Devil's Mile

So, the acting was not that bad to be honest, and the concept was OK, but the effects were cheap and horrible, and the plot was boring and went nowhere. With a huge budget, alright maybe, but this is a low-budget flick and just obviously cheap.

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.

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.

I read the reviews before I watched it, and I almost didn't watch it, but I felt like watching some rubbish, and you know, I'm glad this was it.

Not because it's rubbish, but because there's so much more here than meets the eye.

It starts out simple enough, after the grab, after the kidnapping. There's a tiny hint, a little bit of predestination, and a fair bit of creepy at that.

The actresses are pretty good, the actor playing the male kidnapper is not quite as good, but he's passable, and the two other men do a reasonable job actually.

There are twists in this movie. One made me feel clever because I saw it coming even if I couldn't tell you why. The other... the other slipped right past me...

I actually recommend watching this. It's a pleasant little gem.

There was a good idea somewhere in 'Devil's Mile', and it did leave me quite intrigued. Even though part of me already worried reading the plot summary about whether the film would be muddled in execution, there was that trap. It was this idea though that was my main reason in seeing 'Devil's Mile', as well as liking a lot of films in the genres it fits under. It also didn't look too bad and the title is attention grabbing.

Really do wish that when seeing it that the film itself was as attention grabbing as the cover and title. 'Devil's Mile' is not an unwatchable film and have seen far worse films recently and overall, and in the genres it fits under. It is though in my view not a good film either, mostly a mess actually, and did fall in the potential traps it had from the get go. Decent potential but the devillish quality was sorely missing, there was not enough of it from the start and it continued to diminish until by the end there was nothing left.

'Devil's Mile' is not irredeemable. It doesn't look too bad visually, nothing that blows the mind but there is a grit and eeriness to the photography and the setting has atmosphere.

Also thought the actors did a reasonable job and they at least looked as though they were trying, considering what was given to them which was too little and pretty poor.

However, 'Devil's Mile' is a mess elsewhere and did too little with the potential that was there. It was not to do with that it was not trying. It was trying. If anything, there is a try too hard feel, like it wasn't sure what to do with itself and it gave off a muddled feel that affected the cohesion. Didn't see any of the things that the summary indicated there would be. To me, the pacing was not relentless, it moderately engaged to start with but very quickly went downhill and became very dull with a lot of going nowhere parts, narratively this was flimsy. The action-oriented parts were not enough and didn't have the necessary energy.

Nothing thrilling or horrifying in 'Devil's Mile' either. There is a complete lack of suspense and surprises, didn't see much grit, for it to convince as a crime thriller, and it fails too as a supernatural horror, again because the suspense is lacking, some of the horror looks afterthought-like and the excessive predictability and dull pace hurt it further. It would have been better for it to have done either or, which would have made the story more focused.

Script was in serious need of a tightening up and proof-reader, it's pedestrian and one can get lost trying to make sense of what is being said.

Overall, a mess but not an avoidable one. 3/10