Thursday, May 31, 2018

Quick Reviews: The Devil's Rock (2011)

Another Film involving WWII, Nazis and the supernatural?   Alright then...
The Movie tries really hard to sell you as being historically-accurate.

It kind of blows that by the Lead being a New Zealander in England...leading to them having to explain why he's even there.
It is all about 2 Soldiers leading a Commando Raid on a small Base on the eve of D-Day.

If nothing else, it makes for a good Tourism Video.
After hearing a woman's cries, the Lead goes in, while the other man is hesitant to stick around.
The latter's wariness is validated when he finds a Book on the occult and a bunch of bodies!
It all goes sour as a surviving Nazi captures them and reveals a strange prisoner.
She's, well, a Demon.

Can she be destroyed?  Can he work with the Nazi?  Should he?  To find out, watch the Film.
A Film with a little Budget, but big potential.  Here's what you need to know- the Film was originally going to be solely-funded by the Director mortgaging his House!  They thankfully got some money from the New Zealand Film Board, but this isn't exactly a big-Budget blockbuster.  That means that they only use about 5 people, stay inside for 90% of the Film and use limited make-up work.  You have to know that to judge the Film properly.  With that out of the way, the Film is nice and atmospheric, giving you long bits where the Actors play off each other well.  It is far less about the big moments than building and building dread.  There isn't *that* much Story and the Characters could really be fleshed out sooner.  The Lead, in particular, is pretty unremarkable until they finally give him some backstory to flesh him out.  The pay-off is eventually worth it, although you do have to slog through some drawn out bits in the First Act especially.  It still doesn't *quite* reach 90 minutes either, so bear that in mind.  All in all, Rock is an interesting Film that could have been truly great.  I know that it is sacrilege to say this online, but it could do with a Remake that treats it with the same care...but also has a few more Million behind it.  No matter what, it does feature a man with a name so great that it must be fake...
A decent-enough Thriller.  It has a pretty damn-small Budget though, which allows it to only go so far.

1 comment:

  1. I liked this one quite a bit, but IIRC it had a really offputing cover image of some scantily clad woman that almost kept me from watching it.

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