Review by Jeff Hudson
Directed by: Dante Tomaselli
Starring:
Felissa Rose/Donna
Irma St. Paule/Mrs. Leeds
Danny Lopes/Sean
Ellen Sandweiss/Paula
Plot:
Traveling through New Jersey's lush Pine Barrens region on their way to a camping excursion, the Bruno family's car suddenly breaks down, forcing them to seek shelter at the eerie home of Mrs. Leeds. The bizarre woman and her peculiar children offer no help to the stranded group but urge the family to be wary of the demonic and ancient power that controls the woods ... for their fate hangs in the balance of Satan's playground.
Acting:
I thought the acting was pretty poor. Felissa Rose(Donna) was our lead and I must say her acting skills were pretty bad in this flick. A lot of her emotions and lines felt overdone and over acted. Irma St. Paule(Mrs. Leeds) Didn’t fit the creepy old lady well and felt more like a poor old grandma you felt sorry for. The rest of cast is about the same a lot of over acting and not used much.
Gore:
The gore was pretty good but thought we could have used a bit more. We get a hammer to the head, some knife action, stabbing, a nasty slit throat and I guess some Jersey Devil attacks.
T & A:
None of these washed up 80’s actresses wanted to show us there goods.
Directing:
Dante gives us some slick camera work along with some awesome lighting. We also gets some shots strait from The Evil Dead. What he doesn’t give us is a strong plot which leads the movie to drag pretty bad. The film is also very mean spirited and turns me off a lot.
Soundtrack:
I thought the score was pretty creepy and worked well.
Final thoughts:
Overall Satan’s Playground felt like a movie that didn’t know what direction it wanted to go in. We get hints of a slasher film then we hints of a Satanic film and then we get a bit of a monster movie. I felt if he would have stuck with just one idea and put all his efforts into that this could have been a good flick. With a very thin plot, a unsatisfied ending and a brutally mean spirited premise that didn’t need to be there I cant recommend this film at all. I give it a 2/10.
