The entire premise of The Devil's Dozen is pretty obvious to anyone who's a fan of portmanteau horror — twelve disparate strangers are thrown together in a room and must recount their past misdeeds. The gimmick here is that someone must be killed every twelve minutes and it's up to the group to ensure the sole survivor is the most righteous one.
So herein lie the two big issues with this film. Firstly, as someone who's enjoyed the likes of the Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt movies, I knew pretty much how it was going to end. Secondly, as eleven people have to die in about seventy minutes, there's no time to develop any of the characters, so they end up as crude stereotypes.
Its only saving grace is that, for something clearly filmed on a micro-budget, the production values are pretty good.
This would — with fewer characters and less gore — have made a pretty good episode of The Twilight Zone. But I wouldn't recommend it as a film.
So herein lie the two big issues with this film. Firstly, as someone who's enjoyed the likes of the Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt movies, I knew pretty much how it was going to end. Secondly, as eleven people have to die in about seventy minutes, there's no time to develop any of the characters, so they end up as crude stereotypes.
Its only saving grace is that, for something clearly filmed on a micro-budget, the production values are pretty good.
This would — with fewer characters and less gore — have made a pretty good episode of The Twilight Zone. But I wouldn't recommend it as a film.
Tell Your Friends