Devil's Workshop

The first 3/4 of the movie was getting good. Acting is excellent from the three main characters. In fact they're the reason I decided to watch this movie. The movie isn't bad, it kept my interest the whole time. It's the two storylines never reconnecting that ruins it. I was waiting at the end scene for it to finally come together but then it just ends.

It would have been better to not have the rival protagonist/antagonist subplot, and have focused more on the demonologist main plot. That's where the meat of the story is and needed context of a full backstory. Instead the end leaves you wondering why are we back here? And why did any of this happen?

It's a decent watch for when you can't find something else.

Characters are one note, and the actors present these elements in highly affected ways. Timothy Granaderos does the best in this film with making his character feel the most "real". Radha Mitchell embodies the role that she has well, but she doesn't always keep the balance of her slightly odd character and over acting. The story itself doesn't have much plotting to it: undiscovered actor is seeking to outshine obnoxious actor who is "lucky" in his seeming career. That's the main motivation in the film. It takes a surreal twist as a demonologist is engaged to learn about the pending role to increase chances with landing it. Film looks well made, and there is tension built by the production. The biggest stumbling block is that there isn't much here to make a movie. This feels like a room has been fully furnished, but everything is made out of cardboard underneath the surface. 3 stars solely for the effort of the acting and overall production values.

The first 2/3 of the movie I was following along and the plot was interesting. The characters were getting fleshed out and we get a backstory for the main actor and the demonologist. This was a great set up as the story kept going and you're trying to figure out where is everything going in the end. The acting, sound, lighting etc was on point and I do like the locations that they used.

However, there was very little mention of devils and demonology. There was some mention here and there but I thought okay the man is trying to get ready for his role what can he gain lore wise from the demonologist. This is why the ending failed for me since it just ends flat and doesn't answer the question on why the main actor was there for. I like closures in my movies and this one didn't really have one.

Radha Mitchell is great and puts in a solid effort as a demonologist who attempts to mentor a struggling actor. Said actor is a twenty-something nitwit who is cool because he smokes weed and listens to the rippity rap music yo.

So we get half an hour of him behaving like a weener with occassional scenes of blaring rap in lieu of a proper soundtrack, destroying any potential atmosphere.

By the time he gets to Radha to 'study' her ways, I was bored of everything about him. Sadly, the rest of the movie starts to 'explore' his backstory while you consider taking a nap. There's a sub-plot bubbling away with an acting rival, but that's of no interest to anyone.

It asks very few questions, contains almost no horror and is in no way profound or thought-provoking.

Maybe it's some "deep metaphor or something about life" but the ending just sucked in my opinion. The acting was phenomenal on both ends. They played their parts perfectly. It had a good story and buildup. I liked almost everything about the movie except the ending.

The demonology lore and art was interesting. They could have made the "ritual" a lot more exciting than it was. They could have cut some of the scenes of the boring stoner Donald and his friends smoking and chatting too.

I didn't hate the ending it was just boring and did not explain anything. Worth a watch if you don't care about that.