Devil's Mile

Joseph O'Brien's "Devil's Mile" is a blend of paranormal horror and contemporary crime-noir that takes a detour deep into Hell. "Devil's Mile" takes its cue from Japanese entity thrillers, but twists it with some classic Lovecraftian styled terror to create a steady incline into a super-charged nightmare.

The story has three criminals and two kidnapped victims stuck on a stretch of road that makes "The Lost Highway" seem like Main street USA. The plot is pretty heady with tons of drama and psychological tension. Joseph O'Brien is masterful in pacing out the action with flashbacks, creepy atmospheric shadowing and shady back-stories that are revealed in pieces. The cast are committed to the characters and their ability to make you connect with the story is pretty stellar-at least once the sh*t hits the fan.

True in the beginning of watching "Devil's Mile" I was sure I was gonna hate the film. The characters looked stereotypical with forced banter that comes off cliché. That all changes once they hit the Devil's mile stretch of highway. The drama goes up and the talent really shines. The writing is smart, fastidious ebbs and flows of chilling Paranormality, deep human conflict, and intense action thrills. So yeah-by the time the characters hit that damned line in the road I was captivated.

The special effects are a concentrated and respectable blend of standard CGI paranormal visuals and practical effects. The fact that the story sets a tone similar to the awesome Japanese paranormal horror films makes this palatable. The scares are definite, undeniable moments that get you. The atmosphere is a creepy mix of giallo styled dark and light balance with soft glows of color leaking into the frames. The creature effects is impactful, with some truly disturbing aesthetics begging for your nightmares. Who cares about that girl in the well, this b*tch on the highway is the real horror.

"Devil's Mile" is a definite must watch movie that shows just how perfect O'Brien's choice to make this his directorial debut was, not only for him but all us horror fans. If it wasn't for the beginning feeling stereotypical, and slow, then this film would have been a masterpiece of modern horror. Still this is one d*mn good movie. The ending is expected but not in the way that you really expect to see. Can't really detail anything because it would only spoil the experience.

Let me premise this by confessing I am a huge horror fan. I don't consider my time wasted watching what casual and occasional horror viewers probably consider rot. I'm not sure why, but I finished this. I think I just wanted to know where all this aimless wandering ended up. It had some redeemable moments. And the ending may have been the most concise part of the film.

This film could have gone under the radar. And it would have been fine. But the fact that David Hayter is in this, it will mean that every immature, armchair critic/gamer is going to take this movie apart with a dull, cheap kitchen knife.

It's not difficult to assume that this film is at best a college project. Everybody involved in this movie is young and have no previous film credits. Except for a handful of short films. David Hayter is fine. Its just odd that he's in this.

Its a confusing story. And the reason is because its trying to be too clever. At the end of the film, we get a twist ending that doesn't warrant why anything had happened. Its a bunch of kidnappers that hold 2 Japanese women inside the trunk of a car. The kidnappers drive into the middle of no where and they lose track of time. And then they get haunted by a female ghost for no reason. It jump cuts to a garage with a bald man that is holding one of the kidnappers upside down and the bald man tries to sound creepy. And then it jump cuts back to the road with the kidnappers.

The film is a mess. But that kind of thing is expected from first time film makers. The project was too ambitious to carry. My advice to the film makers regarding future projects: less is more. And a high concept idea doesn't mean confusing the audience through out the whole film and then fix it with a twist ending. People are just going to get aggravated.

In a positive note - the actors were actually good. All of them. They were very likable. Except the bald man. He was trying too hard or not hard enough

There was a good idea somewhere in 'Devil's Mile', and it did leave me quite intrigued. Even though part of me already worried reading the plot summary about whether the film would be muddled in execution, there was that trap. It was this idea though that was my main reason in seeing 'Devil's Mile', as well as liking a lot of films in the genres it fits under. It also didn't look too bad and the title is attention grabbing.

Really do wish that when seeing it that the film itself was as attention grabbing as the cover and title. 'Devil's Mile' is not an unwatchable film and have seen far worse films recently and overall, and in the genres it fits under. It is though in my view not a good film either, mostly a mess actually, and did fall in the potential traps it had from the get go. Decent potential but the devillish quality was sorely missing, there was not enough of it from the start and it continued to diminish until by the end there was nothing left.

'Devil's Mile' is not irredeemable. It doesn't look too bad visually, nothing that blows the mind but there is a grit and eeriness to the photography and the setting has atmosphere.

Also thought the actors did a reasonable job and they at least looked as though they were trying, considering what was given to them which was too little and pretty poor.

However, 'Devil's Mile' is a mess elsewhere and did too little with the potential that was there. It was not to do with that it was not trying. It was trying. If anything, there is a try too hard feel, like it wasn't sure what to do with itself and it gave off a muddled feel that affected the cohesion. Didn't see any of the things that the summary indicated there would be. To me, the pacing was not relentless, it moderately engaged to start with but very quickly went downhill and became very dull with a lot of going nowhere parts, narratively this was flimsy. The action-oriented parts were not enough and didn't have the necessary energy.

Nothing thrilling or horrifying in 'Devil's Mile' either. There is a complete lack of suspense and surprises, didn't see much grit, for it to convince as a crime thriller, and it fails too as a supernatural horror, again because the suspense is lacking, some of the horror looks afterthought-like and the excessive predictability and dull pace hurt it further. It would have been better for it to have done either or, which would have made the story more focused.

Script was in serious need of a tightening up and proof-reader, it's pedestrian and one can get lost trying to make sense of what is being said.

Overall, a mess but not an avoidable one. 3/10

There's the basic plot to Devil's Mile that should have set up a much better movie. Part of the problem is the initial script and the angst of the characters. It felt contrived, felt, well, 'acted'. That part of the movie gets better and 10 minutes in seems to find a better tempo. The problem mainly is with the male character. He's over-the-top disrespectful of the girls and super aggressive. Given this is a crime and presumably people need to keep cool heads, well, it just didn't make sense to me. Then there's the problem of the absence of spook. The filmmaker seems to think an arial shot of a lonely highway at night is enough to create a chilly ambience. It's not enough. We could have done with some creepy roadside debris or roadkill, or ghostly reflections in car windows, some twilight zone cinematography. When the movie transitions from crime to horror we haven't been adequately prepared for it. Baffling, is a word that comes to mind. Also Incongruent. OK, I'm being super hard on this effort. In truth I quite enjoyed Devil's Mile. The story was certainly novel. Put it this way, it's unlikely you'll figure out how it ends before it actually does. It's the sort of movie that's really difficult to describe without giving spoilers. In a way it's as if the writers pushed for production of the movie given their original concept, and were given the go ahead way too early on that basis. In fact, they needed sit back and expand their vision to ensure the mystery elements and other transitions each had a sensible weight and lead in. What the hell. What do I know. I only watch them. But I do love them.... Devil's Mile is original enough that I hope the writers and filmmakers don't lose heart and have another go. They certainly deserve that at least.