Saturday, March 22, 2014

Beginners Guide to Black Metal


Want to get started in Black Metal and join the metal elite? Too intimidated by the kvlt purists and variety? I give you The Aculeus' Highly Comprehensive Guide to Black Metal. As far as I know, this is the most in depth guide there is just in terms of pure content. Listen to each album as directed and find your niche. Enjoy.
(Note: You'll have to open the image in a new tab to view read it)

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Non-Stop


Non-Stop released in American theatres about two weeks ago by the time of this writing and I saw it last Saturday. It's an action/suspense thriller that's set on an international flight 40,000 feet in the air. To be clear, this is not a shoot-em-up sort of movie where everything explodes and yadda yadda. In fact, there's not much with which to fuel explosions at all since almost the entire film is shot aboard the plane.
The plot is actually very straight forward. Liam Nesson plays an Air Marshall who boards the flight like it's any other day. It isn't long before he starts to receive some highly sketchy text messages from an unknown person who threatens to kill a passenger every twenty minutes until $150 million is wired to some account of his. Nesson, whose character is named Bill Marks, takes this very seriously right off the bat, though his colleagues think he's just overreacting. In classic Jack Bauer form, he defies the commands of his superiors in order to stop the terrorist at any cost.
Liam Neeson is often typecast as the troubled cop-type character with a broken family and in this he's no different. Bill Marks has recently lost a daughter, his wife is God knows where (I don't recall it actually mentioning much of her), he's been discharged from the police force and on top of all that, he's a struggling alcoholic. One of the twists of the film comes about when the media gets hold of the developing crisis and starts slandering Marks to make him look like a delusional drunk who's hijacking the plane either for his own selfish benefit or just because he's gone mad. Despite it being his usual role, Neeson plays it well and makes it seem like a new character.
The other cast members are also pretty strong. In the airport scene before boarding the flight, the film briefly has a few shots of each character that's going to be important at some point in the flight. Julianne Moore plays a somewhat OCD woman named Jen Summers who, at first, I thought would be more of a throwaway character (just to get another big name) but she ends up being instrumental in the plot.
An interesting face to see was Cory Stoll who you may recognize as Peter Russo from House of Cards. He plays pretty much the same character except instead of a politician with a shitty attitude, he's a cop with a shitty attitude. Along with him are mostly C-level actors like Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery and Nate Parker who all play important roles that are each defined from each other.


But the real question is, does the movie deliver? Why, yes, it most certainly does. Non-Stop really is a non-stop ride from start to finish. It's paced in the opening scenes but once it gets going, it's full throttle suspense through and through. One possibly weird way to summarize this film would be if you combined the novel Airframe by Michael Crichton with the movie Scream. Drama and intrigue on a commercial jet where everyone is a suspect and keeps you guessing at the true killer until the very end. I'm usually fairly adept at figuring out the twist of a movie before it hits (Shutter Island was obvious), but I can honestly say here that I didn't see it coming until it came and it's not like the film just pulled some unguessable deus ex machina out of thin air, it makes sense. What looks like a simple heist from the outside may actually run a lot deeper.
After hunting the elusive killer down, uncovering several accomplices and having to work against the uncooperative passengers, police force and media, it all comes down to a final harrowing climax which is where most of the movie's action comes from. There are a couple of other combat scenes scattered about to keep you on your toes, one very exciting one in particular that involves the impossibly close quarters of the lavatory, but all flashiness is saved for the end. This contrast serves to make the final scenes that much more intense and by then your pulse will be way above usual.


There are of course some things that bring it down. The main issue I have with the movie is that by the end of the film, there were several plot points that seemed sketchy. Not that they were conflicting or that there were plot holes, rather there were a few mysteries that were simply never explained. You wouldn't likely notice it thanks to the editing and the fact that you're generally too concerned with what's happening to think about it, but further reflection warranted some areas that needed clarification. This is one of those few times that I really wish the villain had gone off on some gaudy speech explaining how he did everything. I suppose it's more realistic that the villain doesn't, but it's lazy writing if you ask me. The film was obviously not intended for the Michael Bay audience and expects us to not be stupid so it's not excusable to make that sort of error.
Overall, Non-Stop was a film that had some flaws but watching it, you'd be way too wrapped up in the heat of the moment to care. Definitely the thrill-ride that it promises and highly worth the watch.

