The Devil's Ground (2008)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent adaptation.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

First of all, this is an absolutely excellent horror flick that I have seen multiple times on cable and I still don't get sick of it. This is the type of story that you have to watch at least twice to grasp. If you like horror your in for a ride with this one. Let me just pick apart some of the more idiotic reviews here by these armchair critics who try to compare the horror genre to regular movies. Let me break it down for you idiots: First of all this is Horror. We as horror lovers don't always expect clever plots and we don't expect everything to be breakthrough movie or something with a "statement". And cliché can be good in the horror business and sometimes can make the movie really fun and sometimes nostalgic of simpler times. My point is that the Horror genre plays by strict rule sets so please STOP with your crap reviews. You people take yourselves too seriously actually thinking that someone gives two craps what you think and your "opinion". Us horror lovers only want a few things: 1)Good realistic gore 2)A clever story(Not always needed) that MAY OR MAY NOT be similar to other horror styles and genres3)Decent acting is not always neded especially when its not tongue and cheek, but true horror needs good actors4)A decent production, direction, sets, etc5)Characters we recognize from other legendary horror moviesThe Devils Playground delivers in spades on all of the above except the scream queen, but we get Daryl Hannah which is a very worthy stand in. Now, let me clarify something that really needs clarification again for those real smart people here at IBMD, "There is no such thing as a rip off or "cliché" in a Horror movie", Or let me rephrase that. You should never, EVER bash a movie because it bears similarities to other horror flicks. I can tell the reviewers writing these reviews weren't around in the 80's to watch the tens of thousands of Zombie/Slasher/Low quality movies released. If these bashers were around they wouldn't set out to see a movie like this. Let face it the internet allows us to check up on and watch movies we would never even looked at before. So Only real horror movie lovers wouldve watched most of the independent horror flicks. I think had these "bashers" been loved horror since the 80's they maybe actually able to understand the Horror genre and give these guys a break. So, when it comes to horror you don't rate like you would a drama or a romance andif you do you have no business voting or even watching horror movies. Don't you know because you all sound like broken records on every single horror movie thread? Go be a movie reviewer somewhere else please and let us, The real horror movie lovers rate horror movies..Or lighten up. I mean you will never catch me rating romance movies which are just as, if not more repetitious then horror movies. Hell all movies have influenced by other and have similarities to othersAnd to the repetitive reviewers with the same old post: the plot is filled with holes. Um no. The plots are usually as simple as they can get its your attention span thats filled with holes. I am just SO sick of these idiots trying so hard to bash these movies and ruining all their ratings. I never know what to watch because of it. Isn't it obvious to these people that they're not really horror fans?? Just because you liked The Descent and Paranormal activity doesn't make you a horror buff.To the die-hards: This a winner. Great flick, great story, great gore, and even a great twist. This movie is very original in its own right no matter what people say. Comparisons to Texas Chainsaw are non-existent just more crap from idiots reaching far and wide. This is a winner. I promise. 7 stars and it deserves every star!

The Cycle is set in the small town of Bradford in Pensylvania as a woman named Carrie Mitchell (Daryl Hannah) drives from California to Bangor via the back-roads of the US. While driving along at night Carrie has to stop suddenly to avoid running into a teenage girl named Amy Singer (Leah Gibson) standing in the middle of the road, Amy is blood stained & incoherent as she ask's Carrie for help. Inside the car Amy tells Carrie that her four friends have been murdered by a deformed redneck & that a mass grave of murdered people is nearby & they need to tell the police. Carrie heads for the nearest gas station & phones the police but discovers that Amy isn't quite what she appears & that Carrie herself is in great danger...Also known as The Devil's Ground in Canada this Canadian production was written & directed by Michael Bafaro & starts out like your average uninspired teen backwoods slasher but totally changes direction for the last fifteen minutes & becomes some sort of supernatural ghost story & it's a very abrupt change that comes across as very awkward & for me didn't work, much like the rest of the film really. The whole set-up is that of a woman finding a teenage girl wandering around in the woods & giving her a lift to safety & the girl tells the story of how all her friends were killed which means we know from the get-go who is going to live & who is going to die out of the usual faceless teen character's which doesn't help matters, the lack of gore or memorable kill scenes doesn't help either & after a straight forward tale of a few teens being killed off by deformed backwood Rednecks before a rather striking change in direction as The Cycle becomes a ghost story that leaves more questions than answers. The whole thing is dull, at 88 minutes it's too long & it takes ages to get going, the teen slasher part is extremely routine & predictable while the ghost twist ending is confusing & doesn't work. The character's are all dull, the plot tries but fails to do something different with the tired old slasher genre & it's not very fun to watch. Also I have no idea why it's called The Cycle, sure I understand that the teens being killed by the Rednecks is part of a cycle as more teen turn up & get killed over & over again but you could say that about any backwoods slasher flick so I really don't particularly get the significance although I must say when I first heard the title The Cycle for some bizarre reason I thought it would be about bikes!To be fair to this the film is competent & looks alright, I am not sure why there are constant shots of Crow's or Raven's or whatever those birds are but hey the director knew what he was doing, right? There's not much blood or gore here or much to get excited about, there's a chopped off hand, a few quick stabbings & a bit of blood splatter but basically nothing else. This really could have done with some gory kills to make the film just that little bit more memorable. There's fair suspense & tension during one or two scenes but not enough.Probably shot in Canada this has decent production values actually & is quite well made but as a whole there's nothing that special about it. The acting is alright, one time Hollywood star Daryl Hannah really scrapes the bottom of the barrel these days but at least it's not as bad as Shark Swarm (2008).The Cycle isn't actually about a bike & doesn't even feature a bike which I found disappointing but not as disappointing as the dull pace, the predictable backwoods teen slasher plot & the lack of any sort of meaningful gore or special effects. You could do worse but you could do better as well, not recommended.

It's not that bad really! It still can be on the shelf of your horror movies to enjoy it some night with friends. And I guess it can be watched more than once. It has good elements. Good acting , minimum level of required tension, some spooky things like the fact that Amy turns out to be a ghost and the killer has one damn family that refuses to end their killing tradition.I still don't think that it's as bad as everybody talked about it. There is something good about this movie and if you have watched almost all horror movies and your addiction keeps nagging that you need to watch a new movie and you haven't watched it yet, then just do it as it will still satisfy your thirst for horror.

I really did like this movie for several reasons and why it has received negative reviews is still a mystery. But the movie was good and I'm going to give it a 7 because it did have a good storyline and good acting as well. To be short, it was a story inside a separate story that led it to a twist ending that was not expected and will leave you thinking and there may even possibly be a part 2. You will need to judge this movie for yourself and ignore these people who say they never post and gave it a 1 of 10. I did find it leaning more toward horror then thriller but either way a good movie is a good movie.