The Devils Business (2011) Review
They say the Devil makes work for idle hands and if that’s true then Sean Hogan the writer and director behind hit-man horror thriller The Devils Business will be fired by Satan once this cinematic calling card gets him the big budget high profile film work he deserves.
Making so much from so little Hogan’s sinister storyline shot in a simple style looks and feels a million pounds more than the low budget, small cast and confined locations it was made with.
Set in the home of a man marked for death by a gangland boss the killers dispatched to dispatch this mysterious target break in and wait till their prey arrives home.
New to the Devils business the young yobbish Cully (Jack Gordon) questions his older partner in crime Pinner (Billy Clarke) on the strangest thing he has seen while in the nefarious profession they both now dwell.
However Pinner’s story is cut short when the assassins believe their mark has made it back earlier than expected. Investigating further they discover that the man they have been sent to murder has secrets far darker than they imagined and this sends the duo into a confrontation that they will never recover from.
With a cast of only four actors and set primarily in only one location what The Devil’s Business lacks in budget it more than makes up with in style, originality and razor sharp tension.
Engrossing from the opening Hogan creates a mood of dread and horror straight off with the low level lighting and Pinner’s long ghost story which draws us right in where he wants us.
This theatrical start soon shifts to an altogether more filmic form of fear as the Faustian tale unfolds and the two hired guns transform from hunters to haunted as the enigmatically menacing Kist played perfectly by Jonathan Hansler proves a harder target than they had hoped.
Combining a great cast with a well written script The Devil’s Business may use a set of age old tricks to scare and spook its audience but it employs them so well that you can’t help but be caught up in the horror.
Intense and creepy throughout everything from the sound to the setting creates an atmosphere of fear and the jumps and set pieces work well when they arrive using scant effects and proving what can be achieved with minimal money but maximum ideas and talent.
Inspirational to all wannabe film makers this movie proves that a big budget and Hollywood effects are not necessary to create a great horror movie and that creativity and atmosphere are always more effective than special effects and gallons of gore.
If there is one complaint to be made it is that with a running time only just over an hour The Devil’s Business is too short however Hogan leaves us wanting more and after this terrifying taster I can’t wait to see what he does next.
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