Devil's Den

I was looking for a horror film last night and came across this one in the video store. It surprised me because I had never heard of it. What a great find! I laughed all the way through it. The plot twists were nice, especially where I assumed something was going to happen one way because it always happens in these type of genre films, then it twists for that very same reason. A certain Japanese scene that comes out of nowhere is my favorite.

Kelly Hu is hot but no where near as hot as the girl who plays Jezebel. She is smoking, and I'm surprised I haven't seen her in more stuff. Definitely got a new fan in me.

Devon Sawa is funny and Ken Foree is as solid and reliable as ever, even pretty funny himself in a gruff mentorish sort of way.

It's a low budget movie so I can see why I went straight to DVD but still, definitely worth the 90 or so minutes it takes to watch.

Hope they make a sequel.

OK, OK...so it's rip-off of several other horror-comedies. It's still fairly amusing and at least slightly unpredictable. Shoddy FX don't ruin ALL your enjoyment. Plus, you get to see Devon Sawa looking like he's been hanging around outside hotels cadging cigarette butts.

But now to the important stuff. Is everyone in horror movies completely deaf? I mean, you can have four people just yammering away in an argument just down the hall from a dozen ghouls, and the ghouls apparently don't hear a thing. At one point, a couple is just plain yelling at each other at the entrance to a cave (plus, one of them is firing a gun periodically) and the creatures inside the cave are absolutely oblivious. I've never been in a cave where that would have worked. And it's not just this movie, either. Evil slashers are always dropping out of the ceiling behind a victim, pulling up alongside cars in their own cars, and opening doors and hatches right next to potential victims. Does anyone notice anything? Nope. I mean, I'm 54 years old and I know I would have figured it out.

But enough digression. This is an OK movie. Check it out, if you like the genre.

(2006) Devil's Den HORROR/ COMEDY

Conventional lower budget version of "From Dusk Til Dawn" clone which the two are almost identical! With Quinn (Devon Sawa), Caitlin (Kelly Hu) and Leonard (Ken Foree) go to strip club called "Devil's Den" down in Mexico, only to confront a bunch of ghouls. The film starts off as a gore fest to a simple minded comedy toward the end, especially the final dual between Hu and the queen of ghouls who for some reason doesn't even call out her ghoul cohorts. Inconsistently convenient and conventional which the director of this film and the producer may have collided!

This film essentially begins with two young men by the name of "Quinn" (Devon Sawa) and "Nick" (Steven Schub) driving back to the United States with a cache of Spanish Fly they had recently purchased in Mexico. Naturally, being the losers that they are, they cannot wait to try their merchandise out on the first unsuspecting women they meet, so they stop at a small, seedy nightclub known as the Devil's Den along the way. To that effect, noticing a beautiful dancer by the name of "Jezebel" (Dawn Olivieri) casting looks his way, Quinn invites her to his table and, when she accepts his offer of a drink, manages to slip one of the pills into it without her noticing. Sure enough, the Spanish Fly produces immediate results and within minutes she is leading him to a quite spot to continue their romantic encounter. Meanwhile, an attractive woman by the name of "Caitlin" (Kelly Hu) has noticed the two leaving through the back door and has decided to follow them for reasons that remain unknown at this time. However, when she finally catches up to the two of them, she notices Quinn fighting for his life against a hideous creature that is attempting to devour him-and there are even more creatures of this type that have suddenly appeared as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this movie certainly had potential as both the initial plot and the presence of several attractive actresses like Kelly Hu, Dawn Olivieri and Karen Maxwell (as the waitress named "Candy") certainly provoked my interest. Unfortunately, my interest waned to a great degree due to the number of uninspired action scenes repeated over and over again. Likewise, the transformation of the beautiful actresses into hideous ghouls didn't help either. In any case, other than a few moments here and there, I found this movie to be rather dull for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

I recently rewatched Devil's Den (2006) on Tubi. The storyline follows a group of shady characters who converge at a strip club, each with their own hidden motives. As their true intentions are revealed, the strippers suddenly transform into flesh-eating ghouls. Now, the strangers must band together if they hope to escape their deadly predicament.

This film is directed by Jeffrey Burr (Straight into Darkness) and stars Devon Sawa (Final Destination), Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), Kelly Hu (The Scorpion King), and Dawn Olivieri (Bright).

The plot of Devil's Den is essentially From Dusk Till Dawn with ghouls instead of vampires, but with fewer compelling subplots, characters, and a noticeable drop in star power-despite a cast that had the potential to make this a much better film. The strip club setting worked well for the horror element, offering plenty of beautiful women and nudity, along with some fun kills and gore. The masks, makeup, and use of contacts showed promise. However, once the film tries to explain what's happening and why, it falls apart. The dialogue turns painfully bad, and even the actors seem to stop taking the material seriously, as if they were filming during a weekend horror convention. It's a shame because this could have been much better. Perhaps it would have worked better as a parody.

In conclusion, Devil's Den has some entertaining kills and gore but is ultimately a poor From Dusk Till Dawn knockoff. I would score this a 4/10 and only recommend it with the right expectations.