Mask of the Devil comes from director Richard Rowntree (Nefarious, Dogged), who also co-wrote this along with Matthew Davies. Horror comedies can be hard to get the right balance with, though having seen this now I have to say I think it is a step-up from Nefarious in terms of overall quality.
A prologue set in the late 1800's charts a failed attempt by a group of explorers, who attempt to steal an ancient cursed mask from a tribe deep in the jungles of Africa. Zoom forward to present day and a woman arrives at an antique shop hoping to find something African that she can use as a background detail for the Tarzan themed adult film she is working on. The shop owner's assistant, Todd (David Lenik - Jekyll and Hyde, An English Haunting, Winterskin) is tempted by the offer of an invitation to visit the film set in exchange for helping her out, and so behind his boss's back (in a Gremlins kind of way) he sells the woman his boss's antique mask, the same one from the prologue. Meanwhile, wanting to get some independence from her domineering father, teenage Mary (Nicole Katherine Riddell), who also happens to be Todd's sister, gets a job at the porn shoot. The next day at the adult film company it doesn't take long before one of the crew members becomes possessed by the cursed mask and soon begins to brutally murder the cast and crew.
After a fun prologue and an attractive intro credit sequence (in which a pulsing title track melds beautifully with the image of a pulsating mask) things take a step back. Aside from the odd little moment the film doesn't return to horror until around forty five minutes into the movie. It lost some of the momentum that had been built up, though does do a tertiary attempt to introduce us to the cast of eclectic characters. Some left more of an impression than others, the perverted soundman Mike (Martin W. Payne - Pandamonium, I Scream on the Beach!) was an early highlight, though the character does wear slightly thin by the end. Then there is Otto (Alex Nathan-Woods), a character which becomes an essential character to the story, but whose early utterly random scene in which he does a montage of martial art moves full of visual effects, was the one scene that made me genuinely laugh out loud. Mary as the protagonist was a bit of a bland lead, I never really felt much for her character, she seemed to be designed as a way for the viewer to get a look into the surreal world of the porn company, by having the perspective of a fish out of water.
The comedy, outside of that one scene, was never laugh out loud funny, but it never offended either thankfully. There was a decent balancing between comedy and horror once the killer started offing people left right and centre. The kills were many, though they were also very brief each time. Many characters are dispatched by having objects inserted into their faces, death by torch, obligatory death by dildo, and even death by a mobile phone being jammed into a characters brain! The high body count was fun to watch, one later kill shocked me with how sudden it occured. The kills look violent and despite some played for comedy effects they looked decent, even if some were a bit suspect in how non lethal objects managed to be used so lethally. Special mention goes to the darkly humorous moment in which a recently killed character receives an answer phone message that is full of extremely good news for them, found that amusing.
I have to mention the killer's look. On the surface they are fine, the mask melding with the face make-up effect looked good. More better however was the lovely visual effects that cause the killer to look distorted and blurry whenever they move. The visual effects in general were great, I love how flashbacks were inserted in a trippy way, and there were a variety of different scene transitions used to keep things feeling fresh.
I have to mention the killer's look. On the surface they are fine, the mask melding with the face make-up effect looked good. More better however was the lovely visual effects that cause the killer to look distorted and blurry whenever they move. The visual effects in general were great, I love how flashbacks were inserted in a trippy way, and there were a variety of different scene transitions used to keep things feeling fresh.
Mask of the Devil may have taken a while to really get into the swing of things, but when it does its style captured my attention. The story was hardly anything special, but I was forever enamoured by the visual effects used, it made the film stand out, elevating it above what it otherwise could have been. Mask of the Devil had its world premiere at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival on 21st August.
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