DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND (2010) REVIEW

I have a deep passion for films about zombies and infections and i love it when a new one come about and it seems that us brits like to make them and we make them well. From 28 Days Later to low budget affairs like the Irish film Isolation and Scottish film The Dead Outside, us residents of the UK love our low budget horror and we love to make low budget horror. With the recent rise in popularity, it was obvious that U.K film makers would take the Zombie/infection/end of the world scenario and put a very British spin on what originated in the U.S with Night Of The Living Dead.

So This brings me to my review, 2010's Devil's Playground, a film with a smaller than normal budget at an estimated $2,400,000 and starring Danny Dyer, Craig Fairbrass, MyAnna Buring and Jaime Murray, directed by Mark McQueen and written by Bart Ruspoli.

!!!!!!!!!WARNING! SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP!!!!!!!!!!!

Britain has recently seen a rise in independent London set films, most of which are gangland drama's and all seem to feature a small close nit group of actors. Danny Dyer, Tamer Hassan, Billy Murray, Craig Fairbrass and Simon Phillips, but recently there has been a rise in genre films being made using the same actors. Films such as The Last Seven, The Basement, Dead Cert and the Higher budgeted Doghouse, but one film that has recently been released is a film about a viral experiment that goes wrong and unleashes a horde of flesh eating 'zombies'. That film is Devils's Playground and unlike most low budget zombie films this one doesn't skimp on the gore or throw you right into the undead apocalypse instead it takes it's time to set up the story and introduce us to some of the characters, not many films do this and it's refreshing to see a home grown horror take the time to show this set up. 

THE PLOT:

London, an experimental drug trial has a serious side effect and causes 29,999 of 30000 test cases to become infected by some sort of mutated virus, that makes them hungry for human flesh. The only test case not to develop the symptoms is Angie and it's upto N-Gen head of security, Cole to track her down as she maybe the one who can reverse the virus. But with mainland Britain coming under attack from these 'Zombies', Cole finds that it might not be as simple as he though. Not only keeping Angie alive, he has to also try and help Joe, Angie's disgraced cop boyfriend, Her sister in-law Katie, Joe's Best mate Steve and two other survivors alive so they can meet Angie's stepbrother Matt and his river police partner Jim. Jim has a helicopter that can get them to safety. 

While not being completely original, there is some originality within the script, such as the look of the infected, who are covered in black veins and the fact that there is more character development here than most 'zombie' films and that the movement of the infected is made original by employing the technique of parkour, free running which gives the infected a more animalistic trait and makes them that more frightening, But there are some obvious 'homages' to other well known films such as Dawn of the Dead and The Thing and a scene that controversially echo's the 9/11 attacks in New York, a scene which is shot in a way as to not be disrespectful in any way and adds a layer of authenticity the film. There is also some very dark humour in the script that mainly comes from either Craig Conway or Sean Pertwee and we get to see an infected, bloody mouthed Colin Salmon. For a film that essentially borrows from better well made an known horror films, Devil's Playground succeeds in not making them too obvious and too much of a distraction. There is something inherently eerie about an abandoned empty London and this film captures it just as well as Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later and the more recent The Last Seven. Through out the film i kept getting reminded of Neil Marshall's Doomsday, a film that DP most closely resembles. And while thinking over it, in all honesty i think Devil's Playground is a better film.

THE CAST:

DANNY DYER as Joe

ok, i like Danny Dyer, i have done since he played Moff in Human Traffic, and i feel he's better served in genre fare such as this and the film Severance. My only criticism is that he's unfortunately become type cast as a cockney geezer which is sad because i think he could play more diverse characters than just this east end jack the lad. Borstal Boy from 2000 and Straight-Heads from 2007 show that he can play serious and it's a shame he's gotten stuck in this stereotype. Here as Joe, Dyer plays a disgraced River cop who is introduced to us as he's released from prison after making bail and his character wants to find Angie. As usual Dyer just plays what he's best known for and does at times bring a little bit acting ability to the film but he Danny Dyer and you get what you Expect from him. 

CRAIG FAIRBRASS as Cole

Fairbrass, alot like Danny Dyer, is typecast as a hard man and Devils Playground is no exception, although his character of Cole has developed a conscience after an incident puts his job into perspective and he ends up putting in a decent performance. I remembered Fairbrass as the rival of Phil Mitchell and Martin Kemp in Eastenders where, again, played a hard man and even though nothing has changed, it's still good to see him on screen and Devil's Playground isn't the only horror film he has out this year, he is also the lead in the other london based horror, Dead Cert, a vampire film about gangsters. 

MYANNA BURING as Angela

MyAnna Buring has been popping up more and more in British Genre films and most have been high profile films. From The Descent, Doomsday and Lesbian Vampire Killers, she has also made appearances in other lower end genre films including not only Devil's Playground but also in the film Red Mist from the director Shrooms. MyAnna will next be seen in the final 2 instalments of that very popular vampire saga Twilight: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2. Here she's again very watch-able and gorgeous as ever and gives a great performance as Angie and brings a sort of feminine quality to the film that unfortunately the other female characters don't. 

CRAIG CONWAY as Steve

Neil Marshall's go to guy appears he without any make up and give a good performance as Joe's best friend who along with the rest of the survivors hole up in his garage. Conway completely stole the show as Sol in Doomsday and here is more relaxed and seems to be having alot of fun with what may seem an easy shoot. But as always with Conway he give good on screen and is a joy to watch. 

The rest of the cast features well known and not so well known actors. 

COLIN SALMON - make this man the first black bond.

SEAN PERTWEE - always a blast on screen.

JAIME MURRAY - never seen her in Dexter, didn't really bring much to the plot.

SHANE TAYLOR - could not work out where i'd seen him before then it came to me, he played Roe, the medic in Band Of Brothers. Does a great Yank accent and is kind of the Dr. Smith (lost in space ref) of the film. 

THE DIRECTION:

This is the first film for director Mark McQueen and folks keep an eye out on this guy because for a first time feature director, his skill behind the camera is fantastic, it's well lit, well shot and the action scenes are handled very well. One scene i mentioned earlier that echos the 9/11 attack is masterfully handled and with the inclusion of the visual F/X makes the scene flow incredible well. Also the addition of snow to the black of the night looks great. I don't know why but i think snow and horror go well together, i think it may be that blood shows up better on snow. Seriously though keep an eye out for future films from McQueen i know i will. 

THE SCRIPT:

Like Mark McQueen this a Début screenplay from actor Bart Ruspoli and while it does borrow from better well known films, it somehow manages to gel very well into a coherent narrative structure that is easy to follow and it looks as the Ruspoli did a bit of medical research while writing this as i would think that writing science fact/fiction would be very difficult unless you did some research. Some of the dialogue is a little flat but there is emotion in some scenes and Cole seems to be the strongest character in the film.

There's a bit of a connection not only to Doomsday but Band Of Brothers too. Bart Ruspoli also appeared in the latter as Pvt. Edward Tipper and i have to say that BOB is my all-time favourite TV show/Mini Series .

MY FINAL VERDICT:

For a fist film from both director and writer, Devils Playground is a fantastic film, there are some flaws and not much originality but aren't all zombie films just ripping on Night Of the Living Dead and as i stated earlier, compared to the higher budget of Doomsday and 28 Days Later, this film works incredibly well and is a great showcase for Director and Writer. I recommend horror fans check this out. 

P.S: i have just received news from a colleague that we will be interviewing Both Mark McQueen and Bert Ruspoli for our next podcast which will be available here...http://thexperimenthq.blogspot.com/

DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND

FILM: 8/10