Devil's Den (2006)

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The Devil's Den starts late one night as friends Quinn (Devon Sawa) & Nick (Steven Schub) pull up outside a strip bar called the 'Devil's Den' & pop inside to enjoy the entertainment. Unfortunately their night turns sour when the strippers turn out be flesh eating ghouls, Nick is wasted while Quinn barely escapes with his life, on his quest for survival he is joined by Government assassin Caitlin (Kelly Hu) supernatural monster fighter Leonard (Ken Foree) & waitress Candy (Karen Maxwell) who decide to put an end to these ghoul's unsociable flesh eating habits once & for all...Directed by Jeff Burr under the pseudonym of Andrew Quint on the actual film but Andrew Dunt on the DVD/video box Devil's Den is one of those films that if you have zero expectations & a high pain tolerance then you might be able to sit through it in one go but if you are a little more discerning & like a decent story & good gore then Devil's Den isn't going to impress you. The unoriginal, predictable & rip-off ridden script by co-producer Mitch Gould basically steals it's main premise from From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) & the underrated Vamp (1986) with it's strip club populated by vampire like ghouls, Devil's Den goes for comedy as much as horror with some really bad one-liners & dialogue. The character's are rubbish & just plain stupid, you know in zombie films where the only way to kill the walking dead is to shoot them in the head yet character's still spray bullets in their bodies well here it is said the way to kill a ghoul is to chop it's head off yet no-one ever does despite the abundance of samurai swords. I was shouting at the screen 'just cut their heads off!' but they never did. The story is a complete rip-off & it has one of the most obvious & predictable twists I can ever remember seeing. This is pretty poor all round & I don't care that it was low budget, I didn't like it & it's as simple & straight forward as that. I wasn't impressed & anyone with any sort of standards won't be either.Director Burr obviously didn't like the finished result & his name was taken off the credits for which I don't blame him one little bit... There's nothing scary here & I found the gore disappointingly lacking, sure there are a couple of gory moments but overall the opportunity for bloody carnage & mayhem has been largely ignored for instance whenever someone is shot there's never any blood. There's a scene when a ghoul puts her hand through someones chest & pulls his heart out, there are a couple of decapitations, a few severed limbs & some feeding scenes & surprisingly little else. For those interested there's a fair amount of naked breasts on show.With a supposed budget of about $1,500,000 this has reasonable production values & is well made on a low budget level but the effects could have used a bit more work. The acting was pretty bad although Foree is always watchable but what on earth was he wearing at the start? They looked like two tubes stuck up his nose giving him oxygen!Devil's Den in my opinion is a poor low budget horror comedy that's a complete rip-off of much better films, not recommended.

This is anything but a serious movie, and anyone who expects an honest try at a movie here is a fool. It's so cheesy it has to be intentional,and there is some comedic gold dispersed thru the film. True it's fairly predictable, and kelly hu is hot but isn't the greatest actor, though she is the most accomplished martial artist in the film. Devon Sawa may have been drunk the whole time filming, but that suits his character anyways.I laughed out loud more than once, and that's something most big budget Hollywood comedy blockbusters aren't able to boast. This film is a 10, because if it isn't a 10, it's a -3, and it's definitely not that.

On their way home from smuggling a case of high-potency Spanish Fly, two young men get lost and end up at the Devil's Den, a gentleman's club with no cover charge and some fine-looking ladies. But what starts off as a leisurely diversion quickly turns to panic when the pair discover some of the dancers are looking for a little more than a few dollars.This film comes from director Jeff Burr ("Leatherface" and many others), am an with a solid history of directing horror films with a little less serious of an edge (such as the Puppetmaster films). I mean this in the kindest of ways, because finding the right blend of horror and comedy is an art form, and one that Burr has really found a knack for. This film entertains -- the balance of laughs and gore is flawless.At first glance, I thought writer Mitch Gould might owe some serious kudos to Robert Kurtzman -- I'm not the first person to notice that the undead dancing in a club is not a new idea (see "From Dusk Till Dawn"). But don't underestimate Gould. Despite his background being more stunts and less writing (this is his sophomore effort), he really gave his heart to this script. A blend of characters and situations that would only otherwise work on an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" seems right at home in the Devil's Den.The assembled cast is by no means foreign to the horror film (or the horror comedy film). Devon Sawa (Quinn the Spanish Fly smuggler) has come a long way from his days as the cute Casper and is now a noted horror celebrity ("Final Destination", "Idle Hands"). Sawa may have lost his boyish looks and charm, but his unique style and delivery have stayed pure. Ken Foree (Leonard, a vampire-hunting swordsman) needs no introduction. Appearing in both "Dawn of the Dead" films, Burr's "Leatherface" and countless other horror classics, this man's resume looks like a year's line-up of screenings at a college horror club. In short, Foree shines as usual. And although much younger than Foree, Kelly Hu's horror credentials also span back multiple decades ("Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan"). She plays the character of Caitlin perfectly, with enough panache and luxuriousness to rival any "final girl" in modern horror. Just don't ask how come she never runs out of bullets (it's a movie!).A twist I really liked is the idea that the way to kill ghouls is not by removing the head or the heart or using some special equipment (silver bullets, crosses, etc.) but simply starvation. I don't recall ever hearing this from another film and it's an interesting twist. Leonard's explanation that decapitation is a great way to disconnect the mouth from the stomach (and thus speed up starvation) was ingenious.While the film is full of great one-liners, gorgeous women and some serious gore (a scene where a man's heart is removed through his back was glorious), the key moment that told me this film was a winner involved the blind samurai (played by Ken Ohara). The feel of the movie changed, but in such a way you knew the creators were capable of anything -- no reason to worry about any loose ends or amateur sloppiness.While I had not heard of this film prior to this viewing, I can see it becoming popular among horror fans and somewhat of a sleeper hit. While not of the same caliber as the classics, there lies in this film a certain charm that makes it both easy and enjoyable to watch again and again.

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