Review by Larry Stanley

So there you are, out for a nice weekend away from it all with your family. Which may have been your first mistake, but that is beside the point. You have your wife, her sister, her sisters new-born baby and the adult, mentally challenged brother. Many mistakes, with a huge problem just waiting to happen.
When the car gets stuck going down a lonely dirt road, you decide to hike through the woods to try and find help.
Along the way you see a girl who keep running away from you even when you have told her what is wrong.
Next, you see this dilapidated house which obviously no one could live in and Wow! It has a family living there. The mother is as old as Moses and acts really weird, the daughter stands around grinning at you and the house just gives you a funny feeling.
So, you take a drink from the weird woman while you wait to use their phone.
Do you notice the mistakes this man made?
Don't let this happen to you. Carry a cell phone and a .357 at all times. And make sure you know how to use both.
Dante Tomaselli gives us a story of a family of people who are less likely to be found likeable as a rat at a Cheese show. While this family has some stuff going for it (Felicia Rose and Elen Sandweiss) not even cheesecake can keep this thing together.
They find themselves stuck in the Pine Barrons of New Jersey. Remember them? From a nifty film a couple of years ago that used jumping camera's, running and screaming and missing video tape?
Yes, those Pine Barrons; and also dealing with the Jersey Devil and witches, Tomaselli tries to deliver a fun story with just the right edge and camera work to keep you interested without making you want to toss your cookies from dizziness.
He doesn't always succeed at this attempt. But, I have to give him credit for trying. I do think a bit more blood and gore would have been useful. As it is, the story is more fun to watch and count problems then it is to watch and be scared.
He threw in sub-plots that went nowhere, such as the Satanic worshipers in one scene.
We have police showing up out of thin air, answering a complaint about devil worshiping kids from neighbours (who apparently didn't see anything wrong with women running, screaming from the house, trailing blood) who gets killed. Then his car shows up just up the road from the family station wagon, and no one going to the cop car?!?!
Despite a number of flaws, Satan's Playground was still fun to watch, a halfway decent attempt at a good, old fashioned (1980's that is) horror film with a nightmare. It just didn't quite succeed but it is still a fun film, if for no other reason, to make a night of it just watching mistakes and thanking God you ain't one of the people in the movie.