Directed by Steven R. Monroe
After all the insanity we’ve already seen during Bigfoot week, let’s take things down a notch with our next movie. Debuting on the SciFi channel back in the year 2006, this was the latest in a proud tradition of low budget movies snapping up aging cult horror movie stars to try to squeeze a little more goodwill out of their names before they retire. This can lead to ripoff schlock or a hidden gem, so let’s talk about Devil on the Mountain and see where this one ends up.
Years after losing his wife in a tragic Bigfoot related car accident, mechanic Chase Jackson, played by Lance Henriksen, has settled down into a quiet life in a small Arizona town. The sleepy town’s silence is quickly shattered by a team of bank robbers who make off with a big haul, killing a local cop in the process. Trying to make a getaway, the robbers get into their own car crash and are forced to cross through dangerous terrain, dangerous because of what lurks in those woods. When the police follow, they have no idea that they’re about to become prey as well.
One of the funniest things about Devil on the Mountain is that after days of bizarre plots, worse effects, and nonsense storylines, this feels like the first real movie I’ve covered in a while. The story is simple and easy to follow, the characters generally make sense even if many make terrible decisions, and while the effects are clearly limited by the budget, the film finds ways around that. I generally like genre mashup fiction, and crime drama/ monster horror is a classic in that regard. The lovely setup of crooks thinking they’re the baddest around getting humbled by actual monsters is always fun and gives the actors a little more depth to work with.
This is a SciFi channel production, and while this being a TV movie does clearly impact the budget, they did have enough cash to bring on Lance Henriksen. If you have to pick between an effects budget and hiring Lance Henriksen, you hire Lance Henriksen every time, so they made the right call. Unfortunately, Henriksen isn’t in too much of the first act, I was afraid he was going to just be a guest star, but I was relieved when he arrived at about the halfway point and started commanding every scene. Henriksen could have easily phoned this in, but I’m thrilled he pulled out a gruff and world weary performance reminiscent of Ed Harley in his PumpkinHead days. Everyone else is trying, to mostly good effect, to keep up with Henriksen, and we get a surprising amount of character depth from the crooks.
I mentioned earlier that the effects budget was clearly limited, and that’s one of the downsides here. While we do see the Bigfoot creatures, they are pretty obviously guys in suits, and additionally, much of the ‘effects heavy’ stuff is implied more than seen, with particularly intense scenes like a car crash and a Bigfoot attack being obscured by frenetic quick edits to hide that they couldn’t show these things. It doesn’t kill the movie, but it is a bit disappointing because I am kind of a gore hound myself and really appreciate good violence effects. Luckily this movie isn’t trying to rely on effects scenes, leaning more into character drama.
Devil on the Mountain isn’t perfect, but I enjoyed it for what it is. If you’re into crime dramas and monster movies, this may not be a bad low-investment pick for a spooky movie night. Just don’t expect from Dusk til Dawn. Also, Henriksen does call someone ‘Pumpkin Head’ as an insult, which was a fantastic throwback that made me chuckle.