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Satan's Little Helper is a low-budget black comedy/horror film directed by Jeff Lieberman. It was filmed with HD cameras around New York City, USA in 2003 and premiered at film festivals in 2004. It saw a direct-to-DVD release on October 4, 2005.

Plot

Douglas 'Dougie' Whooly is a nine year old boy obsessed with a video game, in which he plays Satan's little helper. His sister Jenna, who is portrayed as a pretentious actor who often speaks in a faux British accent, comes home from college for Halloween and things turn sour when Dougie finds out she brought her boyfriend, Alex, with her.

After a fall out with Jenna, Dougie wanders off and finds a man dressed in a cheap costume arranging a dead body on his lawn as if it were a decoration. Dougie naively believes the man is Satan. While Dougie is with Satan, Jenna tries on an old costume of her mother's and realizes how sexy she looks in it. Alex decides to bond with Dougie by dressing as Satan for Halloween. Dougie and Satan knock out Alex by setting him up for an ambush; so they can bond with each other.

Dougie brings Satan home, whom everyone believes to be Alex. After meeting his seductive sister, Jenna, Satan falls for her sexy looks and pretends to be her boyfriend by continuously grabbing her breasts and touching her body. She notices the change of behavior in him, instead of panicking, she enjoys the darker behavior of her boyfriend, and engages it, although eventually getting quite disturbed at both his forcefulness and failure to speak, both of which she interprets as his devotion to the Halloween character.

When Satan and Dougie leave to get Halloween candy, they instead steal tools needed to murder; and then attack and kill several people, including Alex's dad. On the way home, they engage in a killing spree involving a grocery cart. While walking through a cemetery, the police accost them, and Satan tells Dougie to run home while he murders the police. We soon find out that all the police on the island community are now dead. Dougie returns home to wait for his master. When Dougie tells Jenna about what they've done, she begins to think that Alex is pushing the game too far. She waits for Alex (who she still thinks is the man in the Satan costume) to come home.

After he comes home, his new personality starts to frighten her, she realizes he is not Alex. Dougie's father comes home, and Satan murders him. He kidnaps their mother, which makes Jenna and Alex go after him, only to think it's Alex's dad whose responsible, but are tricked by the killer repeatedly changing costumes and putting his old one on a victim. In the end, Jenna and Mrs. Whooly accidentally kill Alex and are left at home with Dougie and a police man who spray paints a 6 on their home beneath their address, 66. It's the Satan Man. The movie ends in a cliffhanger.

Reception

Satan's Little Helper has gotten mixed reviews on IMDb but nevertheless, the film has received a small cult following.

Snoopy.com said about the movie: "If anyone ever gets to see this flick, it could become a cult classic, even a franchise. It is filmed in glorious, bright, saturated colors to give it an ironically cheerful look like the beginning of Blue Velvet, and it looks just about as good as a B-movie is ever going to look. It has its scary moments, some mild gore, some bare breasts, and a lot of humor. Although Halloween clones are not normally among my favorite types of movies, I enjoyed the film because it is very heavy on the morbid humor, allowing to it exist simultaneously as 80s slasher fare and a parody of same. It isn't as serious as Halloween or as silly as Scary Movie, but strikes a workable balance between them." ^[1]

Cast

• Alexander Brickel .... Douglas "Dougie" Whooly
• Katheryn Winnick .... Jenna Whooly
• Stephen Graham .... Alex Martin
• Amanda Plummer .... Merrill Whooly
• Wass M. Stevens .... Dean Whooly (as Wass Stevens)
• Dan Ziskie .... Vernon Martin
• Melisa McGregor .... Nicole
• Joshua Annex .... Satan Man
• Joyce R. Korbin .... Mrs. Sylvia Tishbaum
• Anthony Ardolino .... Hunter
• Mary Kay Adams .... Fran
• Christian Robert Varley .... He Head
• JoAnna Beckson .... She Head (as Joanna Bechsen)
• Larry 'Ratso' Sloman .... Mayor Flarin
• Lisa Barnes .... Mrs. Flarin
• Declan Mulvey .... Packing Boy
• Jim Fitzpatrick .... Pinoccio
• Adel Morales .... Valet
• Dana Smith Croll .... Dragon Lady (as Dana Smith-Croll)
• Lisa G. .... News Commentator
• John McLoughlin .... Hunchback (as Johnny McLoughlin)
• Steve Friedman .... Other Kid
• Joey Greene .... Billy Flarin
• Marshall Mills .... Driver
• Erika Lieberman .... Party goer (uncredited)

Quotes

Jenna: "Mom..? Why doesn't he say anything"?

Dougie: "He's afraid Satan might hear him".

Merrill Whooly: [on cell-phone handset] Betty! No, I'm in the car. I'm going to pick up Jenna at the ferry. She came home to spend Halloween with her brother. Is that true love or what?

Douglas "Dougie" Whooly: Jenna's my girlfriend. I'm going to marry her.

Merrill Whooly: He says he's going to marry her. I don't think they got up to the word "incest" in the third grade, yet.

Douglas "Dougie" Whooly: You said "sex"!

Merrill Whooly: [to Dougie] I said "incest," and don't be so stupid - play your game!

Technical details

Film negative format - Video (HDTV)

Cinematographic process - HDTV (1080p/24)

Printed film format - 35 mm Digital

Aspect ratio - 1.78 : 1

References

External links

• Scoopy.com Review
• Satan's Little Helper (2004) on IMDB