9.25/10 - Very thrilling, keeps you guessing.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Upcoming: Godzilla (New Trailer, More Insight)


It's been since December since the last update, and since then, a new Godzilla trailer has been released and more insight has been given on the plot. First, here's the theatrical trailer that released a few weeks ago.


Well, the first thing that I notice about this trailer is that opening line, "I want to talk to someone in charge." I'm wondering if that was an intentional reference to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but it's possible that it's just a coincidence. The next thing I would pick out would be the shot at around 0:17. Notice those origami cranes looming over the city skyline like that? I seriously doubt that that was not a deliberate cinematographic move... perhaps foreshadowing?
But let's get to the important things. Have we learned anything new about the setting? Why, yes we have indeed. Gareth Edwards (the director) notes that this movie is about a global crisis and the trailer obviously is jumping all over the place. However there are a few shots that may hint to the main focus. Notice the desert setting and palm trees in many of these shots, then notice the Statue of Liberty. That background looks to be curiously unlike the New York harbor. Well, there are only three Liberty statues in the world and the only one that's in a desert is in Sin City. A Las Vegas setting seems like an incredibly unique idea for this movie, I don't think I've ever seen a monster movie that takes place there.
I love the idea that's suggested in this trailer that states that the nuclear tests taking place in the Pacific in the 50's didn't awaken Godzilla or mutate him from an iguana or something. No, they were trying to murder his ass. That's an amazingly un-cliche plot point for any giant monster movie, much more so for Godzilla.


Gareth pointed out in another interview that they are trying to capture an emotional aspect to the film rather than just go for straight dumb action. He said he expects people to tear up... not sure if he can make good on that promise but at least we can go into the theatre with the solace that it won't be a brain dead explosion fest. Evidence to this emotion is Bryan Cranston's performance, which we get to see a bit more of here. There's that one shot at 1:37 where he gets all choked up, presumably because he's being forced to part with whomever is on the other side of that closing blast door.
Also, Ken Wantanabe, whom you may remember as Ra's al Ghul from Batman Begins, has a great monologue in the latter half of the video. What role he has in the movie, there's no way to predict, but this part here almost makes him out to be an antagonist (which doesn't make that much sense, really).
Oh, and fuckin' a! We finally get a good glimpse at the new and improved King of the Monsters. It's a brief shot of him making his iconic roar and it only lasts for a few fleeting seconds, but hell, it's by far the clearest shot we've gotten to date. I really dig the updated image from what I've seen of it. It's clearly a new look but it's still recognizable as the Godzilla we all know and love, unlike the 1998 one which was so un-Godzilla like, it was renamed Zilla by Toho.
As for the enemy monster(s), there are all sorts of  forumers making all sorts of predictions. I've heard everything from Gigan to the Smog Monster being predicted, so what we'll end up with in the theatre is anyone's guess. The spider-like creature that I mentioned in my last post is still up in the air and the filmmakers have hinted at something called Muto which is sounding like it's going to be some kind of mutate insect type creature. I wonder if that's what that bizarre appendage at 2:07 belongs to. Speaking of which, go back to those hanging origami cranes from before. I wonder if that's implying that they will be more than one of those things... and/or that they can fly. But this is all just fan-made conjecture, what this Muto thing really is, no one can be certain.


Whatever all of these new hints and trailers truly mean, we can't know until we're in the theatre on May 16th. It's great to see that this film is shaping up to be something memorable made by someone who actually cares about the fans and the movie (and of course, Godzilla himself), rather than just someone who's in it to rape the name and be paid seven figures. Recent monster movies haven't seen much success, with Pacific Rim being a box office failure and critics speculate this is because the giant monster genre is old, tired and dead. I think this movie is going to prove all of them wrong. May 16th couldn't come soon enough and with so much of the movie being kept hush-hush under lock-and-key, it'll be fun going into the place not knowing what to expect. See you there.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Iron Man 3


