Horror Movie Reviews
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Title: 13th Child: Legend of the Jersey Devil (2002) |
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Review of 13th Child: Legend of the Jersey Devil
The story of the Jersey Devil originates back to the 1700's in the forests of the southern New Jersey Pine Barrens. Locals have reported savage and unsolved murders that they can only attest that the Devil has done. Hence the Jersey Devil was born.
The 13th Child is one of the most boring movies I have seen. The story is that a young tribesman was the 13th child born to this tribe and therefore bore the incredible power of shape shifting. Now a white boy seeing this reported him as evil. The child was then hanged and upon his last moments he transformed into what has now become the Jersey Devil. He beheaded the hangman and has become the source of numerous cases of horrible murders for the last 300 plus years.
There is one crazy man in a mental asylum claiming to know the true real story of the Jersey Devil. The investigator who investigates the murder scenes does a horrible job. The dramatic pauses in the movie are killers in themselves. I highly recommend this movie not to be viewed at any cost.
The 13th Child is one of the most boring movies I have seen. The story is that a young tribesman was the 13th child born to this tribe and therefore bore the incredible power of shape shifting. Now a white boy seeing this reported him as evil. The child was then hanged and upon his last moments he transformed into what has now become the Jersey Devil. He beheaded the hangman and has become the source of numerous cases of horrible murders for the last 300 plus years.
There is one crazy man in a mental asylum claiming to know the true real story of the Jersey Devil. The investigator who investigates the murder scenes does a horrible job. The dramatic pauses in the movie are killers in themselves. I highly recommend this movie not to be viewed at any cost.
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Comments for 13th Child: Legend of the Jersey Devil
- Posted on 2007-11-13
Shameful
Is Cliff Robertson going nutty nuts? How in the world do you take such an old & creepy legend that countless locals still believe in & manage to somehow screw it up? Being from jersey devil land I was kind of insulted. I grew up with these extemely spooky stories that made me, my cousins & friends never venture into the Pine Barrens at night & we would often get creeped out even during day light hours. I really don't know where to begin? First off, me nor any of my friends or family ever heard the so called tale that they tried to pass off in the film? I have no idea what the thinking was there so the film held no truth what so ever, except for the mere fact that it was a real legend thats been passed down for many generations.
Yes....I'm well aware that this was just a movie & I'm quite familiar with the Hollywood way, but this was supposed to based entirely on the real legend & nothing could have been further from the truth. The very simple premise of the real story could have easily been another Blair Witch Project or at least another Wendigo, which was a far better take on the jersey devil, even though that film was based on a true Native American legend unlike this movie & done extemely well in my opinion. Besides, the stupidly fabricated story of the 13th Child being a complete crock, they over loaded the movie with terrible special effects that made no sense & the creature looked like a really bad copy of an H.R. Gieger alien.Just horrible. If....... they had to show a clear shot of the creature, the creature in the Wendigo would have been a hundred times better. The only things mildly watchable were some cool shots of NJ & the Pine Barrens & go figure?, there is a good documentary included on the special features, which interviewed some true residents & writers of the region . I'm certain that those poor people are ashamed of being included on the same disk as the "movie" Other than these few things it was very poorly done & I can't help but think that anybody from the area could have done a much better job. All that they had to do was follow the true stories that the real locals told & that would have been more than enough to make a great horror film, that could have been a classic. I truly hope that some director out there makes a new movie that does this scarey legend justice. Worth seeing? If......... you can get it REALLY CHEAP, I'd say check it out, for the documentary, but DO NOT spend more than five dollars. Only the documentary merrits the second star.
If you're interested in spookey movies that are based on actual fact check out the fore mentioned Wendigo, The Mothman Phrophecies & The Legend of Boggy Creek (highly debated as fact of fiction, but great)& for flat out fiction....... Session 9 & The Blair Witch Project were sheer genious & very entertaining. I strongly recomend all of these titles if you have not already seen them.
Score: 2
- Posted on 2007-10-18
This is not about the Jersey Devil.
What a waste of 5 million dollars!
The acting was mediocre to bad, the story made little sense, and the special effects were minimal. On the upside, the photography was sometimes eerily effective, and many of the creepy looking sets were actually in the Pine Barrens (example: the interior set for Robertsons home, as well as many other exterior sets, were at the historical Batsto Village State Park in the Pine Barrens).
As a 7th generation South Jerseyan I was appalled at what I sat through. The movie had about a 2 week trial showing between New York and Philadelphia before it was yanked - none too soon. The writers took the beloved legend of what was mostly a mischevious phantom, and turned it into a story about a demonic blood-lusting creature - what a shame! This story has no resemblance to any of the legends surrounding the Jersey Devil, so essentially, this movie is not about the Jersey Devil. Don't waste your time or money.
Special Note: A New Jersey movie company has been advertising for a composer to create a musical score for a project about the Jersey Devil. Maybe we will get the real thing, yet.
Score: 1
- Posted on 2007-03-09
The Jersey Flop
I first heard of this Jersey Devil legend in a video called the last broadcast, so when i read on the back of the cover to this that it was about it, curiosity made me rent it.
