of the southern states and dropped into the backwaters of Wales.

The only reason I ended up watching this film, was I went to Blockbuster and picked four good movies, the girl behind the counter told me it would be cheaper to get five to get the movie deal. I was in a hurry and quickly grabbed this one from the Horror section. Ooops! Not the best choice I have ever made.

The plot was.. mehhh. I have lived in Australia for 20 years but I'm Welsh and come from an area quite close to the real Devil's Bridge, so I grew up in the Welsh Nationalist heartland, I was living there when the Meibion Glydwr idiots were at their most dangerous, torching holiday homes and beating up English tourists in the pubs, so I don't actually find it THAT hard to believe that a mentally disturbed Nationalistic loner would go bonkers and attack some Englishmen after downing a bottle of Whisky. So that part at least, made some sort of sense. The rest of the plot was like a string vest, thin and full of holes. The characters were underdeveloped, so it was hard to feel anything much for them. They weren't particularly likable and when they were all fighting for their lives with Parry at various points, I found that I didn't care that much who won. Possibly the worst thing about the whole film, as others have said, is the shaky camera work. It ruined the action scenes and made the whole thing look like a teen pop video. The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one, is Joshua Richards as William. He was good enough that I am surprised I haven't seen him pop up in a "proper" film. I know this film was made on a low budget but that's not an excuse. It could have been so much better without spending another penny. Just losing the shaky cam alone could have improved it no end. If you like this type of film and see it in the DVD shop, or available to download, Don't bother. Save your money and watch Wolf Creek and the sequel instead, they are so much better that it's not funny.