After much deliberation, I finally decided to bite the bullet and watch this movie. If you've read some of my past posts, you probably know that at this point in time, my relationship with the superhero franchise is not great. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 2, The Wolverine, The Incredible Hulk and The Avengers were all disappointments and I had all but given up on the comic book craze. That is until I gave this one a watch and found a bit of gleaming redemption amidst the rest of the overhyped series.
As convoluted as most of these films are getting, the plot of Iron Man 3 is fairly straight forward. This terrorist named Mandarin wants to shake things up here in little ol' America and he does so via a string of seemingly untraceable bombings. It isn't long before these get a little too personal for Tony Stark, who's been suffering from bouts of immobilizing panic attacks, when his chief of security, Happy, is seriously wounded in one such attack. The always cocky Tony Stark takes it upon himself to challenge this Mandarin guy by broadcasting a threat to him over the news and it's just all downhill from there.
I'd like just to make a quick note that I find it somewhat disturbing that some of the terrorist bombing stock footage used in the movie were real bombings where real people really died. Of course, you wouldn't know that unless you spent some amount of time on Liveleak thereby recognizing the videos, but it's still kind of a fucked up thing to do if you ask me.
In a classic, this-type-of-movie cliche, one of the early scenes exhibits Tony showing off some fancy new gadget. This particular trick allows each of the components of the suit operate independently to remotely locate Stark wherever he may be and form the suit right there on the spot. While that may sound like the most ominous deus ex machina in action film history, Iron Man 3 is thankfully above that and doesn't cop-out in the heat of the action. Also on the other side of the spectrum, it's nice to note that this trick wasn't tossed in to only be used in one or two scenes, it's actually fairly essential and sees implementation in several scenes.
One of the things that makes this particular installment excel way beyond the dismal Iron Man 2 is it's high entertainment value. Iron Man 2 was too dull, too simple and too stupid to live up to it's far superior predecessor and with only two rushed scenes featuring the main antagonist actually fighting, it was highly disappointing. This one has much more action and doesn't feel so much like a sequel for the sake of being a sequel. One sequence in particular has Stark trying to catch a bunch people who were just sucked out of a falling airplane. It feels like a classic superhero kind of situation and his solution to it is clever. I also enjoy watching Stark's in-the-moment problem solving, as he employs little foresight whenever in a tense situation and rather opts for whatever can fix the immediate danger that he's in (e.g. launching out of his suit to avoid an attack but not having given any thought about where he intends to land). Of course just straight action doesn't make a film and this one still does not quite live up to the original film which was more intelligent by comparison.


And of course there are things that bring this film down. As a trade off to the greater amount of action, it's unsurprising that much of it tends to be pretty over the top with too much CG, however, if you're coming off of The Avengers, it'd probably look like the fucking Bourne Identity. It also suffers from the same problem as The Wolverine, as it fails to make any substantial developments in the protagonist's character. Sure, there's some kind of visible change that we can see, but like The Wolverine, I don't feel like we needed an entire movie just to cover it.
It also has some pretty stupid moments in it like in one scene where a kid doesn't recognize Tony Stark but then shows him a newspaper that he happened to be holding that has Tony Stark's face on the front page. I noticed that on my first casual viewing so I get the feeling that this is one of those movies that's potentially riddled with little plot flubs like that (if you've ever seen the CinemaSins episode, you know what I'm talking about). And of course there's the glaring "Where are the Avengers" thing, which I guess is going to be an unspoken plot-hole for the rest of comic book movie history. On top of that, I find it kind of lame that anyone can just throw on a suit and become Iron Man; who the hell needs Tony Stark in that case? It kind of destroys the sanctity of the superhero if anyone can be him and, I know I'm not as well versed on my comic book knowledge as I used to be, but isn't it that glowing thing inside Tony's chest that powers the suit? So how can anyone else fly it?
Also pretty stupid is the fact that you'd have to be an idiot to not realize that a certain character becomes the main bad guy even though the movie sets it up to seem like he's just a nice dude. Finally, I think that the Christmas setting was a gimmicky idea that just shouldn't of been done, this isn't Die Hard, people.


Also notable of this film is that holy shit, this is the fifth highest fucking grossing film of all time. Yeah, with a budget of $200 million (which is actually not too insane for movies like this anymore), it made 1.2 billion dollars. As these comic book films become only more and more impossibly popular the rate at which they are made (and hopefully the quality but don't hold your breath) can only be expected to continue going up. So hopefully, for your own sake, you're not yet sick of these movies because there's no way in hell that they're going away anytime soon.
So Iron Man 3 is actually not too bad a film. It's redeeming over the rest of the superhero flicks that have been flying out of Hollywood faster than one can count. It's still no masterpiece but it's entertaining, good action and maybe even worth a watch.

