The Devil's Ground (2009) User Reviews

Another Forgettable Rip-Off of an Overworked Genre

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 24 April 2010]

While traveling from California to Bangor through a lonely road, Carrie Mitchel (Daryl Hannah) is advised by the gas station attendant Jimmy (Twan Holliday) to rest in a hotel; however, she decides to continue driving through the night. Later she almost hits the teenager Amy Singer (Leah Gibson) that is wandering on the road wounded with blood on her face. She gives a lift to Amy that tells that her friends from the Boston University Mike (Luke Camilleri), Greg (Jeb Beach), Tammy (Maria Gruending) and Lisa (Lee Tomaschefski) and she had traveled in a RV to Arrowhead to research the area as part of a discipline in their course. When they stopped in a gas station, the attendant Billy (Daniel Probert) advised them to avoid the place in Bradford City called "Devil's Playground" by the locals. While digging in an area where a mine collapsed on 19 December 1967 killing 239 coal miners, they find preserved bones that they believe belonged to the Indians. However, when they find teeth with golf fillings and a watch on the wrist of an arm, they realize that the deaths have recently occurred and they are in a dangerous location.

"The Cycle" is another forgettable rip-off of an overworked genre that was successfully explored in "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre", "The Hills Have Eyes", "Wrong Turn" and other sub-products of the slash. The plot point is silly and flawed, and abuses of the clichés. Daryl Hannah's character has minor participation along the story and surprisingly there are viewers that wrote good reviews of this flick. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Terra Maldita" ("Damned Land")

Slasher movie with a twist.

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 14 January 2011]

"Devils Ground" is a fairly average slasher movie, though it has some resemblance to "Wrong Turn" and "The Hills Have Eyes", without being a copy of either of those movies.

What puzzled me was seeing Daryl Hannah appear as the first name in the movie, despite her role wasn't the lead role. But guess having a relatively known name like hers in the movie and flaunting it that way is the way to lure people in.

As for the story told in "Devils Ground", then I thought it was actually good, and the plot managed to keep me hanging and wanting to see what would happen next. And there was a nice twist of storyline towards the end, and I for one, hadn't anticipated the story to take a turn like that. But it was a nice surprise nonetheless.

The cast in the movie was actually decent. I like Leah Gibsons portrayal of the role of Amy Singer, she was doing a good job with her character. And as usual, to me at least, it is always nice to see Daryl Hannah in a movie, I find her charismatic in a way. And Daniel Probert, in the role of Billy, was also really well cast, and he brought a lot of color to that role, and he played it quite well. I think it was somewhat of a shame that Twan Holliday's character Jimmy wasn't given more screen time than he had, because his character could have added a lot to the story. And Twan Holliday has a really distinct voice.

For a slasher movie, "Devils Ground" doesn't offer lots of blood and gore, but it has just enough killing to make it interesting. There was just the right amount of blood and mayhem to keep you lured in, so that worked well enough. However, being a slasher movie, I don't think that "Devils Ground" has enough impact to make a lasting impression, unless you are a fan of someone in the movie. It just lacks something to make it stand out, unfortunately. Then again, it has a really nice surprise twist to it, which many other slasher movies lacks.

I like horror movies, and I personally think that "Devils Ground" was actually a good enough entry to the horror genre, just a shame that it failed to leave a lasting impression.

Definition of meaningless

[dschmeding · 3/10 · 24 February 2009]

OK... let me sum this up: A lady played by Darryl Hannah is driving home at night. After stopping at an old gas station and meeting a strange hillbilly hick she soon has to step on the break when meeting Amy standing on the dark road with blood on her face. Here "The cycle" takes on a really innovative storytelling device (Hah!)... the whole story is told by Amy while the 2 are driving through the backwoods. Wow! Actually the story is pretty tame.... 5 students out to take soil samples on some abandoned land meet a strange handless hillbilly hick (no, its a different one!) and then have their motor-home shaken. But thats not all... after digging in the ground they soon find graves which are not 100 years old (like they expected from a major accident that happened there some time ago) but the corpses are rather "fresh". Spooky... of course soon hillbilly hick 3 appears (looking really ridiculous with his hood on and the constant slobbering) and hunts them down. Guess what... only Amy survives. There is no gore here, the kills are pretty tame, not so say boring and thats basically it. Now of course you're back in the car and it really takes a dive even deeper from here.

Spoiler alert!

