Friday, 26 April 2013

The Devil’s Rock: Not Quite A masterpiece … 

24th April, 2013.
Yes, I know that’s not the most flattering title for a post about a film.

And, yes, I know: that’s NOT stating the obvious … !

But I’ve very quietly watched a film, tonight: the 2011, Paul Campion directed Kiwi-flick that is The Devil’s Rock.

And … ?   As tired as I am, and as determined as I am to finish this post in the morning, I think I have a point.

The Devil’s Rock isn’t a masterpiece.

But I am thinking it’s an interesting journey man’s piece.

Right … 

Gimme a few hours to sleep …

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25th April, 2013.
OK …

Maybe more a few hours sleep: says I, after a LOT of sleep, a visit from Graham and his daughter, and a wander into town and back.

Ahem.   Which possibly isn’t the word, here, but it’s the best I can do at the moment.

20 minutes later …

Sorry: I just had to deal with something, there …

At ANY rate, I was telling you about the film I saw, last night, wasn’t I?

Indie little Kiwi flick, The Devil’s Rock.

And, yes: it’s not a masterpiece.

I think it’s worth watching, though …

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26th April, 2013.
Yeah: I quite LITERALLY had to do something, last night.

As I was writing that section of this post, the email client on my iPod started beeping, frantically, as I started to get quite a lot of messages from my BT Yahoo account: quite a few of the ‘MAILER DÆMON: Failed Message’ alerts came through.

Someone had hacked my account.

Luckily, I was abler to prevent further damage by resetting my password.   But had to send out a lot of “Do Not Click On That Link” type mails to let people know what was going on.

I’ve still got a couple of email’s left to do.

But, at ANY rate … ?

I can now get on with telling you about The Devil’s Rock, the not-quite-a-masterpiece I rented for myself on Wednesday.

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The Devil’s Rock is set the day before D-Day: and sees two Kiwi troopers — Captain Grogan and Sergeant Tane, played by Craig Hall and Karlos Drinkwater — landing on an obscure Channel Island, in order to sabotage a pillbox aircraft gun emplacement that’s there.


Having placed the explosives … ?

Having placed the explosives, the pair — with a great deal of reluctance on the Sergeant’s part — decide to go and investigate the pillbox, a little further up the Rock.


THAT pillbox.

The one where the screaming’s coming from. 

Of course, a lot of bloodcurdling screams — intense screaming, screaming tortuous and fearful enough to freeze the marrow in your bones, and fill you with feelings of dread and an desire to get away from the area, ASAP, doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything wrong.

Nine times out of ten.

But would you want to risk it … ?

Grogan and Tane do: what they find … ?   Is a lot of dead Germans.   Plus the very alive SS Colonel Meyer — Matthew Sutherland — who, bucket of intestines by bucket of intestines, slowly feeding what’s left of his comrades to something … 


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Now, there’s possibly a couple of questions you going to ask me, isn’t there.

Firstly … ?

Yes, I’ve managed to sort out my email account.   Although I’d seriously suggest that if you’re ALSO a BT customer — or have a Yahoo email account — you check to make sure everything’s ok: and change your password, just to be on the safe side.

Secondly … ?

Yes, I’m thinking The Devil’s Rock really isn’t a masterpiece.

On the other hand … ?

On the other hand, The Devil’s Rock is a very entertaining little horror film.

One that seems to be intent not just giving buckets of blood and guts — which it literally does — but wants to concentrate more on the old fashioned idea that real fear, real terror, comes from something that appears human: that’s capable of reminding you it’s NOT, in very unpleasant ways.

Whose atmosphere I found reminiscent of both the original Outpost and The Strangers.

Personally?

Personally, I’m going to happily suggest you watch The Devil’s Rock.   It’s no masterpiece … 

But it’s very entertaining …
The Devil’s Rock
★★★☆

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