The Legend of Diablo

Customer Reviews:

The Vatican has intel to rival that of Israel.......2006-09-26

OK, before I start the review proper, I have to make something clear. Look at the front cover folks. See that wicked looking demon on the front cover? Yeah. There's nothing that cool in this movie. Do not be fooled. I once read a review for a film where the reviewer wondered if there was a really good artist out there that made money by doing great artwork for crappy movies. I began to wonder that myself halfway through this movie.

Any way, the story centers around a small town in the southwest United States called Diablo. Don't ask who the settlers were and why they thought "Diablo" was a great name for a town - I can personally think of some better names: "Lucifer City," "Bloodthirsty Demon Town," or even "Hitlerville." Any who, the opening scene (probably done in Adobe After Effects) gives the background of a great demon that attacked the Aztec Empire, and was eventually contained in a Christmas Tree decoration by Montezuma himself. (Yes, that's right, all-powerful demons are no match for him, but somehow a few hundred Spaniards with 16th century rifles can decimate his people) The Catholic church moves it to Diablo, where hundreds of years later the local sheriff resurrects the demon and is killed. You find out later that his wife had died, and he was resurrecting the demon because he had read the demon had the power to bring life to the dead.

This is supposed to make you feel sympathetic towards the character, but I felt nothing, in fact it made me hate him more. All the ways to bring back your wife - Frankenstein-style electrocution, voodoo, Herbert West-brand fluids - and you choose the most stupid, most surely to fail way. What was this guy thinking? "Oh boy! The worst demon to ever live! When he was alive he tried to take over humanity? He'll SURELY stop his maniacal tendencies to resurrect one woman!"

The demon proceeds to possess people and have them attack the other characters. As a result, there is no cool sharp-toothed demon like you see on the front cover, only people doused in lip-gloss wandering around with the video speed doubled. (no I'm not kidding) Even when the Catholic priest character becomes possessed by the demon and is chosen as the host body, all you get is red contact lens and that's about it. Combined with a kind of digital camcorder video look, it makes the film seem like a low budget zombie flick.

While I'd like to blame the actors for contributing to this mess, I can't help but think a lot of it was the terrible script. The Catholic priest character adds cliche lines like "my son" and "go with God" at the end to all his sentences. He also has a direct line to the Vatican, by the way. (wow, the FBI and CIA never picked that up? That Pope is high on intel!)

Avoid. It's not even fun as a bad movie, it's just bad all around. It's not scary, it's terribly shot - it's just below average. I've seen low budget films that deserved praise, and this ain't one of them.

UH OH.......2006-05-16

There's this movie called TAIL STING about a giant scorpion on a plane that I have considered the worst movie I've ever watched but it's like GONE WITH THE WIND compared to this hideous film. Never have I seen such horrible acting or direction. They never show the creature; there are no special effects, and the makeup looks like kids at Halloween. There's a long expository narrative that tries to tell you what the movie's about, but it's absurd. The whole movie is so bad you have to wonder why you watched the whole thing. Do yourself a favor..AVOID!!!

Average customer rating:

Legend of El Diablo
Starring: Legend of El Diablo
Manufacturer: Silver Nitrate Ent.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000A2VVVK
Release Date: 2004-03-02

DVD:

DVD

DVD