I Trapped the Devil

Some movies benefit from a nice slow burn to engross the viewer in the story - it doesn't work for this movie - it is so slow I nearly fell asleep a few times - so may be good for insomniacs.

This film could easily fit in 30 minutes with plenty of time to spare.

Not very good at all.

This movie was definitely inspired by Rod Serling's 1960 Twilight Zone episode titled, "the Howling Man" (Season 2 Episode 5). It was made more involved with a psychotic gatekeeper, as opposed to a religious zealot keeping Satan under wraps. But, you can see the similarities in the plot.

Pretty much that...

A shame too. I do think this director has a great feel for mood and atmosphere, and with the lighting, camerawork and such, I felt he has an excellent grasp on how to use those. Unfortunately, and with what is still a rather thin story, I feel that he really did not handle the writing/dialog very well at all. The few scenes where the actors interact with each other I honestly think are not done terribly well.

And, unfortunately with a story that is about 90% atmosphere and mood, the dialog and scenes between the people absolutely Have to be very strong. And, sadly that is where I feel the director and/or the writer, and even the acting really detracts from the story.

If the writing and the direction of those scenes had been a lot stronger, then I feel that really could have added to the tension and buildup of suspense to the story. But those scenes I feel were handled very poorly and instead kind of diminish any suspense or atmosphere that had been built up rather well up to that point.

Yes, I think the director has a lot of promise and has some genuine talent for visuals, lighting, and atmosphere, but he really needs to work on the dialog scenes so that they work in harmony with the powerful mood created and help strengthen the ongoing plot rather than weaken it.

So, a really solid if rather simple idea and some great atmosphere, but the threadbare story really runs out of steam towards the end and without being too specific, leaves the audience kind of going, 'What...?!'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Particular Way of Rating:

5 - Flawed, but perhaps with some entertainment value.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

*NON-SPOILER*

The whole film is a build up to something that is a massive let down. The film makes zero sense. How did the devil get trapped to begin with!? Surely that would be explained given the circumstances?? It's just a ridiculous movie throughout, but I have seen worse, which saves it from the 1 star.

Not a good one, not very entertaining either.

The rhythm is so slow!

The acting is bad, or at least, the actors are. The one actress is pretty good. But she's not saving anything. Mind you, the script is absolutely terrible. I don't think they could have done anything about it.

It had potential, though. The plot subject is not bad. But it's conducted so horrendously! The motives of the characters are undefined from the beginning to the end. Worse: they literally disappear at times, for sequences of 5, 10 minutes! You just can't figure what, exactly, is happening anymore.

It is incoherent, often absurd, as in "it doesn't making any sense what so ever" until they catch it up for a few more minutes, until the next anecdotal hole. It's a bit as if a 30 minutes plot had been extended with empty lines to fill 90 minutes.

Strangely, the soundtrack is not bad at all. It would have supported a good, mysterious, atmospheric plot line. But in these circumstances, it's a relatively pleasant oddity in the middle of boredom.

I wouldn't call it a total loss. But there are far better flicks out there. Almost anywhere...