They go for the "She is just a ghost" thing that reminds me a lot of the Twilight Zone Episode with the dead hiker. To top it off it makes no sense... because soon some of the hillbilly's are back and we learn that Amy comes our every year and lures drivers to their death at a gas station. Now why would she do that?? Because she left a map marking the graves there. Funny thing is she just mentioned it in her story on a side note, also the gas station has a new name and looks totally different now and they just drive by there to call the cops and get some gas. The whole ghost twist is ridiculous ... I'd rather watch "Rest stop" than this utterly boring and pointless movie.

dumb

[HandsomeBen · 2/10 · 12 January 2021]

What a waste of time, cant believe i didn't turn it off sooner.. boring plot bad pacing. the actress playing amy singer was the only good actress. she was acting her heart out. the only good thing about this was the 911 call towards the end and a twist i didn't see coming. it was good then got stupid again.

Had potential

[africe · 4/10 · 13 October 2019]

Typical horror crap with an idiotic ending. Could have at least had an evil hick with a brain. I've seen ratings above 7 that complain about other imdb reviewers. Hey, everyone is entitled to an opinion. Don't hate because they don't agree with you. Did you have something to do with the production of this film? If so then sure you'll love it. I found it trivial and predictable. And I'm sure many will disagree. But...hey, that is my opinion.

Ending ruined it

[charliecoffell · 4/10 · 4 April 2019]

Chompcrc here. Will someone in the horror genre please figure out how to end a movie? Seriously. The movie was ok, but it needed an ending. You know what it didn't need? The drool. The killer did not need to be drooling. We get it... he's deformed because of the bad water. He did not need the drool. Just end your next movie.

It could be worse

[morrigan1982 · 5/10 · 1 June 2009]

The movie was boring at the beginning and got interesting the last half hour more or less. Some shots were very clever. I really liked them. If you expect to see a lot of Daryl Hannah, don't. Her role is actually pretty small. As for the other actors in this film most of them are really bad. At the end the story becomes a little more complicated and it leaves you with some questions about the plot but I am sure you won't stay awake at night thinking about them. Don't expect a lot from this film because if you do you will be disappointed. If you see it for what it is (a b-movie with some interesting twists in the story) you won't be that annoyed by it.

The Devil's Ground

[Scarecrow-88 · 2/10 · 28 March 2012]

A California motorist (Daryl Hannah, in the film for name recognition value) is on her way to Bangor passing through a stretch of Pennsylvania where the road leads through forest on both sides, when she comes across a frightened young woman (Leah Gibson) who seems to have been through an emotional roller coaster (and has blood on her). This shaken woman reveals her name to be Amy Singer and forewarns that something evil is lurking in the woods out to get them. Amy will provide a narrative for how all her friends wound up deceased to Carrie (Hannah) on their way to the next nearest town. The film opened with an ominous figure, dark and not easily recognizable, carrying a bloody machete, pursuing Amy, so immediately established is the Lurking Evil certain to pop up before the fade to black.

Backstory: Amy and fellow Boston U students, majoring in Environmental Studies, can get an A if they collect soil samples and study an ancient Indian Burial Ground known as Arrowhead where coal miners (over 200) died in a mining disaster. What they encounter could be something monstrous, chained and hidden inside the barn of a sullen, greasy, rather creepy gas station attendant named Billy (Daniel Probert) who claims that many of the locals consider Arrowhead the "Devil's Playground". Amy doesn't forget this and is the only one of her group who treats him with a modicum of decency (the others toss around insults about him behind his back). The rest of the film follows the basic "city kids fall prey to backwoods psycho beast" plot.

Disorienting camera-work, an editing style that doesn't allow for characters to be positioned in frame for more than a manner of seconds, and way too much time where the camera is right in the face of the actors (not to mention, too many shots of the sky and crows squawking) instead of following the action, "The Devil's Ground" doesn't have the technical merits to surpass the generic, "we've seen it all before" story-line. It is hard to react to a menace that is never established in a way that causes us to dread his presence, and the film fails to generate any creep factor whatsoever.

