Devil's Workshop

It seems like it's going to be a little campy but isn't, a little monstery but isn't, a little interesting but isn't. This is one of the worst movies you will ever see.

The movie starts to build multiple things that never go anywhere: parallels between the main character and rival, a tragic backstory for the main character, are demons real, and then ... nothing happens. I feel bad for the actors who do a good job playing the characters they've been given only to be misused by a meandering script and put in some CGI circa 2001.

This movie is bad, it should feel bad, and you should watch something else. Starry Eyes takes this concept and actually does quite well with it, watch that instead.

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.

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.

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.

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.