Shame-Less Drivel…
Paul Tanter is one of my least favorite directors, and not just because he makes crappy films about soccer hooligans who have a proclivity for yelling the oft used phrase, “you f*ckin’ c*nt!” an incredible amount of the time. It’s because of his unimaginitive style and uninspiring films (unless your ambition in life is to wear sports clothing and attack people who show preference to a team other than your own). He admittedly knocks them out cheaply enough, but so do lots of other directors who aren’t half as busy as our Mr. Tanter appears to be. That said, there’s clearly a market for this type of trash as part two’s and three’s are readily snapped up and devoured by said sports clothing wearers, who can’t seem to get enough of this uncostly dreck. Paul Tanter has at least tried something a bit different with Shame the Devil, with a poor mans version of the brilliant James Wan’s Saw, but without any finesse or imagination.
- Shame the Devil
- Written & Directed by
Paul Tanter - Cast
Simon Phillips, Juliette Bennett, Will de Meo - Release Date
2013 - Ed’s Grade: D
Shame the Devil, starts off well enough, as a man is tied to a chair with a shotgun pointing at his face, which in turn is rigged to a device and a lie detector. A voice, not unlike the one from Saw; the one Jigsaw and the killers from all the Scream movies use, is telling the man he must tell the truth or he’ll die. He must “shame the devil.” Needless to say he ends up with his brains blown out, so our hero, London Detective James (played by Tanter regular, Simon Phillips) is called in to investigate the crime.
When James ends up being present at the next two murders he’s taken off the case as he’s now considered a suspect. James’ ex-girlfriend just so happens to be a New Yorker and expert in serial-killers (there aren’t any in the UK apparently?!) who can help solve the case. Off our hero goes to New York (giving Tanter a chance to do those outdated upshots of the high buildings that went out of fashion in the early 80’s — along with Disco) but the killer appears to follow James, and another killing goes down. Still in London, his junior partner has also been taken off the case for giving James information, and decides to jet off to New York to assist his boss. Together the trio try to unravel the mystery of who’s doing the killing and why.
*****
I’ll give Paul Tanter marks for trying on this one, but sadly, he’s clearly taken all the same mistakes with him to a different location. The writing is as much to blame for this being a rather transparent thriller, as was the filmmaking style, because the script felt rushed and clearly needed a few more run-throughs for a reality check.
Allowing a sensible level for “suspension of disbelief,” why would someone fly thousands of miles for something he could get nearby? Why would your assistant, who probably gets shitty pay, jump on a plane to offer help without even calling first? That thing with us getting continually shown the same flashback scene, over and over again, in an attempt at misdirection was too much spoon-feeding, and I realise it was supposed to look like “style” but it ended up just being distracting.
I saw the ending coming from about two-and-a-half miles away (give or take a foot) but I don’t want to spoil the big “reveal,” so I’ll say no more. I might actually watch the ending again to figure out WTF actually happened, as I felt I must have missed something … but I don’t think I did. All I will say is that I’m sure as shit not watching Shame the Devil: Rise of the White Collar Kray Hooligan Boys from Essex – Part 2!
