Genre: Horror
Director: Kevin Smith
Writer: Clive Steinbeck
Cast: Christopher Walken, John Goodman, Frank Grillo, Haley Joel Osment, Justin Long, Lauren Ambrose, Gretchen Mol
Plot: 1735... Jane Leeds (Gretchen Mol), already mother to 12 children is going to labor with her 13th. In frustration, she curses the soon-to-be-born child, crying that the child would be a devil. At first the baby looks normal, but quickly the baby changes into a creature with hooves, a goat's head, bat wings and a forked tail. The creature growls and screams before climbing up the chimney and heading out into the Pine Barrens.
1909... In Camden, New Jersey, a creature with glowing red eyes attacks a trolley car. Police fire on the creature to no effect. The hooved creature flies away.
Present Day... The creature is now regarded by most as a mere urban myth known as the "Jersey Devil", but that hasn't stopped cryptozoologists from trying to find the creature to prove its existence.
We see the creature, the "Jersey Devil" trapped in a cage. Bertram Lockhart (Christopher Walken) is trying a negotiate the purchase of the beast. When he and the owner are unable to come to terms, Lockhart pulls out a gun and kills the man. Bertram has his assistant Smitty (Justin Long) attempt to load the cage into a truck labeled "Lockhart's Touring Oddities". The Jersey Devil begins thrashing around in the cage. Lockhart shoots the beast with a tranquilizer dart, causing it to pass out.
Pastor Peters (John Goodman) visits the carnival show after his parishiners express concern about how frightening the attractions are. After seeing the oddities exhibited, Peters vists the local sheriff Argus (Frank Grillo) and asks him if there is anything he can do about the show.
Argus goes to investigate Lockhart's carnival. Lockhart takes him to a tent where the Jersey Devil is being kept for the opening show. Shocked by the creature's appearance, Argus suggests that the show is not safe for the public and advises him to leave town.
That night, Lockhart proceeds with the carnival despite Argus' advice. During the opening show, the audience is shocked at the sight of the Jersey Devil. Pastor Peters' son, Paulie (Haley Joel Osment) is in the audience. The audience gets rowdy and begins throwing things at the creature, assuming it is some sort of special effect or animatronic. This angers the Jersey Devil enough that it eventually manages to escape from its cage and begins terrorizing the carnival. The creature throws Smitty into the cage and flies off.
The next night, Paulie and his friends are hanging out, smoking pot in an old barn in the woods. Paulie's dog then begins barking. Suddenly the Jersey Devil bursts into the barn. The creature slaughters Paulie's friends, but Paulie manages to escape into the forest. Eventually the Jersey Devil finds Paulie hiding under a bridge. The Jersey Devil lands on the bridge and looks under it to find Paulie. It then impales Paulie with its tail and rips the body to shreds.
Lockhart and Smitty later set out to try and recapture the Jersey Devil, loading up with tranquilizer darts. The carnival is under police lock down, but they kill Argus' deputy, hoping that they can attract the Jersey Devil with the fresh blood. The trick does lure the Jersey Devil back to the carnival, but their trap is unsuccessful, and the creature goes about killing several of the carnival workers. Lockhart kills Smitty to lure the Jersey Devil even closer to him. However, the Jersey Devil sneaks up behind Lockhart. Lockhart shoots the Jersey Devil with his tranquilizer darts, which knocks out the Jersey Devil once more.
Argus goes to the carnival to find a bloodbath. Argus arrests Lockhart for the murder of his deputy as well as the murder of Smitty. While Lockhart is in custody at the police station, the Jersey Devil awakens and heads to the police station. It burts into the building and rips Lockhart's head off. Pastor Peters, who now wants revenge for the death of his son Paulie, arrives and sees the Jersey Devil slaughtering the deputies in the station. He grabs some tranquilizer darts from a desk and stabs the beast with two of them, but the creature has built up a tolerance and it doesn't work. The Jersey Devil then growls at the pastor before killing him.
Sheriff Argus arrives at the police station to find all the other officers are dead. He follows a trail of destruction through town and back to the carnival. When he gets there he only finds one carnival worker left alive, Alyson (Lauren Ambrose), a sword swallower. Argus is trying to tell her to get away from the carnival when the Jersey Devil lands right next to them. The Jersey Devil chases Alyson to the carnival's run-down Ferris wheel. Argus gets in one of the carnival's RVs and rams the Jersey Devil into the Ferris wheel with it in an attempt to kill it. The Jersey Devil growls at Argus through the vehicle's front windshield, until the Ferris wheel collapses and crushes the RV and the Jersey Devil. The whole carnival is up in flames as Alyson limps towards town.
No comments:
Post a Comment