Satan's Playground Review Country : USA Year: 2004 Genre: Horror Format: DVD Running Time: 81 minutes Distributor: Anchor Bay A family excursion into New Jersey's Barren Pines quickly becomes a nightmarish ordeal once the vehicle stalls near a house of unspeakable horrors, and the terrifying truth about the long-rumored 'Jersey Devil' legend becomes a reality from which there is no escape.... Credits Written and Directed by Dante Tomaselli. Starring Felissa Rose, Ellen Sandweiss, Ed Neal, Irma St. Paule, Ron Millkie, Christie Sanford, Salvatore Piro and Danny Lopes. Taking a nod from the legend of the "Jersey Devil," a preternatural demon said to haunt the Barren Pines of New Jersey for the past couple hundred years or so, writer/director Dante Tomaselli's celebrated Satan's Playground finds its way onto DVD, and not a moment too soon. Limitations of a small budget aside, this harrowing account of a bickering family's unexpected descent into demonic madness is a cut above most of the genre fare hitting the multiplexes today. A lone station wagon plows the back roads of rural New Jersey. It's impossible to ascertain the time frame, because the vehicle is clearly early 80's, and one character is repeatedly seen playing with a Rubik's Cube. Yet those examples can't ensconce the whole tale within that period, since today's climate is retro-friendly. For all we know, the story takes place in 2004 (when this film was actually shot) or even today. No matter. Once the car breaks down, New-Yawk-twanged Frank (Salvatore Piro) eventually opts to hike out on his own, hoping to receive assistance from a mysterious house he sees in the distance. Once Frank arrives there, he's greeted by the charming but feral hag Mrs. Leeds (a commanding performance by Irma St.Paule) and her mute daughter Judy (Christie Sanford), who welcome him inside...and to his own demise. Frank's impatient wife Donna (Felissa Rose) eventually ventures from the car to the dubious homestead, leaving her sister Paula (Ellen Sandweiss)--plus Paula's infant son Anthony--to sit with Donna's autistic son Sean (Danny Lopes). It's a bit of a stretch, buying the barely-thirty-something Felissa Rose as mother of an eighteen-year-old, but she pulls it off admirably. As the rest of the doomed family gradually get drawn into the web of madness, we discover that the malevolent Mrs. Leeds has a son (Ed Neal) who has a pro-victim "rebellious streak" that can be utilized every once in a while. We also find that the (unseen) "Jersey Devil" is apparently a palpable entity with bird-like abilities and who likes to swipe down from on high and scar your face, slit your throat, or whatever mayhem suits him. New York character actor Ron Millkie, best known for his turn as "Officer Dorf" in the original Friday The 13th, turns in a fun cameo here as a cop who wonders onto the proceedings and then pays a devastating price. The brunt of the acting burden is placed on Felissa Rose's shoulders, and she nails it with an assured aplomb. Donna is one of those rare horror heroines who asks the right questions at the right time. But also ripe for kudos are Christie Sanford and Danny Lopes, faced with the task of essaying their roles without the convenience of dialogue lines. For the most part, Sanford lurks around with retarded pigtails and smiling with a lethal croquet mallet--and she makes it scary. For his part, Lopes stumbles around and calls for his mother while drooling incessantly--but he's still sympathetic. Again, great cast. Given the track record of much of the cast here (appearances in The Evil Dead, Sleepaway Camp, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday The 13th and more) are diamonds in the rough of fan favorites, Satan's Playground has something of a built-in audience. But what that audience may not anticipate is the sheer "who cares whom I kill off" abandon which Tomaselli employs. His tale begins genteel, veers into the bizarre and ends in the demented. Satan's Playground is a remarkable tale of terror which will stay with you long after viewing. OFFICIAL SITE DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS Review by Petch Lucas, for Pitofhorror.com