Review: The 13th Child: Legend of the Jersey
Devil (2002)
By William Pattison.
This time I got a review of a film that is supposed to be
about The Jersey Devil...
People are being killed by someone or something using
superhuman strength. A clever DA Assistant is sent to investigate. Is this just
a way to commit the perfect murder or will the legend of the Jersey Devil prove
to be true?
Ok, if you are looking for a film that is actually about The
Jersey Devil you are looking in the wrong place. Nowhere in this film is there
anything except for the curse of the thirteenth child, but even that is changed
to the point of not even resembling the original curse. Instead you get a fake
mythology about the Jersey Devil that sounds more like a skinwalker than the
demon of the Pine Barrons. No where in the legend does The Devil rip people’s
heads off. Also The Devil is not an evil Indian wizard that changed his form.
Nope no Mother Leads and her twelve children. Nope, we got Mr. Viel, who has a
horrorfying family secret. You can guess what that is…
Anyway, as a person who has actually studied the real Jersey
Devil I was not very happy with this film. I believe that if you are going to
do a film about a famous criptid, like Big Foot or The Loc Ness Monster, please
study the source material. It is annoying when filmmakers show their ignorance
in such a way. Shit, they showed the famous sketch of The Jersey Devil in the
damned film, but the monster they showed in the film bore no resemblance to The
Jersey Devil.
Now, of they had presented this as an original film with an
original mythology about a fictional demon legend it might have worked better
for me. But making this associated with The Jersey Devil was like a person
scratching a chalkboard to me. I couldn’t get around it and enjoy the story
being presented.
What is sad is all the actors did a good job, but this movie
is a cheat. It reminds me of that whole Wolfstein thing in the early sixties. They
titled a movie as a Frankenstein film, but the film was about a werewolf and a
vampire. That pissed me off when I saw it.
So, for those of you who see the subtitle “Legend of The
Jersey Devil” and actually expect to see a movie about THE JERSEY DEVIL, well I
can’t recommend this film. And for those
who ask, “Whay’s the big deal?” I say Excuse? I think I made the issue plain…
Stop jump reading my fucking review!!!
