Devil's Workshop

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I watched the whole thing and left with nothing but questions and no answers. Special effects were awful too. After watching it I'm still not sure of they actually summed spirits or if he just dreemed it all up. There is a sub plot with his rivel that also wants the part but you can tell from the start the parts with him is used for nothing but to fill time. I honestly can't believe this got the green light to be filmed. The acting was also pretty bad but if the story had made any sense at all I could have forgiven it. All in all I have to say just do not waste your time with this trash. Move along and never think about this movie again.

A smart, well made film with a good premise and all-round decent acting. I would say while Emile Hirsh is always a solid performer, his character's screen time threw things a bit for me and didn't seem to bear much relevance to the story. That aside, this is a good genre peice, well researched and had a sense of foreboding, which might've been realized in a more satisfying way, but was an enjoyable watch nonetheless. Give this one a try if you're stuck for a supernatural horror to watch and don't want the usual cookie-cutter formulaic stuff which neither scares, nor entertains. Probably not for the teenage audience.

This movie was highly entertaining and had the ability to go into great territories in a powerful, fearless manner in what would have seemed to be an obvious ending that was practically writing itself. Then the ball gets dropped in the most disappointing way imaginable and there's nothing gained from the time you invested in the film. I was very impressed until the ending that unfortunately blew every expectation that I had into oblivion. The acting was well delivered, the concept was reminiscent of the movie "Starry Eyes" and the visuals were pretty strong with the exception of the ending when everything catches fire. Radha Mitchell is very convincing in this slow burn, horror.comedy and All of the participants delivered their parts well. Emile Hirsch was fairly hilarious in a role very different than what he typically plays. With everything this film had going for it, they sunk it into the cold, dark earth seemingly on purpose. They build this movie up to a grand crescendo that never occurs and the viewer is left cheated completely. Oh well. I hope someone who participated in this movie learned something from this. Very disappointing. I have it a 7/10 due to everything that transpired before the ending, but, if I'm being honest, the film truly deserves a 5 for how badly they cremated the ending. Bad taste left in my mouth.

This film tries its best to stand out from other films of the horror genre. It is successful in doing that but at the cost of its story. The lead actor does come across as a genuine character. This film dives into a struggling actor's psyche and life beautifully. Supporting casts live up to their roles. But the story is where it falls short. The film does have an air of eerieness which it maintains throughout the first half. It doesn't justify the use of preconceived notions of demonology. The director fails to create a good amount of tension between the certain characters. Second half of the film does involve chaos but it's too late to have the desired effect. Several scenes did have good acting written all over it. Few unwanted scenes could've been edited out. The director does create scenes where tension works beautifully but lets go off it just before it hits the right spot. A half-baked story which had a lot of potential. It just fails to bind together the characters' story together into one story. For a moment, the film seemed to be on the right track, but an adrupt ending spoils the entire mood. Had the character been explored after the twist, it would have formed a perfect circle and justified the character's actions. I will recommend this film to people who are interested in watching a film just for the sake of it/or for passing time.

Radha Mitchell is great and puts in a solid effort as a demonologist who attempts to mentor a struggling actor. Said actor is a twenty-something nitwit who is cool because he smokes weed and listens to the rippity rap music yo. So we get half an hour of him behaving like a weener with occassional scenes of blaring rap in lieu of a proper soundtrack, destroying any potential atmosphere. By the time he gets to Radha to 'study' her ways, I was bored of everything about him. Sadly, the rest of the movie starts to 'explore' his backstory while you consider taking a nap. There's a sub-plot bubbling away with an acting rival, but that's of no interest to anyone. It asks very few questions, contains almost no horror and is in no way profound or thought-provoking.

I watched this looking for something goofy to pass the time and was shocked by the film. It seems clear that the distributor either misunderstands what it has or has calculated that using false marketing tactics will lead to more sales. In actuality, writer-director Chris von Hoffmann's film is a prestige piece of social commentary that uses horror as a device to get to a resolution. It skewers actors and Hollywood types in almost parody that nods to classical horror tropes but keeps them at a distance before an absolutely bizarre climax. Yes, I was disappointed that the demon girl on the poster (and in the trailer) has nothing to do with the film... Ok, ok so what did I love about this one? I loved the performances! Radha Mitchell OMG what an incredible actress. I've seen her for a while but always felt like she was a bit of an afterthought playing lots of thankless roles. Here she's in the drivers seat of what is at once a terrifying and hilarious performance. Timothy Granaderos, who seems on the cusp of a breakout, plays well off of Mitchell Emile Hirsch seemed to enjoy himself greatly and played a great foil as the counter to Timothy's serious method actor-ing. His contribution includes a very memorable scene with a great twist about midway through the film The production quality far exceeded films in its lane and all in all I was impressed with its originality. I'm not quite sure what to compare it to but I was definitely pleased with the experience. There's a lot more to talk about: religious themes, mother-son psycho-dynamics, social media commentary, and a Twilight zone esque sense of reality... but I'll stop short of spoiling anything My biggest beef was with a undercooked visual effects sequence. Here and a few other places, the film ventured into "cheap territory"... otherwise I was a fan!

I have to admit that within ten minutes of watching Devil's Workshop I was itching to turn it off and move on. I just wasn't feeling it, thought the story was subpar and the acting blah. Then enters. Radha Mitchell as Eliza.(the demonologist) and the film takes off into an intense chemistry between herself and Timothy Granaderos who plays Clayton. (The want to be famous actor, researching a role of a Demonologist) Scrap everything in the film and just take it from Clayton arriving at Eliza's house and you have a great creepy horror flick. (and forgive the CGI bit towards the end of the film) It is delightfully eerie and absurd in a good way. Radha plays the role of Eliza with creepy gusto and Timothy's acting abilities bounce off her perfectly. I know the need for exposition is necessary in films, I just feel the writer could have found a better way to start the film. Because of the subpar opening of the film, I worry that people won't hang around to watch it reach its peak and follow through. But if you are reading this, hang in there with this movie. It really is a little gem cloaked at the beginning with what looks like a bad film.