The Devil's Rock is a 2011 New Zealand horror film produced by Leanne Saunders, directed by Paul Campion, written by Campion, Paul Finch, and Brett Ihaka, and starring Craig Hall, Matthew Sunderland, Gina Varela, and Karlos Drinkwater. It is set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D-Day and tells the story of two New Zealand commandos who discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash a demon to win World War II. The film combines elements of war films and supernatural horror films. The film was theatrically released on 8 July 2011 in the United Kingdom and 22 September 2011 in New Zealand.
On 5 June 1944, a unit of New Zealand commandos are sent to the Channel Islands on sabotage and distraction raids, to draw the German military's attention away from the Allied invasion of Normandy.
Captain Ben Grogan and Sergeant Joe Tane land by canoe on a fortified beach and head inland where they hear distant screaming and gunfire. The sounds of screaming intensify when they infiltrate a German bunker to place explosives. They encounter a German soldier who emerges from a tunnel pleading for help and Grogan kills him. They find mutilated bodies of other German soldiers in the bunker. Tane is distracted by a book of black magic and killed by an unseen assailant and Grogan is knocked unconscious.
Grogan is tortured and interrogated by German Colonel Meyer but escapes and chases Meyer into the tunnels, wounding him by gunfire. He traces the sound of a woman's screams to a room covered in occult symbols, discovering his dead wife, Helena. Meyer returns, shoots Grogan in the leg, and Helena in the head, explaining the woman is a demon summoned from a book of black magic. When Meyer offers her a human leg she changes into demon form and devours it.
Grogan removes a bullet from his abdomen and searches Meyer, who has passed out, finding a page from the book of black magic in a small pouch worn as a necklace. Grogan keeps the page and replaces it with another. Meyer recovers and explains the demon, a shapeshifter, is a weapon the Germans plan to use against the Allies. The demon can't cross moving water, confining it to the island, but Meyer realises it poses a powerful threat to the world and offers to give the book to Grogan if he'll help him escape from Germany. Meyer and Grogan perform a ritual to dispel the demon back to Hell. Meyer, believing he is protected by the incantation sheet from the book, betrays Grogan at the end of the ritual.
When Meyer reveals his true intent to use the demon for the Nazis, he's overpowered by Grogan and killed by the demon. The demon is unable to convince Grogan to take her with him as Helena, and he chains her up again. Unable to complete the ritual alone, Grogan takes the book, tells the demon he intends to return after the war to finish the ritual and banish her forever. He steps out onto the beach, buries a photo of Helena, and watches as D-Day begins.
In the post credits scene, a German soldier enters the tower, finding dismembered body parts and empty chains. A person appears, its voice slowly changing to demonic tones.
The film was produced by New Zealand producer Leanne Saunders and co-funded by the New Zealand Film Commission. Although set in Europe, the film was shot over 15 days[1] in August 2010 in Wellington, New Zealand, on sets built at Island Bay Studio, on location at Breaker Bay, and at Wrights Hill Fortress, a semi-restored World War II hilltop fortification. Special makeup effects for the film, including the elaborate prosthetics used to create the Demon, were supplied by Weta Workshop.[citation needed]
Historical references
The film contains references to real historical events, and Campion has stated that he based the story on the German occupation of the Channel Islands. Guernsey's history of witchcraft and the occult includes the existence of the "Bad Books" (books of black magic), and copies can be found in two libraries in the Channel Islands. When Grogan and Tane hear screaming from within the fortification, Grogan thinks it is other allied commandos who are being tortured, stating, "You know what they did to Blondie's men in Bordeaux", a reference to the torture of captured Royal Marines during Operation Frankton under the command of MajorHerbert 'Blondie' Hasler. As Meyer ties Grogan's thumbs with a piece of wire to torture him, Meyer talks about the Allied "gangster commandos, who raided these very islands and killed innocent German prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs", which is a reference to Operation Basalt, a British Commando raid on Sark during which a German prisoner was shot dead whilst his hands were tied, which in turn led to Adolf Hitler issuing his Commando Order, upon which the torture scene in the film is based. When Meyer is attempting to interrogate Grogan, he taunts Grogan's New Zealand background: "New Zealanders, a bunch of farmers driving around the deserts of North Africa, attacking by night and fleeing to hide like cowards", which is a reference to the New Zealand section of the Long Range Desert Group. Meyer also taunts Grogan by insulting the Maoris of New Zealand, which he describes as "the descendents of cannibals and headhunters", which is a reference to a 1940s German radio propaganda broadcast.[2]
Release
Metrodome bought the UK rights in 2010 while the film was still in post production.[3] The film was released in theatres and video-on-demand services on 8 July 2011 and on DVD on 11 July 2011. The film was released in 21 cinemas New Zealand on 22 September 2011 and was released on DVD and Blu-ray in December 2011. Entertainment One bought the North American rights at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.[4]
Zinema Zombie Fest – Bogotá, Colombia, November 2012
BFX Festival 2015 - Bournemouth UK, October 2015
Critical response
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Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 56% based on 9 reviews and a rating average of 4.8/10.[5]Tony Lee wrote in Black Static, "Although it's a Kiwi production, The Devil's Rock feels like a more worthy successor to the Hammer Film Productions studios ethos than actual new Hammer-label product such as The Resident."[6]
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