Director Jeff Lieberman had a few hits in the late ’70s and ’80s, chief among them Squirm and his contribution to slasher history Just Before Dawn. He took a pretty long break after his 1988 offering Remote Control, but in 2004 he returned to the cult horror world with a film based solely around Halloween, the comedic slasher film Satan’s Little Helper. Shot with a very low budget on digital HDCAM, the movie takes a pretty basic plot and adds a layer of holiday cheer to its slasher antics. Lieberman’s story follows Dougie (Alexander Brickel), a young kid obsessed with a video game where he becomes Satan’s helper and commits various heinous atrocities for a higher score; on Halloween, he encounters a Satan-like figure in a mask and cloak murdering people in town and leaving them strung up like decorations, and thinking it’s all an elaborate prank, he proceeds to follow him throughout the massacre.
Lieberman’s idea is probably the most interesting aspect of the film; at the opening, we see this “Satan” figure dragging dead bodies into the public eye in broad daylight, able to do so on the one night of the year where the macabre and grisly is actually welcome. It’s a perfect time to commit gory murder, and Lieberman’s comedic writing highlights the ridiculousness of its plotting while also making a comment on the allowances we tend to afford Halloween, at the risk of actual death and dismemberment occurring.
With that said, Satan’s Little Helper definitely suffers from the low-budget filmmaking of fellow ’00s movies like Jack Frost and Uncle Sam, with all of the same pitfalls. The acting is, for the most part, fairly poor despite the fact that this movie employs Katheryn Winnick in an early lead role and Amanda Plummer as Dougie’s mother; and that could be related to the ho-hum script, the directing, or a combination of the two. The film also outstays its welcome by a small margin, running a too-long 100 minutes; the film could easily trim some fat with an 80 minute presentation without losing any of its focus, perhaps during the odd mother-daughter exchanges about Winnick’s budding sexuality throughout.
The Halloween festivities do offer an enjoyable experience for holiday viewing, though, and some of the dark humor is effectively crass and funny: Lieberman targets a blind man, a pregnant woman, and a baby carriage, all in one scene. For those that enjoy a little un-PC comedy, Satan’s Little Helper delivers in between some warped practical effects and Plummer enduring a plastic tape suit. These moments are easily the most enjoyable of the bunch, and if the viewer can get through the lulls, the ending also provides a nice twist that includes some religious symbolism.
For those that love the Halloween season, Satan’s Little Helper offers enough bad cheer to make up for its bloated running time and low budget. It’s not the best-made movie, but it certainly could be a staple film of the season that covers a lot of the same ground as Trick ‘r Treat in a different format.
Blu-ray
Synapse Films has released Satan’s Little Helper on Blu-ray in two formats, a limited edition version with slipcover and a standard option. Besides that slipcover, the two releases are the same and this review is based on the standard edition.
As stated previously, Satan’s Little Helper was shot digitally in order to make sweeping color changes to the cinematography; this is because much of the filming took place in the summer, and digital corrections were needed to give the film its auburn-tinted autumnal atmosphere. A caveat with shooting digitally, especially in the ’00s, was the use of cheap digital camera technology that does not make a great jump to Blu-ray. Here Synapse has given the film a high-definition transfer to Blu-ray with a note that this is the full uncut version of the movie. The results are pretty good, though it’s clear that Satan’s Little Helper is never going to look particularly amazing in high-definition. The HDCAM footage tends to feature some heavy motion blurring due to its upscaling, and this becomes apparent throughout the film in various sequences with lots of movement or darker highlights; it can be pretty distracting, leaving ghostly traces everywhere. This isn’t Synapse’s fault but a flaw of the digital cinematography. Otherwise, the film’s digitally-altered color palette is left intact and it’s nice to have this release on home video in its full form.
Audio is presented with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track, which sounds full and vibrant with an emphasis on sound effects and David Horowitz’s score. No issues with dialogue or volume drops. English subtitles for the hard-of-hearing are also available.
Extra features include an audio commentary with Jeff Lieberman that was struck for a previous DVD release; it’s a great listen as Lieberman goes into a lot of choices and decisions that went into making the final product, highlighting background production elements, and more. Also included from previous releases is a short vintage making-of featurette.
New to this release is a more extensive making-of featurette that runs over 30 minutes. It collects interviews with Lieberman, an adult Brickel, and a few other crew members; Brickel in particular is sweet as can be and seems extremely grateful for the experience. Another new extra is a location featurette with Lieberman, who visits various locations seem in the film with his Satan’s Little Helper mask. Finally, a vintage promotional trailer is included on the disc. This release also features reversible artwork.
Extra Features
- Audio Commentary from Director Jeff Lieberman
- Vintage Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (720p; 4:58)
- NEW The Devil in the Details: Making SATAN’S LITTLE HELPER (1080p; 32:38)
- NEW Mr. Satan’s Neighborhood: A Tour of the Filming Locations with Director Jeff Lieberman (1080p; 22:37)
- Promotional Trailer (1080p; 1:35)
Verdict
Satan’s Little Helper is a fun movie for Halloween lovers, even if it does get a little bogged down in its low budget. Synapse Films has done what it can with a video transfer here, but digital blurring effects do hamper the overall quality of the film’s presentation. New extras add additional incentive to pick up this new Blu-ray release.
