[The Devil's Ground]
Plot:A supernatural/horror thriller about a psychotic killer who runs rampant, terrorizing a group of archaeology students who inadvertently uncover his dark secret. While driving down a country road, Carrie (Hannah) rescues Amy (Leah Gibson), the lone survivor of a terrible massacre in the woods. Carrie soon discovers that Amy carries a deadly secret, and the unspeakable horror that happened in the woods is far from over.

Cast:Daryl Hannah, Leah Gibson.

My Thoughts:More insanity from the peanut gallery!

Review:I was hoping the indie slasher pic, "The Devil's Ground" would be different from the usual indie horror films because Darryl Hannah was starring in it. Well...........I was wrong. The film starts off well enough, and that's what lures you in pretty much. The movie starts off with a young girl named Amy running for her life. She then encounters Darryl Hannah's character Carrie, who offers her a ride after she sees Amy is in grave danger from someone or something.

As she drives, Carrie listens to Amy's tale of what happened to her and her friends when they went into rural Pennsylvania to stop the demolishing of an indian burial site. The tale is terrifying, horrifying, and chilling. But...is it over? Or is it just beginning? And what secret is it's teller hiding? This film had a shot at being something really special on a budget. But as the film builds more and more momentum, it then sucks all of the air out of the room when it turns from creepy, woodsy horror/thriller, to just another day in Mayberry. As in the guy who runs the local gas station, who chews tobacco and spits a lot can't be trusted because he's one of the rural local types.

As in he's hiding creepy, inbred, deformed relatives in his gas station who like to butcher people. But you didn't hear that from me, wink-wink. Seriously though, you would think people, mainly filmmakers...would have moved past juvenile stuff like this by now. But like I said in a previous review, it seems that filmmakers, especially indie ones, have made some sort of pact with lucifer where if they make one killer-redneck movie, they'll be assured a wealthy, fame-filled filmmaking career.

Sure, Rob Zombie started his filmmaking career with "Corpses", but that was a movie that set a new bar for killer hillbilly or psychobilly films. The fact that it didn't suck also helped a lot. Or atleast I didn't think it sucked. Every indie film after that has been copying the same formula, and it just hasn't worked. "The Devil's Ground"...is a perfect example of this. Now if you're expecting Darryl Hannah to go "Kill Bill" on anyone in this movie, then think again.

She's pretty much relegated to listening to the story for most of the movie, then she's attacked, screams a lot, and that's pretty much it. The deaths scenes in this movie are definitely bloody and gory, but they aren't executed very well and with the films main villain being a crazy inbred wearing a bondage outfit, or atleast half of one, this movie breaks down into a total joke really quickly. You know it's bad when the films big baddie is a gas station attendant who has an affinity for female college students.

Because we've never seen a movie where the redneck doesn't wanna pork the hot college girls right? No, of course not. Meanwhile the movie just totally dorgets how well it started off, by introducing an intriguing first 10 minutes, some tolerable youngsters, and some intriguing dialogue about the environment and how politics ties into it. It's as if the writer smoke a joint into the 12th page of the script, and then screwed up what could've been a pormising indie slasher.

The climax of the movie throws in the obligatory twist with some new characters, and a bunch of insane banter, but even that flops like a Paris Hilton album. "The Devil's Ground" is a film that isn't worth the time. Not worth spending 90 minutes of your life on. I don't know how they managed to talk Darryl Hannah into starring in this. Maybe she did it as a favor to someone. Or maybe she was just bored and wanted to get out of town for a few days. Either way, this is a bad movie.

Positives:The opening 15 to 20 minutes.

Negatives:Almost everything after the opening 15-20 minutes. Psychobilly characters which are a steal off of other previous psychobilly characters. Also there's some undertones of "Rest Stop" in reference to the Amy character and her ultimate purpose in the movie.

Overall:One out of four stars.





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