7.25/10 - Redeeming but still not great

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Top 10 Giant Monster Movies That Are Not Godzilla

With the 31st Godzilla film slated for release this coming May and all of the hype that's surrounding it, it can be easy to forget that Godzilla is not the only monster to have stomped through a cityscape, spreading mass hysteria and mayhem. So let's give the king of the monsters a rest and pay homage to some of the other behemoths. The rule is that the attacker has to be giant and the film has to be set, at least partially, within the confines of a populated area. This is Top 10 Giant Monster Movies That Are Not Godzilla.

10. Cloverfield



The film that's partially responsible for popularizing the found-footage genre again, Cloverfield is kind of a take on how the 1998 American Godzilla should've been, e.g. not Godzilla. Not that there's anything wrong with him but if you're going to take a preexisting series and adapt it, you have to do it right or just do something new. Cloverfield is something new. A giant monster movie that manages to be wholly unlike most others, in that, this monster is hardly seen at all, at least not clearly. The posters and trailers were all deliberately elusive to the appearance of the thing, but I doubt that most people expected that the actual film would be too. Not only that but the film is highly stylistic, at least it was for the time, whereas, were it made now it'd be accused of jumping on the found-footage bandwagon. It's got just the right amount of new mixed with just the right amount of old and it works.

9. War of the Gargauntuas


Let's just skip over the incredibly convoluted backstory to this one and just talk about why it's great. First of all, it was made by the one and only Toho, the same film studio that made all of the Godzilla films. This particular one is actually a sequel to the movie Frankenstein vs. Baragon, though it's not necessary to see that for War of the Gargantuas to make sense (and like I said, let's just not get into it). This one is about two giant ape-like monsters who can't agree over whether or not they should be killing people, so they beat the shit out of each other for a good 40 minutes. One of the things that makes this movie so great is that the costumes the actors wear are not nearly as bulky as many of the more elaborate ones from other Toho films, making the actual brawling more intense. It's also interesting to note is that this film has seen a fair amount of references for being the obscure foreign film that it is. One in particular is from the show Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated (which is also known as Horror References That Kids Won't Understand), in an episode titled Battle of the Humungonauts, which is essentially just a parody the entire time. However, it's the pretitle sequence that stands out as they perfectly spoof the awful musical segment of the film that features a woman in a yellow dress doing a very poor job at singing the song "Feel In My Heart (The Words Get Stuck In My Throat)". When I caught that reference, I thought I may have been the only person ever to have made the connection.

8. Super 8



I would like to point out that it was completely fucking unintentional that this film ended up in the eighth spot. This one was directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg and, all things considered, passed through the theaters without a ton of attention. I think that the best thing this film has going for it, is that it's cliche at the same time as it's completely new. It's set in 1979 and it's style and preteen "gang" brings to mind favorites like The Goonies, which I would guess was a very intentional connection. The only major complaint that I have there is that the CG that is used is off-putting and only serves to remove the viewer from the time when present. It's also a bit like Cloverfield in that the monster isn't actually seen much. Rather it's the likable characters that drive the film from beginning to end and make it fully worth the watch.

7. Reptilicus



Mother. Fucking. Reptilicus. This Danish monster is really only on this list because it's almost the quintessential classic monster flick. This fucking guy is a motherfucking puppet and the film is literally just him fucking shit up. How much more badass can you get than that? None.

6. The Lost World



Based upon the 1912 Arthur Conan Doyle novel of the same name, The Lost World was a landmark of special effects in motion pictures (pulled off by none other than Willis O'Brien) and, being released in 1925, it predates even legendary monster movie pioneers such as King Kong. While much of the film does take place on a mysterious island where dinosaurs roam free, explorers who have only just discovered the place, decide to take one of the beasts, a brontosaurus, back to civilization with them in order to show it off. Not surprisingly, it breaks loose and raises hell all over the city. By today's standards it's nothing unique, but back then, nothing like this picture had ever before been seen. If you can put yourself in the time, this is one to watch.

5. Them!


Okay, so I may be cheating here because Them is a film about multiple giant monsters instead of just one, but this movie is so great that it deserves to be made an exception. Them is as simple as the title, just a flick about radioactive giant ants and the humans who want to get rid of them. But what makes this particular movie stand out against the many other similar-plotted b-movies that Hollywood was making at the time, was that it was paced remarkably well. Generally in these types of movies, any talking just seems like petty filler, but here it's all about the set-up. Sure it's not exactly a scary film, but the anticipation is in waiting for the killer ant action and finding out how the humans plan to quell the insect menace. I promise that this one is worth it.

