So I finally got to watch Satan’s Playground, which was on my top ten list of films to see this year. I love the title of this film Satan’s Playground, sounds like the lost fucked up film ever. Well it kind of is. First and foremost this film is actually Dante Tomaselli take on the legend of the Jersey Devil, Now it’s his fictional take on the story, so all you jersey devil freaks don’t go knocking the film because he gave the story some good old fashion blood and guts. Now with that said let me just point out one thing. There is a reason why the films scare factor is so high. Some of you fanboys who jerk off in your parents basement might drop the E-bombs on me telling me I’m a fucking pussy. The fact of the matter is that you never created a child before and I just did. And Tomaselli gave me a ninety minute heart attack by putting an infant into the hands of a bunch of sadistic people, and left you wondering throughout the whole film just what they had in mind for little baby Anthony. Anyway enough from me.
Satan’s Playground is loosely based (as I stated above) on the legend of the jersey devil. If you don’t know anything about the legend, google it. I’m not explaining the whole thing. The film starts off with a family on a road trip to spend some quality family time in the wilderness at a log cabin. Well they never make it there. Just so happens their car gets stuck in a hole on a dirt road, and Frank (Salvatore Paul Piro) has to take a hike though the woods to find help. His annoying wife Donna (Felicia Rose) and her sister, Paula (Ellen Sandweiss) are stuck waiting in the car along with Paula’s baby, and Donna and Frank’s autistic son Sean (Danny Lopez). As the story moves along more and more of the family starts to leave the car for a hike though the woods, each of them seem to make their way to the same house where the Leeds family lives. The problem is the Leeds are not your normal family, factor in the unknown force in the forest. And you’ve got yourself a film that takes you on a rollercoaster ride of terror though the forests of south Jersey.
After seeing Tomaselli’s “Horror” a few years ago. (It was one of the first screeners I ever got.) I knew then that this guy had something. Horror by no means is your typical horror film, it’s a very artistic, surreal horror film. Satan’s Playground is your basic horror film, with a direct plot. However what I noticed is that Dante still has a good eye for odd and surreal looking shots. I actually love the vision he has, it’s almost experimental in a way, yet his use of shots in Satan’s Playground give you that very uncomfortable feeling, like your being watched or that any second someone or something might pop out of the woodwork and stick an ax up your ass. I mean the shots alone psychologically screw with you. On another note, one thing that most horror fans might enjoy is how similar the shots are to the likes of Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I found it to be a pretty neat use of shots in a whole using the point of view shots of the devil, ala running though the woods or coming down from the sky. Very, very cool. You can even go as far as saying that Satan’s Playground pays a respectful homage to Evil Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, House of 1000 Corpses and Halloween.
The acting in the film varies. Personally I though Danny Lopes was the best out of the whole cast. It’s hard being a good looking actor who has to play someone with a disability. I’ve seen Danny profile, and know he’s your normal Hollywood looking hunk, with the great model like body and everything. I have to hand it the costume dept. (If the film even had one.) for giving Danny the look of a psychologically disabled young person. His acting was believable and I give him a lot of credit for taking on such a demanding role. Felissa Rose the cult icon that she is was pretty good, I mean she played a real big bitch in this film. I mean this character wins my PMS award of the year. Ellen Sandweiss
was decent in all her Evil Dead ways. Talk about a women who looks like she hardly aged a bit. And then their was the crazy Leeds family headed by Irma St. Paule as Mrs. Leeds who personally was one screwed up old witch, I really enjoyed her bizarre and twisted performance. And last but not least how can I forget Christie Sanford as Judy. Dam women, you running around with that baby in your hand is the reason why I gave this film a three and half scare factor rating. I was not sure if Judy was going to keep the kid as her own or eat the kid.
As far as Special Effects and Production Value go. Well, lets just say the special make-up effects were very good. I actually thought they were excellent. The production value was a bit weak, not so much the scenes in the woods, but the house itself looked a bit underdressed. Know maybe it’s because I’m a home owner and I know that when you put a pile of sticks in the middle of nowhere in front of the house that after a while they get weathered down and start to mold themselves into the ground. (Yeah this kind of bothered me.) And the boards on the windows all looked like they were all put on the same way. So that’s my only issue with the film, I found some of the production value to take a bit of the feel of the film away. However that door, was pretty dam spooky looking.
Overall, Tomaselli sold me on this one. He’s a director with a lot of creative and artistic vision. I know some people did not get the jist of what was going on with his film “Horror”. But Satan’s Playground is a pretty straight forward horror film. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m sure most people won’t be as scared as I was by the film. But when you knock up your wife someday you’ll understand why I got so psychologically mind raped by this film. The more I think about it, the more I wish my kid will just stay in my wife womb. Satan’s Playground is an great mind-blowing psychological horror film, one well worth checking out.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
