THE GOOD THINGS DEVILS DO *** USA 2020 Dir: Jess Norvisgaard. 80 mins
With a cast boasting leading roles from Bill Oberst Jr and Linnea Quigley with an additional and bold role for Kane Hodder THE GOOD THINGS DEVILS DO is a crazy Halloween holiday flick with a flare for practical effects and an obvious love for all things EVIL DEAD.
The story follows Melvin (David Rucker lll), an eccentric collector of the macabre who just received delivery of the jewel of his collection which he wants to get prepared ready to reveal later that Halloween night. The remains of the vampire “Masquerade” arrive in a heavy box which he needs help with. Enlisting the help of his nearly 40 year old stepdaughter Caroline (Kelley Wilson Robinson) proves to be a waste of time so he has to persuade his wife Louise (Quigley) who is afraid of the dark to help. She does but removes an important part of the vampires restraint causing Masquerade (Veronika Stoykova) to come to life. In the meantime, Richard (Oberst Jr), a gangster on the verge of retirement takes on one last job with his daughter Mouse (Mary Katherine O’Donnell). However he is double crossed by the gang leader who sends his best man Percy (Hodder) with them under false pretences. They end up at Melvins house thinking they are just going to rob the family and leave however, Percy has other ideas as does the now fully resurrected Masquerade!!
This is messy and fun but also quite stupid. Annoyingly not stupid in a fun way either, more stupid in a dumb way I’m afraid. The plot makes little to no sense with a lot of things all happening at once leaving you very unsure as to what is going on. It has some witty one liners and lines like “The praying didn’t work… I told you it was all bullshit!!!” which are pretty amusing but it also contains some uncomfortable over long scenes of Kane Hodder explaining how he’s going to insert a shotgun into a woman’s vagina which is awkward and unnecessary in my opinion. The acting from everyone is pretty awful but they do all seem to be having fun with it. The masses of blood, great looking vampires and off the wall weaponry (Oberst duct tapes kitchen knives to his daughters hands for some reason) are really great and would not look out of place in an episode of ASH VS EVIL DEAD! Even though it is essentially a vampire movie it manages to insert a few DEADITE type monsters in as well. It also has an enjoyable 80’s synth sounding score from talented composer Neil Lee Griffin.
I feel a little sad that due to the muddled script, questionable direction and dodgy acting I did not enjoy this as much as I had hoped but overlooking that it does have some highly enjoyable effects/monsters and a fun atmosphere which in my opinion is a good crack at simple Halloween holiday frivolity!
Review by Sarah Budd
THE GOOD THINGS DEVILS DO is available HERE