4. The Blob



Of course when I say The Blob, I'm referring to the original 1958 version, starring the 28 year old Steve Mcqueen as a high-schooler. This film is just so classic that it hardly even needs to be mentioned. With a monster so delightfully simple as just a blob, it's easy to imagine how this movie came to be so iconic. The interesting thing is that the Blob itself actually starts out quite small but before anyone could do anything about it, it's swallowing up entire Diners. Despite being quite cliche and sporting one of, if not, the worst child actors I've ever seen in a film, it's a lighthearted crowd pleaser that is always entertaining.

3. Jurassic Park: The Lost World



Not to be confused with the aforementioned Arthur Conan Doyle film, The Lost World, about a team of scientists who take a dinosaur off of an island where dinosaurs roam free and bring it back to a city where it escapes and wreaks havoc, Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park: The Lost World is a film about a team of scientists who take a dinosaur off of an island where dinosaurs roam free and bring it back to a city where it escapes and wreaks havoc. Although the film has little to do with the superior novel that it cites as it's source material, it's still an enjoyable movie in it's own right and the T-Rex breaking loose in the middle of downtown San Diego is a great scene to this day.

2. King Kong



King Kong needs no introduction. He's the eighth wonder of the world, hauled into New York, New York from the distant Skull Island. The classic tale of beauty and the beast, King Kong is a time tested milestone of cinema that holds up to this day. Not much to say about it that hasn't already been said but if you haven't already see it, I would get on that if I were you.

1. Gamera 2: The Advent of Legion



So what could possibly top the legendary King Kong? Gamera, that's what. Before you get all huffy and start reaching for that keyboard, let me explain. King Kong is indisputably the better film no matter what angle you look at it from and it's the one that will continue to go down in history while Gamera won't. But when it comes to the category of monster films, when I want to see a city get destroyed or have to monsters duke it out with hapless skyscrapers caught in the crossfire, I'll turn to Gamera. The giant, fanged turtle with rocket boosters who beats the living hell out of whomever feels like fucking with Earth. After a series spanning the 60's to the 80's ended, Gamera was resurrected and now he's kicking alien ass and looking more badass than ever while doing it (who would've thought that a turtle could be so badass?). This new trilogy was almost gritty and much more geared to adults in stark contrast to the originals and this particular one is by far the best in my opinion. The plot is pretty straightforward when a hive of bug-like monsters land on earth, how else but, via meteor. What I love about this is that it's not just one big monster that Gamera has to fight but a whole swarm. Of course, the big bad guy rears it's ugly head sooner or later and it does not disappoint. This thing simply cannot be described so you'll just have to watch the movie to get any idea of what it is. With amazing conventional special effects, incredible monster battles, some insane character designs and a human cast that does more than just take up space, this is a monster movie that you'd have to be crazy to miss.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

The Crow


The darkest film in recent memory, The Crow, despite it's stylish appearances, is actually not an indie film. It's also probably one of the most black metal movies in existence, complete with tight leather, corpse face paint, ceremonial knives, gothic churches, angst, a fucklot of rain and a fucklot of night (all it needs is some Burzum). While it does come off as a somber and grim film, it manages to stay from bleakness and depression and doesn't leave the viewer unhappy.
The story goes that on October 30th (that's right, another Halloween film) some gang members are running about Detroit committing random crimes, as is the tradition of the annual Devil's Night. They break in upon a random, unsuspecting couple, who as fate would have it were to be married the next day, and brutally murder both of them. Skip ahead a year, and the murdered man, Eric Draven is awakened from his eternal slumber by a crow that alights upon his headstone. One of the interesting things that happens here is that Eric comes back delirious and totally confused and he stumbles after the crow through some rainy alleyways before he manages to make it back to his destroyed apartment where he recalls the events that led to his death. He cuts his hands on some glass only to watch as they immediately heal before his eyes in a Wolverine inspired way. He then dons his freakish face paint and sets out to find his killers.