Cheap and ugly, with few redeeming qualities at all, this film would remain buried in obscurity if not for Hannah's name in the credits. I hope you like Leah Gibson's face because we get plenty of it in close up throughout the movie. Even worse is the fact that this film has one too many endings (including a couple twists regarding Billy's family members revealed), none of them exactly worthwhile. Amy Singer's fate seems like an interesting twist if the film had ended with Hannah's discovering something peculiar about her passenger during the movie (the film goes back and forth between Singer's story and in the car with Hannah telling it), but the screenplay just doesn't know when to quit. Probert's scowl, worn on Billy's face exclusively, seems as if he were sucking on a sour lemon throughout his time on screen.

A fun and interesting horror flick.

[Aka_Who · 7/10 · 8 January 2009]

By no means groundbreaking, however The Cycle still manages to be a somewhat tense and rather entertaining film. The story is interesting and changes up enough to remain fresh all the way through. The acting was on the mark (even the over-actors you can't help but like) and the action did well to keep you on edge. The death scenes would have benefited from a little more attention as they are a bit on the tame side and over too quickly. Overall I don't see the film as being something that will stick with you long after viewing however it does provide for an entertaining viewing. I would recommend giving it a chance.

Laughable

[IMDBer100575 · 2/10 · 30 October 2010]

I decided to watch this on a chilly Friday night when I was bored. It has Darryl Hannah so it shouldn't be too bad.

This is another movie about stupid teens who go into the woods. This time, they're asked by their professor to discover the location of an Indian graveyard or something like that...all in exchange for a guaranteed passing grade. Too bad these kids aren't willing to earn their grades the old-fashioned way.

The acting, for the most part, is juvenile. These are actors in the infancy of their careers; and it would seem that their dreams are never going to surpass this flick. Darryl Hannah is the only real actress in this movie.

The atmosphere was well done. Lighting was great, although unrealistic (night scenes are very brightly lit...go fig). The music score was successful, for the most part, in setting the mood.

I would not recommend this movie. The ending sucks and is really predictable and I suck at predicting outcomes. Skip this movie.

89 minutes

[mmgjason · 10 December 2009]

The video looks great. It doesn't strain the eyes to watch which is rare for video. Good looking solid young actors for the most part. The music, the sound, the lighting, the foley, the directing are all very good but. Why take all the time to make and 89 minute movie? 90 minutes is a minimum to ask full admission in theaters. Distrubuters wont think about picking it up unless its at least 90 minutes. They couldn't find another minute in post? Stock footage? Anything? How about a bikini scene with Daryl Hannah. Definitely worth watching but I would have been on the editing floor with a bull whip trying to squeeze in another minute to have a chance to get into a few theaters and generate some P&A...

Spooky Revisit of an Old Horror Plot!

[Atomic_Brain · 9/10 · 5 October 2019]

The Devil's Ground is a surprisingly effective entry in the ubiquitous "tourists attacked by deranged yokels" horror genre. This excursion into dangerous rural America works due to a bright script, an even brighter cast, a spooky soundtrack, and cinematography that captures the eerie flavor of the deep woods where our heros meet their fate. Although everyone's favorite 50 Foot Woman, Darryl Hannah, is top billed, the real star of the film is Leah Gibson, a newcomer who portrays terror, pathos and felicity with ease. As for Ms. Hannah, she plays a character who starts out neurotic, lurches into someone vaguely complicit, and ends up being another sad victim of fate. (Intrigingly, Hannah got her start in a superficially similar film, 1983's The Final Terror.) The hair-raising finale takes several unexpected twists and turns, and the ending is as grim as one could want in this type of film. (Any horror film worth its salt does not end on a happy note!) The screenplay also brings up a theme of interest; are corporate crimes of the past sufficient grounds for punishing future generations? Or, should the guilt for these misdeeds be buried along with the original victims? My only complaint is that the murders - which after all are what the viewer is looking forward to - are edited in such a brisk, almost subliminal manner that it is difficult to discern what is going on. This quick-cutting is a tendancy of most recent horror films, but I still prefer the old-school method of lingering on moments of terror for maximum impact. Still well worth a look.

Good Horror Movie with a Great Twist Ending

[eminembugz · 7/10 · 15 December 2008]

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.

Done and dusted.........

[jordansteel · 4/10 · 10 October 2018]

Started quite well, continued well. We've seen plenty of these but still kept the viewer interested to a good extent. Come the end, the first twist at the gas station, nothing new but still kinda fitted. But after (whatever they were trying) it just ddnt work, not for me. Left a lot of holes and a lot of questions.

