Synopsis
Go to hell.
Two hit men stumble upon a black magic altar and a bloody sacrifice in the home of their target and become ensnared in the terrifying shadowy darkness of the occult.
2011 Directed by Sean Hogan
Two hit men stumble upon a black magic altar and a bloody sacrifice in the home of their target and become ensnared in the terrifying shadowy darkness of the occult.
At the country house of their target, two hit men lay in wait. However it soon becomes apparent all is not as it should be and they might be the ones about to die.
Hit men and the occult are where the similarities to Ben Wheatley's Kill List start and finish. The Devil's Business is a totally different proposition. Yes there's a lot of talk especially in the first twenty minutes as the senior killer tells his younger partner of a murder at their bosses strip club, however you have to pay attention as it all becomes relevant by the end and isn't just the throw away story it seems at the time.
Despite it being grounded in reality the…
In a nutshell: Kill List meets The Brood.
A super-low-budget film. And bearing that in mind, it perhaps does as well as it can with limited resources, relying on a handful of actors (and mainly concentrating on two characters) and much conversation to offset a lack of visual incident. Unfortunately, there’s so much dialogue that I rarely ever felt caught up in the drama of the piece. Rather, I was all too conscious of how written and performed it was.
Still, it’s a decent enough effort, which clocks in at less than 70 minutes if that’s any help.
HoopTober 7.0
Film 21
A subtle and creepy occult noir thriller that burns slowly but effectively. Two British contract killers—one veteran and one amateur—await their target in his bizarre, quiet home, and soon realize not everything is at it seems.
The sound design, the score, and the two lead performances work to generate a ghostly, unsettling tone; it gets under the skin. It’s a bit talky in the beginning, but that’s part of its charm.
Could’ve been fantastic in Mick Garris’s Masters of Horror films, as the runtime is about 70 minutes, and it has that unrestricted feel about it. Almost feels like a play.
Low budget, but scary. A nice October watch. Watched via Mondo Macabro Blu-ray, personal collection.
October's over, time to move on to... wait, another horror film? This is a sickness that will not end!
This low-budget British horror follows a couple of hitmen (one older and very experienced, one who is on his first job) as they wait for their prey in a dark house. The first half of the film is little more than them talking to each other and occasionally exploring the building, and it's fairly effectively spooky stuff despite the dialogue - especially that of the younger hitman - being pretty poor at times. I kind of expected the whole story to unfold in this way, and was about to praise the filmmakers for handling an extremely low budget in an interesting…
It took me far too long to get around to Devil's Business. I had heard good things and I'm glad to say it is indeed a solid little film. It takes it's time and lets us get to know the two main characters. They are both well acted though I though the guy playing Pinner was just superb. The younger of the two hitmen did come across as a little too bumbling. After being to scared to go upstairs, forgetting his watch in the house then shooting his partner, I did think that maybe it was going a little too far to show he wasn't really ready for the hitman job.
The film takes it's time building a nice sense…
Slow-burning, incredibly creepy British horror that takes place on one night on the job of two hit men. It offers something different from Kill List (before you go there) although it shares the atmosphere which is mostly thanks to the excellent soundtrack by Justin Greaves.
The premise over promises and the final product under delivers. Even with its slim runtime, The Devil’s Business is a tough slog. The lifeless patter between the two hit-men does its damndest to tranquillise, and given the pervading lack of quality, succumbing is probably for the best.
A fitfully-clever genre effort that feels a little too engineered for its (largely) single location and supremely low budget for my tastes. It isn't helped by the inevitable comparisons to Ben Wheatley's Kill List (released the same year), although it does take a few novel turns with its similar premise that I appreciated. It's the kind of over-ambitious, too-talky misfire that suggests its director is someone to keep an eye out for, and at 72 minutes it's hard to say it's not worth checking out.
British low budget horror concerning two hitmen on a job which goes far beyond their wildest expectations. Sounds very Kill List but this is a different beast. More stage-y (4 man cast I think?) and lacks directorial flourishes but is built around a very decent central performance. Couple of effective scares and refreshingly short.
Not bad.
Not for everyone, but considering the budget was probably about as much as a tank of petrol it's a really enjoyable film of two blokes sitting down and having a spooky chat.