Satan's Little Helper

A direct-to-video horror-comedy that feel between the cracks of the Blockbuster era and streaming explosion, Satan’s Little Helper (2004) is an offbeat, sometimes sloppy, but never boring take on the Halloween masked killer scenario.  Director Jeff Lieberman gives it a seat-of-your-pants slasher vibe that mixes dark humor and childhood nostalgia for a truly unique bit of B-movie magic.

8-year-old Douglas Whooly has a hard time separating video game violence from the real thing; so much so that he mistakes a masked serial killer for Satan himself, offering to help his “master” complete his nightly chores.  But when Dougie’s new friend seems to be targeting his own family, the fun and games turn deadly, putting his mom and sister in danger of winding up like a pair of smashed pumpkins!

 

Shot on video in the early days of the digital revolution, Satan’s Little Helper feels decidedly low-rent for the first 30 minutes or so.  But when night falls and the color palette turns a lovely shade of John Carpenter-blue, the film picks up in quality and the plot picks up momentum.  The “who’s behind the mask” shell game kicks in when our killer passes himself as a new boyfriend and gets invited inside to celebrate with the family.  It’s the classic Hitchcock scenario where the audience knows something the characters don’t, and Lieberman pushes it to the extreme.

 

As Dougie’s older sister, Katheryn Winnick (now a regular on the TV show Big Sky) makes for a fetching final girl and plays well against Amanda Plummer, whose acting eccentricities are kept to a minimum. The gore is minimal and the humor skews playfully to the dark side, which may turn off those looking for something a la Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘r Treatwhich was released a few years later.  Satan’s Little Helper has more peaks and valleys, but still makes for good Halloween viewing all the same.

 

Extras on Synapse Films’ new Blu-ray include a director’s commentary, vintage and all-new Making Of (with a ton of sit-down interviews), a tour of filming locations and promotional trailer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tormented

Image
The west coast always struggled to create a creepy atmosphere on screen.  All that southern California sunshine just doesn’t lend itself to ghostly apparitions or gothic castles.  But  Tormented  (1960) gives it a good try, staging its opening scene in an abandoned lighthouse where blackmail turns into murder - and one cover up leads to another.  Director Bert I. Gordon, better known for his giant-sized - but low-budget - monster movies, works well at this level, turning in a film that delivers small scares but perhaps his most  professional finished product. Tom Stewart (played by genre regular Richard Carlson) is a fairly successful jazz pianist whose impending marriage to Meg Hubbard (Susan Gordon) will put him in an entirely new tax bracket.  Trouble is his old flame, Vi (Juli Reding), isn’t taking this lying down.  After  allowing  her to fall to her death in the opening scene, Tom is haunted by disembodied visions of his ex-lover who refuses to go quietly into the afterlife.  And
Read more

The Cat and the Canary

Image
My favorite directors have always been showoffs:  Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg (when he’s feeling frisky) and gonzo auteurs like Sam Raimi.  There’s just something about their cinematic ambition, constantly reminding the audience that, yes, there actually  is  someone behind the camera calling the shots.  And that directorial discontent shines through even in the early days of the medium, such as Paul Leni’s 1927 adaptation of  The Cat and the Canary .  While the rest of the industry was still learning the basics of visual language, Leni fills his frame with tracking shots, POVs and dramatic lighting that set the standard for every spook show to come!  Gathered for the reading of the last will and testament of eccentric recluse Cyrus West,  the potential heirs meet up in his decrepit mansion to discover who will inherit the estate and family jewels.  Predictably there is some petty jealousy when young Annabelle West is named the sole beneficiary…that is, if she can be proved sane afte
Read more

Impulse

Image
William Shatner, for all his ego and arrogance, always seemed comfortable being the butt of a joke.  His career outside of the  Star Trek  franchise was a bumpy road of corny TV shows and enjoyable B-movie dreck.  But he never delivered anything less than 100% “Shatner!”  Like 1974’s  Impulse , a regional drive-in quickie directed by William Grefé ( Stanley, Mako: Jaws of Death ) that casts the once and future Captain Kirk as a psychologically troubled con man whose childhood trauma leads to a string of murdered women.  After dumping the body of his last victim in a Florida canal, Matt Stone (Shatner) is on the prowl for another financial windfall, this time using a phony investment scam to entice Ann (Jennifer Bishop) into a romantic relationship.  But when Ann’s daughter, Tina, is witness to the murder of his business associate (Harold “Chop Top” Sakata), Matt has to clean up his tracks and speed up his escape plan.  That includes silencing Tina…and whoever else gets in his way.   Ta
Read more