If one were to take V for Vendetta and replace V with Rorschach from Watchmen and then set it in Sin City, the result would be The Crow. It's a surprisingly captivating supernatural action/thriller and feels completely fresh and unique. The main character, Eric, is such an interesting protagonist in that he is a good guy who follows a definite moral code, showing itself at several pivotal moments, but he's also fairly insane, acting out erratically and killing his victims in creative and resourceful ways. Not only can he heal himself, but he's an incredible fighter and he also can telepathically see through the eyes of the crow that guides him.
With a plot that sounds like an exploitation, drive-in gorefest, it doesn't come off as one in the least. It may actually suffer from the opposite problem, as it's just a bit too preachy with the philosophic aspect and may overstep its bounds just a bit as it gets into some quotes about love that just seem a bit out of place, not to mention the aforementioned angst. However, I've seen far, far worse offenders of that particular sin, so it's forgivable. Another somewhat weak point in this film is one of the main characters, a young girl named Sarah, who was cared for by Eric and his fiancé, doesn't particularly interest me. She has an important role and provides morality checks for Eric, but overall she's a fairly uninspiring addition to the film.


While also sporting some pretty awesome acrobatic action sequences that refrain from the cliche Matrix-esque over-the-top stuff. One scene in particular involves a lightning quick shootout in a huge meeting room that seems to belong in a big budget action film, followed shortly thereafter by a rooftop sword fight that's equally impressive.
It's an altogether unique and melancholy film that has amassed a minor cult following since its release. Rightfully so, as this one is worth the watch.

8.25/10 - Unique and worth it.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Satan's Little Helper


The small-scale cult horror film, Satan's Little Helper, actually has nothing to do with Christmas, despite the misleading pun in the title. It's a Halloween film that borrows from a few of the classic slasher films while managing to create something completely new. While having an obviously meager budget, this direct-to-DVD flick doesn't often show it, apart from having a low-quality camera and some less than oscar winning acting and it makes up for it in full thanks to it's inventiveness.
The plot goes that some kid named Dougie is obsessed with a game called Satan's Little Helper, wherein the goal is to cause all sorts of mayhem and mischief under the careful guidance of Satan. In fact, this kid is so into the game that he actually dresses up as Satan and he never talks about anything else. Seriously, I'm not sure if the kid has one single line that isn't directly related to Satan. Anyway, on Halloween night, he happens to bump into a mysterious character who's dressed up as the creep pictured above. The boy immediately latches onto his side and the wordless Satan employs him in order to carry out his bidding. What is said bidding? Well it mostly consists of murdering random people as well as foraying into nigh teenage level mischief as he impersonates a boyfriend in order to feel up a girl, steals candy from a convenience store, poisons a punch bowl and other such random crime.


It's a highly original concept that manages to be pretty creepy. One would think that Satan's eccentric affinity for goofing about with menial rebelliousness to be off-putting, but it adds a this-could-totally-happen-in-real-life aspect to it that in turn is disturbing in its own right. Though, don't mistake this film for scary, it's more of a dark comedy if anything else. Satan's law-breaking is often fabulously high-profile and his mannerisms can be funny just to watch as he carries out his actions with no regard to his own well-being.
There are a few things that bring it down of course. The lead child actor is pretty obnoxious and is over-the-top in all the wrong ways and you'd think that any self-respecting parent would be at least somewhat concerned with Dougie's avid obsession with Satan and Hell. Some of the crimes are simply too absurd to get away with, for instance there's a scene where Satan brings a fully-conscious, taped up hostage to a costume party and no one seems to care. Granted it's a costume party but it's stupid to think that anyone viewing the situation wouldn't guess that something was amiss. Not to mention, some of the character's thought processes make no discernible sense for example in one scene where a character wrongly believes that the guy in the Satan costume is his own father.
I would also note that the film sort of loses steam once Dougie gives up his blistering naïvety and figures out that Satan isn't playing a game. Then it sort of devolves into the characters trying to track the bastard down and in this, it runs on a bit too long for it's own good. There were several parts over the course of it's hour and 36 minute runtime where the film could've simply ended and would've had a decent cliffhanger, instead of trudging on to the point of mild campiness and reusing a few of it's gimmicks.


Satan's Little Helper is a pretty fun, slightly above-average horror flick that entertains with its unique ideas and macabre sense of humor. It's a good one to watch if you've got nothing better to do.

6.5/10 - Inventive. Not bad.