“Satan’s Playground” is a classic example of a horror film gone horribly wrong. It’s aim is off, and its intentions are skewed. It’s the result of a horror fan taking himself – and his film – way too seriously.

Director Dante Tomaselli tries to make “Satan’s Playground” a new “The Evil Dead,” but he fails the test. He probably read one too many Fangoria interviews with Sam Raimi, but what he didn’t get was that while Raimi and company made an awesome cult classic (twice, actually, if you count “Evil Dead 2”), that wasn’t really their intent. They were just trying to make a horror movie. They weren’t paying homage to anything, just trying to make a buck.

“The Evil Dead” worked because they took themselves seriously, but not so seriously they thought they were making a classic. By the time they did “Evil Dead 2,” they were aiming more for a campy horror spoof than a visceral horror flick. “Satan’s Playground” fails to become either film because Tomaselli doesn’t sell the grounded terror like the semi-serious horror flick, and he doesn’t take things over the top enough to compete with the sequel.

The mood behind “Satan’s Playground” was utterly overdone. At its core, “Satan’s Playground” is a story of a family whose car breaks down in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. They head to a house in the woods to find some help, but instead they find a psychotic family that systematically kills them.

This isn’t that unique of a story idea. Even when Tobe Hooper put this together in the 1970s as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” it wasn’t terribly unique. Yet, Tomaselli seemed to think it was the epitome of great filmmaking.

When I watched the special features, I realized why I had such a problem with this film. Tomaselli embodied everything I detest in independent filmmakers. He was overly dramatic in his interviews, he dressed like a Clive Barker wannabe in sunglasses, and he spoke of his film as great art. Although he intellectually knew he was making a cheap horror film, he seemed to think he was making a classic.

The film was oddly cast, featuring Felissa Rose of “Sleepaway Camp” and Ellen Sandweiss from “Evil Dead.” They’re not bad actresses in their own right, but they play sisters with a 10-year age difference. Sandweiss, while a genre draw, is too old to play the new mother, and Rose is too young to play the mother of a twentysomething autistic man. Additionally, Rose is cast against the older Salvatore Paul Piro as her age-disparate husband.

In the DVD features, there’s a discussion with Tomaselli and his thoughts on the Jersey Devil. As I listened to him talk about the local legend, I was intrigued. I remembered there were some scenes in the film that featured some unnamed creature in the woods, but they were very fleeting. In fact, the violence mostly comes at the hands of the grown up, retarded kids in the house.

I have no problem with the Jersey Devil story this film tries to tell, except that it really isn’t about the Jersey Devil. I’d love to see a Jersey Devil film. When I read that “Satan’s Playground” was about the Jersey Devil, I was thrilled.

But it wasn’t about the Jersey Devil – at least not very much so. It’s too bad Tomaselli didn’t actually tell a story about the Jersey Devil. That might have been interesting.



Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Surround Sound. Widescreen (1.77:1), enhanced for 16x9 televisions.