College youths take a wrong turn in the sticks of northwest PA

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 25 August 2023]

A woman from California traveling through the back roads of Pennsylvania (Daryl Hannah) picks up a traumatized female, who was part of a student archeological team from Boston. The youths were interested in the local Indian burial grounds whereupon they discover some of the remains are quite recent. What's going on?

Released in 2009, "The Devil's Ground", aka "The Cycle," is a backwoods slasher in the "Wrong Turn" mold with some nods to the "Friday the 13th" flicks, i.e. A hulking masked assailant in the woods with a machete.

Without giving away vital revelations in the last act, the story comes down to a toxic waste, bitter yokels and some mysterious crows. The Indian burial ground functions simply to attract the out-of-state college students and isn't related to the other stuff, unless you view the grounds as sacred land that curses anyone who desecrates it. Let's be generous to writer/director Micheal Bafaro and go with that.

The striking Lee Tomaschefski stands out on the female front as Lisa, although she doesn't do much for me personally. Meanwhile Maria Gruending is worth a mention as Tammy and I like protagonist Leah Gibson's doe-eyed look.

The filmmaking is professional so this is worth checking out for those who appreciate backwaters horror, particularly of the slasher variety. Despite some eye-rolling script flaws, like the map contrivance and the youths constantly referring to the killer as "the monster," I'd watch this over "Wrong Turn." But it's not as entertaining as any of the "Friday the 13th" movies. For a similar Canadian flick that's more effective, see "Butchers" (2020).

The flick runs 1 hour, 28 minutes. It's a Canadian/Czech production, but I can't find specific info on filming locations; the credits list the British Columbia Film Commission, so I'm assuming that's where it was shot (thankfully they don't show the Cascades or Rockies in the background since the story is set in northwestern Pennsylvania).

GRADE: C+

Teen slasher that tries to have a twist end.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 21 March 2010]

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.

With all bad reviews, I don't think it's that bad...

[zfiany · 5/10 · 16 September 2009]

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.

Filled with over-acting, Wasn't scary at all, but is fun to make fun of

[hayley722 · 4/10 · 16 August 2010]

My 5 girlfriends and I (we are all 17) wanted to rent a scary movie. We go to the cheap movie rental place in our podunk town and come across "The Devil's Ground." We could tell it would be a silly, not scary, low-budget horror flick, but it was all we could find.

Within the first few minutes we could tell the woman with a Jonas-brothers-style-Jew-fro (amy?) is a *very* bad actress. My friends and I roared in laughter as she ran through the woods flailing her arms and scrunching her face up while crying over-dramatically. We also cracked up when she was hiding in the most obvious spot and never was found. We were in tears from laughter when Billy (the guy with a claw) was shown. He, who is also a bad actor, tries to pull of a southern accent and is terrible at it. He also is very dramatic and cheesy acting.

I blame the low ratings on the actors and writers. I think the actors should ask for a refund from their acting coach. And whoever was the casting director should find a new job. The death scenes should have been drawn out more and made scarier. This movie was written too hastily and did not have enough time or creativity in it. The storyline was very forgettable and was very predictable. The use of simple-minded, imbredded hillbillies is very entertaining, though. It was very humorous, but not a bit scary. I recommend this movie for someone on a boring, rainy day with nothing better to do. If you are wanting to be scared, or even startled a little, this movie is NOT for you.

Musiic

[gdicamillo · 3/10 · 27 August 2021]

The beginning of the movie shoes Daryl Hannah driving , smoking, and listening to what sounds like a rip off version of freebird, by lynrd skynrd.

Movie was okay.

Another GREAT horror Indie's rating is ruined by ibmd armchair idiots

[Indifferent_Observer · 7/10 · 7 January 2011]

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 genres

3)Decent acting is not always neded especially when its not tongue and cheek, but true horror needs good actors

4)A decent production, direction, sets, etc

5)Characters we recognize from other legendary horror movies

The 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 others

And 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!

Better than some reviewers say

[bobjohnson994 · 6/10 · 21 December 2011]

I want to agree with the reviewer Jon Doe. They did a great job with what they had. Yes the acting could have been better, yes the script could have been better. But the music was great, the outdoor scenes were good, and if you are a hardcore horror fan, you should check out this movie - it is a good popcorn movie with friends.

I also want to agree that although these ideas have been used before, they are good ideas, and that is why they are copied.

The movie has a good climax also.

The bare midriffs on the girls is always a nice touch. The lead actress has a face to forget, but a body to love.