Well, I'm glad I did only rent it. The plot is about a woman who is seeking some mystery of the Jersey Devil. She teams up with people, they have no chemistry, the acting is far from great, the plot is not strong, you don't really know why or how characters tie into the story but you don't care enough to rewind to find out either.
The special effects aren't much, the Jersey Devil is portrayed as more a big stupid dumb mongoloid with a mouth ripped right off from Aliens. By the time the things finished, you have no satisfaction about what you just saw. It's far from being one of the worst films of all time, and it isn't exactly boring, but it doesn't pay off in the end and they should have kept the JD more a mystery then revealing what it is and who controls it.
To say it's scary? HAHA, no way, maybe for an adolescent afraid of there own shadow. It's one of those cut away, show the blood after it kind of things and add a few loud noises here and there.
Honestly, I'm not saying avoid it, but i recommend only watch it if you have nothing better to do or are curious, but don't expect anything out of it but more then something to pass some time watching.
I'd would have given it 2 and a half stars but unfortunately it tried to throw in a useless nude scene that was not needed so the desperately depraved perverts out there will take an interest in it. so it gets a 1 and a half from me.
Score: 2 - Posted on 2006-06-08
Uncle Ben? A bad guy?
I sat perplexedly through this entire movie and gleaned not so much as one tarantula hair of conventional Jersey Devil lore. I did, however, learn two things. (A) Uncle Ben has relinquished his benevolent role in Spider-Man to pursue his evil secret career as an anecdotal alchemist somewhere deep at the heart of the Pine Barrens. (B) Uncle Ben's pet spider, "Bruno", is in fact the Jersey Devil.
The movie starts off with Riley in a mental hospital, jabbering about a series of events that no one else believes. Then, the movie flips backwards to a couple of days earlier.
Special investigator Kathryn is called in to solve a murder of an escaped convict and his girlfriend and also, just whenever she gets the chance, the legend of the Jersey Devil. Kathryn is joined by fellow investigator Ron and Ron's partner whose name I can't recall. Uncle Ben evidently now travels under the ominous name of Mr. Shroud. He resides at the Shroud Estate, where he tends to his spiders and poison herbs, squatting on land bequeathed to him by an ancient Indian tribe. Kathryn ends up staying the night at the Shroud place, during which she is regaled by Shroud's bizarre rambling diatribe---various pseudo-nihilistic theories on natural selection and predatory nobility; presumably, Shroud thinks he's got a solid shot and he's moving in for the kill with his "A" material. Peripherally, Kathryn is also officially introduced to Bruno, while still in his spider mode, of course.
Kathryn snoops around and finds an animal talon. This talon is identical to another talon discovered along the shoreline of the river where the convict's mutilated remains were originally recovered. This of course automatically incriminates Shroud. The talons and the victim's mutilated torso are brought to the local autopsy specialist, at which point he roughly compares one of the talons to one of the wounds on the torso and instantly deduces that the talon is in fact the murder weapon. Yes my dear Watson, I believe the game is now afoot!
Kathryn ends up in trapped Shroud's barn, with Ron bleeding out on the ground somewhere behind her. She is confronted by Shroud, who immediately disgorges some kind of screwball elliptical explanation for everything. Then Shroud summons Bruno in Jersey Devil mode, a big hairy monster with horns and buckets of saliva. Shroud and Bruno, are, according to Shroud, connected in some undisclosed way.
I've seen Bigfoot movies, Nessie movies, Abominable Snowman movies, and they've even got one now about the Bell Witch. Will anyone ever do a Jersey Devil movie about the Jersey Devil?
Score: 2 - Posted on 2006-02-06
WHAT THE DEVIL
Sometimes winning an Oscar doesn't always guarantee that an actor will always do good movies. Cliff Robertson, who won a surprising Best Actor Oscar for his role in CHARLY is such an actor. Excluding his role as Peter Parker's uncle or grandfather in SPIDERMAN, Cliff hasn't surfaced much, and it's a shame he is involved at all in this turkey. Not only does he appear in the movie, he also co-wrote its incomprehensible and sometimes dull script.
The Jersey Devil is one of those local legends that claims to have sustained truth; the movie even includes one local who explains how she saw the devil and drew a picture of it to boot. The movie takes this legend and weaves a story (somewhat) around it, peopling it with stereotypes and cliches, and asking its audience to accept all kinds of improbabilities and plot holes. The acting..well, Robertson tries to bring a dignity to his role as Mr. Shroud; Lesley Ann Down and Peter Jason have brief bits as the State DA and coroner, respectively; and poor Robert Guillaume eschews his Benson role in favor of a supposedly wacky former cop who lost his partner to the Devil and knows its "secret." Worst of all is Michelle Maryk as the female lead who suspiciously has the last name of one of the producers; she's awful. I gave it two stars for a couple of creepy scenes involving the spider and the actual creature, but otherwise, it's nothing new or exciting. For a better treatment of a similar topic, try THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES.
Score: 2
