THE RESTAURANT AKA THE DEVIL'S RESTAURANT tells the story of a Faustian Bargain between the manager of a Restaurant and a demon. The terms of the deal are that the demon makes the restaurant successful by sending it lots of guests, many of whom will never be missed if they disappeared, and in return the manager feeds some of those to the demon.
Based on this premise, a script for a horror-comedy would seem to almost write itself: many aspects of the restaurant industry can be mined for scenes of situational humor, not to mention that food itself is a ripe subject for entertainment.
Alas, this movie felt very much like the script needed to be rewritten a few more times. After an awesome prologue during the opening credits, by far the best part of the film, it gets progressively sillier and worse. By the time the movie ends, one feels disappointment at just how short this fell of its potential.
The main characters cannot be blamed. Mark Robert Turner and Anthony Misiano did well, the best job in the cast. Turner's character reminded me a bit of John Cleese's character in the TV series FAWLTY TOWERS, and Misiano seems to be a natural comedian.
The production design was okay. The exterior of the restaurant looked kind of shabby compared to what a fine dining Italian restaurant is expected to look like, but that may well have been the point: it would take the demon's powers to attract lots of people to this place.
Some of the cinematography gave this away as a low budget affair, but this does not set the movie back nearly as much as the screenplay. The premise was good, some aspects of the story were innovative, some of the gags landed, but it all felt like it should have been allowed to stew a little more before being served up for realization.
