Devil's Night

I am a big fun of mystery horror movies and horror movies in general. This is the first one I actually have done a review on because I am soooo disappointed. Story line is soooo poor. Very slow beginning - shockingly slow actually - as the real action does not kick in until 57min into the film. None of the first 57min actually that much relates to the end. No answers given at the end - nor the hints within 57min what is this occult actually all about. There could be sooo much more that could be done to this movie to improve the story line. Very very poor - I only watched it because of high reviews - still don't know how the face on the movie poster relates in any form to the actual movie.

This film spends 42 minutes of the runtime doing absolutely nothing. And the last 37 minutes doing even less. The acting is terrible. The plot ( if you can call it that ) is tedious. The 4 friends are unlikable. I only watched to then end to see if maybe SOMETHING would happen that made any sense. Spoiler alert: it didn't. I only gave this a 3 because it was free and it didn't look like trash. It was filmed well.

But I'm not certain I like what it was either. 4 high school friends (should have been college friends as they all looked too old for HS) are hanging at a party. The first 3/4 of the film was an okay depiction of the hubris and bored rebellion of youth, with just a hint at what was motivating their behaviors. Unfortunately, the film packed in the "devil's night" in the last quarter stunting what could have been a few steps further in characterization for mindless satanism (maybe, or some sort of cult worship). Even pushing the adolescent male relationships further into a toxic space and horrifying that element would have been better than what was the last 15 minutes of the film But instead, it just maintains its pointless torture for some unspoken reason of the devil worshippers; end. And I mean it just ends. There is a small scene after to try to share how bad it was, but no, we are told nothing more. So somewhat affecting bro culture display ending with pointless cult satanism. The rating is pulled higher for the descent acting and depiction of "youth in revolt" of how the film started. If it was only the last part, it would get a 1.

Coming back to this after 2 years, mostly to see if I was just crazy with my initial 8/10. Admittedly there were mind enhancement elements at play then, but that only goes so far. Garbage is garbage, high or not.

Holiday horror movies are an obsession with mine, and I keep Oct with strictly Halloween based flicks, so one comes across the basically endless degree of low budget trash out there. In all those I've only 1 starred two absolute abominations. I start everything and neutral 5/10 and go from there. Admittedly it takes a lot for me to drop to 4 or below, let alone a 1.

In this case, we open with a still interesting several window pan of our Halloween party, still reminding me somewhat of the hospital multi-room scan-shot from "It Follows." It shows a certain creativeness behind the camera that unfortunately seems to drop off from there.

Second, the moment you realize these clearly college+ aged "kids" are actually trying to come across as High Schoolers is a hilarity in itself which I found to greatly enhance the absurdity of their going about such juvenile antics. I doubt this was the intent, but unintentionally or no, this brings an entertainment factor.

Third, with no idea where things are going, the moment things go Eyes Wide Shut can be startling. While obviously this doesn't compare to the depth of depravity you can find in Halloween horror, it's an effective contrast to its "youthful" antics.

I've gone from a 9 to now a 7/10 for this, on curve for low budget Halloween horror. If you aren't hopelessly addicted to holiday horror, and if it isn't around Halloween, even I would say to stay away. Most normies watch 1 Halloween based flick for the month, if even, and there are obviously far better options out there.

Full disclosure, most of these flicks get a 6 on my end, assuming I finished, didn't regret, and found even a modicum of entertainment. Takes a lot to up from the basic pass of a 6 (above neutral 5) to hit 7, and this movie achieved that for me. Obviously I am in the far minority here, but I still find this to exceed most of the plethora of Halloween "horror" you can find on Tubi, or whatever, which are about a dime a million. It isn't Carpenters original Halloween, obviously, which I still hold as the gold standard 10/10.

It's hard to put into words how truly astoundingly awful this "movie" - that is a very generous use of the word - really is. The world's oldest looking high school students are kicked out of a party after a fight. They they spend nearly an hour walking, talking, driving, egging houses, lighting poop on fire, ringing doorbells - you know, incredibly dull running time filler stuff. One disappears , so they drive, walk, and talk about that. They make two attempts to return to the party. They are not welcome. Then around an hour into an 85 minute movie a cult shows up, as if the filmmakers suddenly remembered "oh yeah, it's a horror movie." By this time, there is no salvaging this mess and a lame suburban death cult comes off as an afterthought. Give this one a hard pass, you HAVE to have something better to do.