The Devil's Rock
The Devil's Rock
| 08 July 2011 (USA)
The Devil's Rock Trailers

Set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D Day, two Kiwi commandos, sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler's forces away from Normandy, discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces to win the war.

Reviews
Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.
Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Jesse I didn't have high hopes for this movie at all - I thought the cover art was cheesy and the synopsis of the movie on Amazon Prime didn't charm me much, but I decided to give it a chance since it had 4 stars out of 5, and I don't see that much for horror movies. It was totally worth it! I absolutely loved the main two actors and the main actress and though that they were perfect for their parts. It was definitely creepy, and honestly I thought the special effects were really great, especially considering that I've seen worse special effects in movies that were guaranteed to have been better funded. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for Campion films in the future, as well as Craig Hall, Gina Varela, and Matthew Sunderland.
fedor8 Nothing – not even crap movie logic – annoys me as much as an actor who thinks that mumbling is the hallmark of great thespianism. For most of the movie I struggled hard to understand what that moron was saying. Sunderland pretty much talks like a ventriloquist for the duration. It's as if his mouth had been sewn shut by a Clive Barker cenobite; you can barely see it move. Pity this wasn't a Hellraiser movie, because I would have enjoyed seeing him torn to pieces, even if it'd just be make-believe. Worse yet, this cretin talks in a very low volume. Heavy-duty mumbling + low-volume slurring = a very unhappy viewerTo make matters worse, Sunderland is part of nearly every scene after the first 15 or so minutes, and ALL of the movie's exposition comes through his barely-moving lips, so if you can't understand what he is saying you're basically screwed. If the time has come for English-speaking viewers to have to hunt down English subtitles for English-speaking movies, then it's time to EJECT A FEW ACTORS AND DIRECTORS PERMANENTLY from show-biz. I hope this guy never works again, at least until he learns the BASICS of performing in a movie, i.e. BEING FRIGGIN' UNDERSTOOD. Until then, flipping burgers is the best application I can envision for him. Perhaps rolling hot potatoes in his mouth could prove as useful practice; might teach him to separate the upper and lower jaws on occasion.As for the plot, it's pretty straight-forward. Two Ally soldiers find a German post dripping in blood, with nearly all the Nazis hacked and butchered. The rest of the movie is one big pull-and-push between the Nazi and the New Zealander, in what is supposed to be a great battle of wits. In the end, the Nazi snuffs it and the Ally soldier opts not to send the succubus back to Hell. He thinks it wise to use it as a weapon against the Nazis, not realizing that such a creature can do more harm than good in the long run. That's what you get when you let Kiwi peasants make crucial decision, I guess.So what's the point here? That a New Zealand farmer won D-Day for the Allies because he didn't send a succubus back to Hell? While it does evoke memories of "Outpost", it is fairly original with its single setting, just two men, and a female demon whose sole tactic is sex. TDR manages to remain interesting in spite of its limited setting, just three characters, and a deranged mumbler. The fact that both soldiers were wounded and badly beat up on several occasions, yet STILL managed to talk, walk and function was a quite on the absurd side. Plus, I didn't understand the entire plot – but I have that to thank Sunderland for. Nice job, moron!
captain-balrog It's been a long time since I saw a horror film like this. By that I mean one that has a coherent and well thought out story told through believable dialogue.I've read a few bizarrely negative reviews here. When I say bizarre I mean some of the reasons for giving it low marks.Here are my two favourites:It's not going to make money – This is honestly the first time I've seen a film marked down on cost/benefit analysis.There's only three people in it – Really don't know what to say to that. Maybe Australia would be more up this person's street; I hear there's loads of people in it.Anyway, here are my positives:Well acted.Sets and setting looked great – stark, grotty and bloody. Everything a growing horror film needs.Didn't rely on cheap window rattling and supernatural wind 'Scares'. Made what the Nazi soldiers were doing more believable somehow.Resisted the modern-day urge to crowbar humour into the dialogue.The demon was played by a real person in makeup. Looked great as a result. You just know that a big budget film would have made it a ridiculous CGI creature with wild, over the top magic powers. It's a bit of a beef I have with modern films but I just think that actual people put in much more real and believable performances than computer graphics. And of course they look like they're actually there in the set, because they are.And the negatives:German soldier didn't have a German accent? I know the jury is kind of out on that one. Some people think that context is enough and an accent can be in poor taste or whatever. I sort of agree sometimes because I'm from Belfast and I've heard some really shocking attempts at the accent over the years. Maybe it's because I'm not German but I think I would have liked an accent in this instance.The gunshot wound – Now I know it might seem silly to question the plausibility of something like this in a film about a captive demon on a Nazi held island, but unlike the accent issue this one is all about context. In the context of the film all the occult elements make sense, but the Nazi soldier seemed to get a lot better after the bullet was pulled out. I mean I'm not a doctor but it just appeared that the bullet was the real source of pain and suffering, and not the gaping wound it created.Gina Varela looked fantastic as the demon but I would have liked to see more of her. She was naked and painted red and I think it would have added something to the disturbing nature of such a demon if we had seen more of her very fine body beneath the demon's face. This isn't some sad need to see T & A; I could have just watched some mindless rubbish like the new piranha film for that. I found it really got under my skin that she was still attractive as the demon. Could have made more of that perhaps.Overall:Loved this film. Really good example of what can be achieved in the horror genre by just doing old skool film making well.Unlike others who enjoyed this film I've given it ten out of ten, not because of the disproportionate negative reviews, but because it was just right up my street.
gavin6942 Set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D Day, two Kiwi commandos, sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler's forces away from Normandy, discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces to win the war.Okay, I have to admit I had low expectations on this one. I had heard no buzz on it, the cover looked sort of cheesy, it has no names that I recognized. That was probably unfair, but I am just getting so used to the average horror film being crud. This is better than the average horror film.The cinematography is beautiful, let us just get that out there. Such a great use of light and color. And the demon-Nazi connection? A good execution of that. We have seen some Nazi zombies, and we know that the Nazis had some interest in the occult... but I daresay I cannot recall the last time this was executed so well. This might not be quite as good as "Dead Snow", but it is in the same range and they would make a great double feature.Where does this film sit in the history of New Zealand horror? While the budget is clearly higher than Peter Jackson's early endeavors and possibly even "Black Sheep", I feel like this one might take a while to catch on (if it does at all). Horror fans like a good-looking film as much as anyone, but they also like the humorous and cult horror films. While not devoid of humor, this is not like the tradition that Jackson started...