The Devil's Rock (2011)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Lewis C

  
  The Devil's Rock is a bloody little horror movie that I really enjoyed. The link between the occult and Nazis has been explored many time in horror movies, but I've never seen it done quite the way it's seen here. The setting is an island in the English Channel,… More
  The Devil's Rock is a bloody little horror movie that I really enjoyed. The link between the occult and Nazis has been explored many time in horror movies, but I've never seen it done quite the way it's seen here. The setting is an island in the English Channel, shortly before D-Day. Two soldiers from New Zealand sneak onto it on a mission to blow up a Nazi anti-aircraft gun. The pair are lured deeper into the bunker by the screams of a woman after completing their task, and stumble upon a true horror. The Devil's Rock has a small cast and is primarily set in one location, but those settings and characters are used very well. So are the practical special effects, which were pretty fantastic for a production this small. What I liked most about the movie was the pacing, which gradually ratcheted up the tension until I was almost squirming by the end. This isn't the kind of flick that relies on jump scares and loud noises to get your heart thumping. Instead it layers on the menace and foreboding. As I mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed it. If you're the kind of horror fan who gets a kick out of a good demon story and likes the more low-key, atmosphere and character-driven approach, definitely give this a try.

• Mark R

  
  Given that New Zealand is such a small film market, at least in comparison with the wealth of content cinemas have available to them from abroad, the number of homegrown films which see a wide release is unfortunately small. It shouldnâ(TM)t be a reflection on the quality of local… More
  Given that New Zealand is such a small film market, at least in comparison with the wealth of content cinemas have available to them from abroad, the number of homegrown films which see a wide release is unfortunately small. It shouldnâ(TM)t be a reflection on the quality of local film, just simply the reality of existing in a business so completely dominated by Hollywood. Which is why itâ(TM)s so disappointing when one of the precious few slots allocated to NZ films is filled by something like The Devilâ(TM)s Rock, a derivative, achingly slow horror masquerading as revisionist history. The concept is not essentially a bad one, yet itâ(TM)s handled in such a clumsy fashion that it makes one despair for the state of our national cinema if this is among the best that our filmmakers can do. Playing out on an understandably small scale, The Devilâ(TM)s Rock runs with the oft speculated idea that during World War II, Nazis were researching and conducting experiments that dabbled in the occult, and in this case have summoned a demon to a small, uninhabited island in the English Channel. Thereâ(TM)s potentially interesting ideas here, but director Paul Campionâ(TM)s attempts to build the suspense necessary for a film of this type reduce the pacing to a crawl, and what should be creepy and unsettling ultimately ends up being painfully boring. The performances donâ(TM)t do the film any favours either, with particularly disappointing work from Matthew Sunderland (Out of the Blue), whose baffling attempt at an accent leads to much confusion about who is who, and what his motivation is. Before descending completely into the cheap Exorcist knock-off that it threatens to become, The Devilâ(TM)s Rock admittedly has an unexpected and welcome twist, although itâ(TM)s best not to consider the implications of what the film is suggesting in any kind of historical sense. The most successful New Zealand films tend to stick to well defined and culturally specific stories, but sadly, in trying to branch out into genre filmmaking, The Devilâ(TM)s Rock fails to deliver anything more than cheap, direct-to-video level mediocrity. tinribs27.wordpress.com