Devil's Mile

Sometimes I watch a movie because I'm doing something else that's fairly dull and want a little action. That was my reason for watching "Devil's Mile" on Amazon. Adjusting from 5 scale on Amazon to 10 scale on IMDb, the viewers there are giving it a 7.2. Now that I've seen it, I have to agree.

The standard creepy elements are all there. This film isn't breaking any new ground, but then that's never stopped people from making and watching movies before. There are even things I was predicting that showed up as expected. It's actually when the female leads get talking seriously that the story moves along. There's a creepy dude that shows up in what seem like flashbacks. He only really begins to make sense to the story when you get near the end... and I did not predict the end.

This movie simply is not as bad as the overall ratings make it out to be. But then, consider the limited number of reviews this film has had.

Let me premise this by confessing I am a huge horror fan. I don't consider my time wasted watching what casual and occasional horror viewers probably consider rot. I'm not sure why, but I finished this. I think I just wanted to know where all this aimless wandering ended up. It had some redeemable moments. And the ending may have been the most concise part of the film.

Captures the descent into Hell nature of a Lovecraftian story. Modern setting and rugged desert enhance what is a standard story of kidnapping, organized crime, and sweet maddening inferno. Doesn't quite come together enough for a better rating. Watchable but not necessarily recommendable.

There's the basic plot to Devil's Mile that should have set up a much better movie. Part of the problem is the initial script and the angst of the characters. It felt contrived, felt, well, 'acted'. That part of the movie gets better and 10 minutes in seems to find a better tempo. The problem mainly is with the male character. He's over-the-top disrespectful of the girls and super aggressive. Given this is a crime and presumably people need to keep cool heads, well, it just didn't make sense to me. Then there's the problem of the absence of spook. The filmmaker seems to think an arial shot of a lonely highway at night is enough to create a chilly ambience. It's not enough. We could have done with some creepy roadside debris or roadkill, or ghostly reflections in car windows, some twilight zone cinematography. When the movie transitions from crime to horror we haven't been adequately prepared for it. Baffling, is a word that comes to mind. Also Incongruent. OK, I'm being super hard on this effort. In truth I quite enjoyed Devil's Mile. The story was certainly novel. Put it this way, it's unlikely you'll figure out how it ends before it actually does. It's the sort of movie that's really difficult to describe without giving spoilers. In a way it's as if the writers pushed for production of the movie given their original concept, and were given the go ahead way too early on that basis. In fact, they needed sit back and expand their vision to ensure the mystery elements and other transitions each had a sensible weight and lead in. What the hell. What do I know. I only watch them. But I do love them.... Devil's Mile is original enough that I hope the writers and filmmakers don't lose heart and have another go. They certainly deserve that at least.

This film could have gone under the radar. And it would have been fine. But the fact that David Hayter is in this, it will mean that every immature, armchair critic/gamer is going to take this movie apart with a dull, cheap kitchen knife.

It's not difficult to assume that this film is at best a college project. Everybody involved in this movie is young and have no previous film credits. Except for a handful of short films. David Hayter is fine. Its just odd that he's in this.

Its a confusing story. And the reason is because its trying to be too clever. At the end of the film, we get a twist ending that doesn't warrant why anything had happened. Its a bunch of kidnappers that hold 2 Japanese women inside the trunk of a car. The kidnappers drive into the middle of no where and they lose track of time. And then they get haunted by a female ghost for no reason. It jump cuts to a garage with a bald man that is holding one of the kidnappers upside down and the bald man tries to sound creepy. And then it jump cuts back to the road with the kidnappers.

The film is a mess. But that kind of thing is expected from first time film makers. The project was too ambitious to carry. My advice to the film makers regarding future projects: less is more. And a high concept idea doesn't mean confusing the audience through out the whole film and then fix it with a twist ending. People are just going to get aggravated.

In a positive note - the actors were actually good. All of them. They were very likable. Except the bald man. He was trying too hard or not hard enough