4 out of 5

Director: Jeff Lieberman

Low-budget, smart and creepy flick is marred by its predictable chase-format ending. Up to those last 20 minutes, though, Satans Little Helper is incredibly entertaining, managing to be truly creepy without the use of usual horror tropes like night-time and mysteriously grotesque deaths. Young Dougie is obsessed with his new video game, Satans Little Helper. He cant wait for tonights Halloween festivities so that he can search for Satan and make things happen just like they do in his game. Dougie is also obsessed with his sister, whos visiting from school to go trick or treating with Doug.. Unfortunately, when she also brings home her new boyfriend, Dougie does not approve and decides to go searching for Satan alone. And he finds Satan, who could just be a guy in a costume, but maybe not… This is not a revolutionary movie, but I was impressed with how easily it toyed with my emotions as a viewer, making me scared for Dougies family, laughing at Satans antics, and then being blown away by how cruelly brash Satan would be during the movie (the grocery cart scene…). All of the characters are written intelligently, responding in time to the probable threat, except for Dougie, who plays our stooge. But hes the link for events to happen. As mentioned, the only disappointment was once the family acknowledges the threat, the movie turns into a where will he pop up next? routine that lacks the smarts of the opening. But it had to end eventually I guess.