Satan's Playground (DVD)

Without much ado and no back-story, we're catapulted into New Jersey's Pine Barrens woods. The real-life locale consists of miles of lonely wilderness in the southern portion of the Garden State. An inhospitable place, population density is practically nil.

And those who do choose to live in the Barrens, writer/director Dante Tomaseli asserts, are crazy, croquet mallet wielding loons who, incidentally, are in league with the Devil (the New Jersey Devil, to be specific). One area of the Barrens is nicknamed Leeds Point and is reputed to be the actual birthplace of the Devil — which is the perfect home for the whacked out Mrs. Leeds (Irma St. Paule), an ancient palm reader with a passel of mentally challenged (to put it nicely) sons and daughters. Mrs. Leeds and her brood seem to simply lie in wait for cars to break down, and for the beleaguered motorists to come a-knocking.

The unfortunate souls who happen to find themselves lost in the wicked woods in Satan's Playground is the Bruno family: Astrology-loving Donna (Felissa Rose), her grouchy husband Frank (Salvatore Paul Piro), their autistic, drooling teenaged son Sean (Danny Lopes), and Donna's single-mom sister Paula (Ellen Sandweiss) with her newborn, Anthony (Marco Rose).

What raises Tomaselli's third feature above the usual direct-to-DVD horror fare is the auteur's obvious love of the genre, and the naturalness of his actors. Casting is quite important when you're on a tight budget and an even tighter schedule (it's that whole square-peg-round-hole thing) and no-one misses the mark here. Rose and St. Paule get the most screen time and thankfully they are both standouts, making their characters wholly believable in some pretty unbelievable situations. The drooling and foaming at the mouth in the Sean character seems a little over the top, but that is indeed a genuine symptom of his affliction. Another good actor is Christie Sanford; she plays Mrs. Leeds' warped woman/child of a daughter (shaded with overtones of the Bette Davis look from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?) who loves to play croquet with people's heads.

The low-budget movie was shot on location, and makes the most of the vast, drab surroundings as well as decrepit structures. There are some interesting and artistic shots, but the lack of strong color drains their vitality — however, the judicious editing, particularly in the murder scenes, packs a decent punch.

If you're looking for sense, explanations, or much of a back-story, you will not find it in Satan's Playground. This is a "ride" movie that you'll either choose to go with, or not.

As for the DVD extras, there is a surprising amount considering the cost of the indie chiller. One thing that Anchor Bay really should have invested in, though, was captions. The murky soundtrack is mixed in such a way that the music and ambient sound is much louder than the dialogue; I had to keep adjusting my volume up and down throughout the picture, which was rather annoying.

The behind the scenes featurette is a montage of footage showing the cast and crew at work. Looks like there was quite a bit of, er, "cutting up" when the cameras weren't rolling, too. Despite the frigid temperatures, night-shoots, and long hours, everyone seems to have had a pretty good time making Satan's Playground.

There's also an interview with Tomaselli, plus his over-the-movie commentary. The writer/director is a smart, well-spoken guy, but in this instance an actor sharing the commentary time would have been a good bet. He seems to be reading from prepared material at times — I think an actor with a sense of fun (preferably Rose) could have loosened up the proceedings quite a bit. Still, it is a great package of featurettes and additional release material which gives the viewer a very good sense of what the movie is about and what it was like to make it in the authentic location.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson