Satan's Little Helper (2004) User Reviews

An enjoyable horror mixed with dark comedy...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 11 May 2019]

This is the 2nd time that I've watched "Satan's Little Helper" now; once in 2019 and some time back around the mid 2000s. Funny how the movie actually was more enjoyable than I initially remembered it to be.

The movie is a wonderful mix of horror and dark comedy, and the movie never really takes itself too serious. Which is a good thing, because while there is an overlaying element of comedy to the movie, there is still something dark and definitely horror element to it.

I couldn't remember that it was Katheryn Winnick whom was in this movie, maybe because this was from way before "Vikings" made her famous. It was actually fun to watch her in a movie such as this. And of course it was also nice to see Amanda Plummer in this movie.

As for the killer, well it wore a little bit thin throughout the course of the movie that he didn't talk or that you didn't get to see his face. It has been done in way too many horror movies already prior to "Satan's Little Helper". The mask he wore, though, was cool.

The horror elements in the movie were not over the top, but had just the right of horror mixed with dark comedy to keep the movie interesting. While the movie does have elements of comedy to it, it is not the type of movie that will make you laugh.

"Satan's Little Helper" is enjoyable to watch, but hardly makes for a horror classic.

Cool mask, cool idea, average results.

[ElijahCSkuggs · 6/10 · 19 June 2008]

What we have here with Satan's Little Helper is a pretty predictable, occasionally silly, and overall average written and acted film. But it's also a pretty fresh and unique flick that should be a welcome viewing for any horror fan.

The story revolves around a little Jewish looking kid, who because of his new favorite video game, Satan's Little Helper, has now combined the game's ideas with everyday life. His sister is home from college and all he wants is to trick or treat with her. Well, young lovely sister has brought home college boyfriend and this is ruining lil brother's dreams of a great Halloween. With this new found love for Satan, because of the video game, he runs out and looks for Satan to go trick or treating...I think. Well, luck be told he finds a creepy lookin guy dressed up like Satan. Even though this guy may or not may be Satan, he sure doesn't lack in the evil department. Unbeknownst to lil boy, he's befriended a serial killer on the loose during Halloween, and he's truly become, Satan's Little Helper.

The flick overall, isn't really anything that special. Even at just over 90 minutes, the film felt a tad too long. I was constantly checking the time during the last 30 or so minutes. Plus the kid who plays the lead, is one annoying little kid with one-dimensional acting skills. Watch the little girl in The Fall to really watch good child acting. Anyways, the film does succeed in it's unique idea. Having a silent murderer leading a little kid around to help kill people is pretty sweet. For a low-budget horror flick, it's definitely a nice treat for any horror fan. But all the ridiculous high praise is just a lot of hot air. It's good, but it ain't that good.

So much fun!

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 16 November 2022]

Dougie is obsessed with a video game in which he plays Satan's helper. So when he meets a serial killer in a Satan mask, well, why shouldn't he believe that he can really help the Lord of the Flies in this world? After all, his sister Jenna picked her new boyfriend Alex over him for Halloween. Also: Amanda Plummer is his mom, so you may understand why he's a little strange.

Jeff Lieberman is perhaps better known for Squirm, Blue Sunshine and Just Before Dawn. Yet this is a really fun movie that more people should be watching, a silly -- but never dumb -- dark film that somehow has Bob Dylan and Joe Walsh on the soundtrack despite a low budget. The ideas and situations are directly opposite of how original this is. And Satan's mask? Perfect.

pitch-black horror comedy from Jeff Lieberman

[Cru3 · 31 October 2004]

Writer-director Jeff Lieberman made a trio of low budget horror films more than twenty years ago that have gone on to become cult favorites. He returns to the genre, quite successfully with SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER, an ode to the occasion of Halloween and the kinds of films that flooded cinemas after HALLOWEEN debuted in 1978. What makes this film different is Lieberman has approached the material with a ghoulishly funny sense of humor. Think of this as the "B" side to BAD SANTA - another seasonal black comedy that was as shocking as it was funny for totally abandoning any & all notions of being politically correct. Lieberman does the same here: he's an equal opportunity offender who casts his satirical gaze over a pretty wide range of subjects.

Like BAD SANTA the film pivots around a little boy who is a long way from being the sharpest tool in the shed; for certain he has trouble separating fact from fantasy. Dad's got him hooked on a computer game called "Satan's Little Helper", and for Halloween he wants to be just that. He hopes if he's good enough Satan will actually show up. While strolling the neighborhood in his little devil costume he spies a hulking black-clad man with a goat-horned Satan mask arranging corpses on the front lawns of houses in broad daylight. Convinced he's Satan he happily introduces himself to the silent marauder and offers to be his helper, provided he tags along home to kill his sister's new boyfriend. The boy is having a great time as this Satan terrorizes and kills assorted townspeople, convinced it's all phony. The boy's family is equally confused, believing this to be the sister's boyfriend playing an elaborate charade. By time they know the truth all proverbial hell has broken loose in the small town.

SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER is the kind of movie destined to be a cult favorite, as Lieberman knows how to construct scenes that are both unnerving and horrific, and within a few breaths is pushing buttons that elicit the kind of laughs where you say "I can't believe he just did that!". This is a low budget film, and certain aspects of the script seem either careless or not fully realized. The character of the boy is one of the most annoying child characters I've seen in a film - you can't help but want to reach out and smack him. The suggestion is at a certain age a child's rich fantasy life makes the fact / fiction separation a precarious task, yet the kid (like in BAD SANTA) just seems so dense he becomes a distraction. What manages to save that from becoming a detriment is just how successful Lieberman realizes his Satan Man character, a killer worthy of joining the likes of Jason, Michael, Freddy, & Leatherface in the horror hall of fame. Performance wise the strongest work comes from Katheryn Winnick as the sister, Joshua Annex as the Satan Man (without ever speaking his entire performance is a gleefully dark pantomime, and he really puts himself into the part), and Amanda Plummer's goofy variation on the Mother role.

There are many more pluses than minuses here. I'm happy to see Jeff Lieberman back, and with such a twisted little film. It's bound to make you look more closely at those gruesome Halloween front-lawn displays in your neighborhood.

Oh the Agony!

[Horrorible_Horror_Films · 2/10 · 27 December 2006]

Oh man, I know what your thinking: "With a title like that, I can't go wrong!" Uh yes you can. I too, loved the title, but man I hated the stupid kid that played "Satan's little helper" I hated the mom too, and the sister/daughter, and her boyfriend - I hated all those people! Man, it was agony watching this sometimes! The ONLY reason this doesn't get 1/10 is becuz condsidering the low budget, they did OK. But oh man did I hate those actors, so stupid! I knew it was going to be bad, I guess they saved a lot of money on just using halloween masks for the killer, and the Jesus costume at the end was really stupid too. Oh the agony, do not watch!

Jeff Lieberman is still THE MAN!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 21 March 2005]

Jeff Lieberman's long-awaited comeback has become a pitch-black and sadistic horror comedy in which chuckles definitely get the upper hand. I've always been a great fan of Lieberman's work and I consider him an essential director for the cult-genre, even though he only made two really notable films ("Squirm", the only creature feature revolving on killer worms and "Blue Sunshine", a splendid psychedelic drug-movie). Hopefully, this "Satan's Little Helper" will become his third cult classic within a few years! This is an outrageous satire, hilarious in case you have a morbid sense of humor but practically unendurable in case you exclusively swear by intelligently plotted films. During his rather long absence (he only made a couple of unnoticed TV-movies during the nineties), Lieberman apparently did a lot of observing, as his new screenplay is a spoof on many modern society issues such as video games, the spoiled youth, religion etc… The story centers on a spoiled little brat who wastes most of his time by playing an immoral and violent video game called Satan's Little Helper. When he encounters a man dressed like Satan on Halloween's day, he thinks it's an act and he nearly begs this guy to assist him on his murder spree. Without realizing the seriousness of his crimes, young Douglas laughs at many violent massacres and he even introduces this personification of evil to his family. The plot sounds like a bunch of absurd nonsense – and actually, it is – but it's FUNNY nonsense! The comical effect is reached by the stupidity of the characters and – especially – by the portrayal of Satan! He doesn't speak but the mask he's wearing is great and his spontaneous reactions are hilarious. The "gags" in this film are pretty unethical (a cat is smashed against a wall, pregnant women & blind men are ran over by carts, intestines are being knotted…) and I'm sure many people won't even grant this film the littlest smile. Too bad for them, because "Satan's Little Helper" is unique in its own peculiar way and certainly worth checking out for people with no morals. There's some nice acting to admire, too! Amanda Plummer (her face alone scares me) is good as the eccentric mother and the gorgeous Katheryn Winnick shines as the sexy sister. I hope to see a lot more work from this young and obviously talented actress! The only disadvantage of this film is that it's slightly too long and the end sequences could easily have been cut from the final product. Nonetheless, a very cool film!

Not horror, but horrible

[chcc00101 · 1/10 · 11 May 2014]

This is simply terrible.

If it's a parody, it fails to be funny. If it was intended as(semi-)serious horror, the terrible script and horrible acting ruined any remnant of credibility. So,what is it?

I have tried to see any humor in the movie, but the over-obvious 'look- at-me-Ma-being-funny' kind of attitude destroys it. I tried to find any redeeming value in this movie by thinking of it as an over the top horror movie, but even then it simply is boring and spoiled by all the aforementioned reason. It's just a sick story based on what seems like a dysfunctional family with a devil worshiping idiot boy.

I'm sorry I wasted my time watching this garbage which is neither one nor the other. I usually try to see some merit in a given movie, but I simply fail to detect anything of value.

Creepy, Sick, Disgusting, Yet Slightly Comical

[muscleman1991 · 7/10 · 23 August 2005]

This film is exactly what a horror should aim to be. The film itself is sick, twisted and has a creepy sense of humour that is always lurking underneath the atmosphere. This film is by far no means perfect and you can very easily tell that the budget was not very high. But the director works well with what he has and gives the viewer something that up mostly scares them and makes them feel for the characters. This film is a great horror/slasher movie and whoever enjoys films like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre or House of 1000 corpses should definitely pick this up as it is well worth watching.

A scary 7/10

Plagued with frustration

[jasminenc-999-280395 · 1/10 · 12 May 2014]

I don't know if anything below will count as a spoiler, but just to be safe, SPOILER ALERT???. I didn't expect much from this film but I've been curious about it for a while. I felt that the actions, even of the little boys, were so preposterously stupid in every way that I was distracted by how frustrated I was (there is NO WAY that kid, that age, would not be able to tell that people directly in front of him were begin killed in real life). Maybe I'm biased but I also felt that the overall mood of the movie was cheapened by the repetitive references to sin/religion, regardless of the title. It definitely reeked of skewed, awkward political commentary. I was also rubbed in the wrong direction, further, by the weird incestuous stuff that kept popping up as well as the scene with the sister fraternizing with the murderer right in front of the boy. No way in hell would an older sibling do that in front of their kid brother if we are assuming we're talking about a sane, healthy relationship. Furthermore, the repetitive theme of the main character's skewed perception of reality was way, way too twacked out, even for a kid that young in a way that was completely unbelievable unless they had written him to have some type of mental issue. I absolutely love cheese, stupidity, preposterousness, but this one fell so short I couldn't enjoy it at all and felt mad about wasting my time when it was over.

Pitch black humour and laughs throughout

[The_Void · 7/10 · 12 July 2006]

I had really low expectations going into this film as I haven't liked either of the Jess Lieberman films I'd seen previously (Squirm, Just Before Dawn); but what I found with this film was an inventive and moderately amusing little film that benefits from a talented cast and a clever screenplay. Satan's Little Helper is a pitch black horror comedy that finds time to poke fun at the American institution of Halloween, as well as ideas such as 'video games create killers'. The central idea is more than a little bit silly, but it also shows great imagination; as the idea of having a young boy unwittingly help a serial killer isn't immediately obvious, and the director does a good job of manipulating his characters into the situation he wants them in. Satan's Little Helper revolves around Douglas Whooly; a young boy obsessed with the video game, coincidentally called 'Satan's Little Helper', which was bought for him by his father. After witnessing the local serial killer arranging his victims outside his house, the kid mistakes it for an act and offers his help to the killer; which is duly accepted.

The fact that the lead character is a young boy gives the film a sort of childish horror feel; and Jeff Lieberman brilliantly offsets this with a number of amazingly gruesome scenes, which see things such as a cat being used to write 'boo' on the wall in blood, as well as intestines being used to tie a knot and a particularly grisly stabbing sequence towards the end. The director has also managed to pull in some good B-movie talent to act out his movie. Amanda Plummer is the biggest name on the cast list, and she bodes well with her role as slightly odd mother. The beautiful Katheryn Winnick was the highlight for me, and no doubt most other male audience members, as she looks great and her acting isn't bad either. Child actor Alexander Brickel, and Stephen Graham round off the central cast and overall, this movie doesn't have many problems where the acting is concerned. Jeff Lieberman's sense of humour may not be to everyone's taste; but I found it delightful, and the way the screenplay constantly harks back to earlier events is good. Overall, this may not be a brilliant film; but it's entertaining and fun and therefore gets a big thumbs up.

Words don't describe how poor this flick was.

[kategreat81 · 3/10 · 17 February 2008]

I'm going to say first off that I have given this film a 3 out of 10 after some thought. I was going to give it a straight out 1 but it got a couple extra points for the body count. But that would be about it. Let me explain. I paid literally £1 for this DVD in a supermarket because I tend to have a lot of faith in bargain horror flicks, B-movies especially. But if this film was aiming for B status as I suspect it was for a number of reasons (which I'll touch on in a sec) then it failed magnificently. Not only did it shoot for B and miss, it landed somewhere around F. This film had so many opportunities to be good and it pretty much failed on all accounts. I say above that it's likely this film was aiming for B status and it seems to try and achieve this by trying to blend humour with horror, which can either be very good or very bad. For example, later Freddy films (Dream Warriors onwards) are all about Freddy's style and nose-thumbing, which works out great! But this film completely bombed in that respect because the times where they tried to inject humour were mostly just stupid. I will admit though that towards the beginning of the film the humour was good. In fact, for about half an hour I liked this film and was prepared to congratulate myself on another good find. BUT what really killed this film for me was the inappropriate kills. For instance, when 'Satan' smashes the cat against the board and writes 'boo' with it's blood using its body as a brush. Or when 'Satan' slams the door into the helpless disabled elderly woman. Now I'm not usually too against senseless kills in films-hey, thats the point, right? But in those two cases I just found it grossly offensive and unnecessary to anything in the film-plot especially. For me, the film went downwards from then on. One major bad point about this film is that I hated every character in it. The kid, Dougie was just ridiculously annoying!!! I'm at a loss to explain how he could possibly write off all those bodies and people being killed in front of his eyes as a trick! I mean, come on!!! I completely understand that to be in a horror film a character does have to be somewhat stupid, like running upstairs when you should blatantly be running out of the house screaming for help, but this kid took the biscuit! I wanted to kill him myself by the end of it! It was completely unbelievable and if I had to hear him say 'duh!' one more time I was going to bang my head against a wall-because thats what watching this film felt like. Why didn't i just turn the film off? Mainly because I honestly believe an ending can sometimes redeem a film. But I was wrong in this case. The ending did NOT redeem this film, it further irritated the hell out of me and was inadequate to the plot line. I get it already! The killer is always going to come back dressed as someone else, be welcomed into the house by the stupid kid and go on a killing spree again because no one suspects him in that costume! I GET IT! This film made me physically angry because it was so stupid! And if by some foul mistake you do end up watching this film, watch out for the intestines. Frankly, if that guy actually did have intestines that looked like that, I'd be surprised he wasn't already dead, let alone until someones rips them out and ties them to a chair.

In fact, I'll even go so far as to say that the only character I liked at all in this film was actually the killer. Purely because when his 'comedy routine' worked, it did work. All in all, the plot line of this film dragged anything that might have been good down. Why was the killer killing? I don't know. I can live without knowing who he actually was, thats fairly typical, but without some kind of motive - hell i don't know, i'd settle for him having a bad Halloween as a kid! -it just seems more than senseless, just stupid. Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid. In fact, i hated this film so much that i specifically registered with IMDb just so i could comment on it. Save your money, save your sanity. Stay away from it!

Absolutely Cult

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 5 August 2007]

In Halloween, the student of theater Jenna Whooly (Katheryn Winnick) returns to Bell Island to spend the holiday with her family and her boyfriend Alex Martin (Stephen Graham), who studies in the same class and was also raised in the island. Her young brother Douglas "Dougie" Whooly (Alexander Brickel), who is very attached to Jenna and is fascinated in the video game Satan's Little Helper, becomes jealous with the presence of Alex. He leaves home wearing his costume of Satan's little helper seeking Satan on the streets to kill Alex. Dougie meets a serial-killer that coincidently is wearing a costume of Satan and proposes him to attack Alex. He brings the insane murderer home, and Jenna and her mother Merrill Whooly (Amanda Plummer) believes that the masked killer is Alex acting like Satan to please Dougie. Later the boy walks with the criminal along the streets helping him to kill the locals.

I bought the DVD "Satan's Little Helper" with very low expectations and I found an absolutely cult-movie. The morbid story blends slasher-movie with very dark comedy, and works since it is hilarious mostly because the funny performances of the masked Satan. His piece-of-art with the bodies of his victims could be more explored in the story. The naive little moron that helps him is annoying and imbecile and Katheryn Winnick is extremely gorgeous and seductive wearing her mother's costume. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Ajudante de Satã" ("The Satan's Helper")

Stellar premise, uneven results...

[krugstilo-1 · 7/10 · 8 March 2009]

Jeff Lieberman is a legend. His films SQUIRM, BLUE SUNSHINE, JUST BEFORE DAWN, and REMOTE CONTROL are undeniable cult classics. (REMOTE CONTROL, in particular, is a wonderful oddity, and a kind of sci-fi/camp reaction to the video boom of the 1980s; for VHS lovers such as myself, REMOTE CONTROL is now like a nostalgic dirge for all of those fantastic local video-stores that transmogrified or became extinct after DVDs usurped the role of VHS.) Lieberman's SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER, a return to directing from Lieberman after a 20-some-year hiatus, while not of the caliber of his earlier work, is a sardonic little horror piece that plays much, much better if you listen to the director's commentary before viewing the actual movie. More thought went into SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER than you may think. But Lieberman has always been a director with brilliant premises. SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER is perhaps his very best premise. And personally, I loved the gaudy, bright, ghoulish Halloween imagery - the dollar-store-take on Halloween. (Satan's mask is iconic, I daresay.) I, for one, am glad that Lieberman made another movie, and hope he makes several more. He is one of America's most interesting directors. My only problem with SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER is I don't feel it went far enough. The premise is sick and disturbing; it could've been some sort of morbid masterpiece. As is, it's worth a rental, and I'm just happy Lieberman's still doing something different.

Worst film I've ever seen

[OceanInTheSky · 1/10 · 9 July 2010]

Words cannot describe how utterly dreadful this film is, but I'll give it a quick go.

I'm not sure what the intention was at the outset of making this atrocity, whether it was intended to be funny or not, or if it is just so painfully bad that it was actually supposed to be serious, but whatever the intention - it failed miserably.

The plot revolves around a young boy - who fancies his sister - going around with a serial killer, who he believes to be Satan, while the killer murders people. The boy is either stupid beyond belief, or mentally ill, as he for some reason believes that this is all fun and part of a game. (He's old enough to understand that it isn't, but seems incapable of achieving even this basic level of understanding).

The story is terrible, the characters are terrible, the whole thing is just mind-blowingly crap that it will leave you wanting to gauge your eyes out so that you don't have to watch any more.

If ever there was a contender for Worst Film Ever Made, this would be right up there.

Very Original Horror

[chow913 · 3 April 2012]

Very Original Horror The very original concept of 'Satan's Little Helper' is almost enough to overlook the poor editing, acting, and total lack of a musical score. Yep, almost.

I only saw this film to drool over blonde bombshell Katheryn Winnick after seeing her in 'Hellraiser VIII.' Well I wasn't disappointed by the fact that she spends the entire film dressed for Halloween as a renaissance bar wench showing off her "assets" and by the fact that her younger brother has a crush on her.

Anyway the original concept of 'Satan's Little Helper' revolves around an unknown serial killer dressed in the frightening rubber mask seen on the cover box. Halloween is actually a good day to go on a mindless bloody rampage. He can get away with dragging around dead bodies, or body parts, and wielding weapons without the police batting an eye. Screams for help and 911 calls are also dismissed. Attacking people in their homes is easy. Everyone is prepared to answer the door at night for a masked stranger with candy in hand, rather than a gun. (For the record I do still keep a gun by my door even on Halloween.) Maybe the ease of being a serial killer on Halloween is why Michael Myers always chooses this day. How does he spend his time the other 364 day of the year? A young boy Dougie witnesses the murders but assumes they're all part of Halloween fun and offers to become Satan's little helper. Hence the mute serial killer uses Dougie as an accomplice in his murder spree.

In a very funny scene, after realizing the killings are real Dougie prays to God. (Much more effective than calling the police or grabbing a weapon.) The serial killer now being hunted by Dougie's family changes Halloween costumes and appears a Jesus. Dougie lets him in the house believing his prayers were answered.

Where the film fails isn't in its poor production quality but in its horror movie clichés. Once the family realizes the masked serial killer is real do they, RUN LIKE HELL? Hide? Hold up and wait for help? Grab a weapon? Or simply fight back? (After all the serial killer doesn't have any super powers, he's just one man.) NO! They follow the usual horror movie clichés of splitting up wandering around dark areas and investigating strange noises in the basement.

But I do give the film credit for having a GREAT ending. Always key and very difficult in horror films. A bad ending can ruin an entire horror movie.

Worth a viewing for an original idea. Only worth a second viewing to drool over Katheryn Winnick a second time. And brace yourself for the poor production quality.

Ran out of steam

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 19 June 2022]

This movie has a pretty absurd premise (it's hidden in the title, so that doesn't count as a spoiler)! I could only hope that it would at least kind of live up to that crazy expectation ... and it did at the beginning! Also you're welcome for the pun in the summary line above.

It was as it should be, black humor and sick jokes all over the place. Just as it should be, with a movie like that. No political correctness in sight, that would've just be a distraction! A bad one, too! For a few people the first bump will be, that there is no nudity in the movie. But you know, although this is a horror movie, where you kind of expect that, I didn't think that was a bad thing. It went against expectations for once in the right place. The jokes worked without that, too!

But then it happens ... what I mentioned in the subject line ... it's a shame, but the movie just runs out of ideas and just gets annoying from a certain point on. And it's a shame too, because it all felt good and right up to that point, but after that it's downhills ...

Still worth a watch on disc or stream, if you like off-balance, black humor, that isn't political correct! (originally reviewed July 2007, slight update in June 2022)

Satan's Little Helper

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 31 January 2007]

Lieberman's newest film is a doozy..a macabre black comedy about a disturbed kid named Dougie(Alexander Brickel)who loves this game his dad bought him called "Satan's Little Helper." He's so overwhelmed by the game that he finds a psychopath donning a Satan costume and asks to assist him in his duties(Dougie spots this crazy man propping up a kill as if the corpse was Halloween ornamentation). What Dougie doesn't know is that this guy really is killing people at random and that this isn't a game. Dougie is jealous of his sister Jenna's(Katheryn Winnick, who is a major hottie)new boyfriend Alex(Stephen Graham)so he asks his master to kill him. What Dougie also doesn't know is that he has invited danger to his family as he brings the killer home making introductions to his sister and mom, Merrill(Amanda Plummer..I wondered how Lieberman could get a quality actress for such a type of silly genre film). The killer underneath the Satan costume outsmarts every character in this film and as he journeys through town no one is safe. From an old lady using a walking stick to a pregnant woman, if you are in the killer's trajectory..look out(even a blind man and baby in a carriage being pushed by it's mother aren't safe)! Operating tongue firmly in cheek, director Lieberman squeezes every drop of comedy from this twisted premise. Despite some disturbing elements as the killer attacks without remorse, Lieberman keeps the film pretty cheesy so that we, the viewer, won't take it too seriously. It looks cheap, but there's a surprising amount of suspense towards the end as Jenna must try and save those she loves as this psycho sets his sights aimed directly towards them.

Pure waste of time

[imdb1 · 1/10 · 16 March 2005]

Bad plot, bad acting, predictable...

The characters are unrealistic, stupid at times. Some major things, like the killing of all police officers at a police station, is neither believable nor explained.

Other things, like that suddenly everyone starts to rob stores etc. solely because there are no cops anymore, seem to be both, unrealistic and totally unrelated to the story itself; it seemed to have no purpose at all.

On top of that all, the Satan worshipping of the little boy in the beginning is simply disgusting.

A true 1 out of 10. Don't waste your time with this one.

Lots of fun!

[theTRUTH-hurts · 7/10 · 28 February 2006]

I got this movie blindly from Blockbuster, not knowing anything about the cast or writer/director, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. It's a horror comedy, set on Halloween, about a young boy who is obsessed with a video game called Satan's Little Helper and ends up running into a real-life murderous "Satan." The boy, a little dumbed down from his violent video game, unknowingly assists the killer as he prowls around the neighborhood on a murder spree. "Satan" here might be the real deal or might just be a serial killer dressed in a costume and you don't know just what he is until the very end. Satan's Little Helper is good low-budget fun with plenty of laughs, plenty of blood and good acting from all concerned (the young actor playing the kid, the beautiful actress who plays his sister and Amanda Plummer as the mother are especially good).

Worst Film Ever!!

[shadood2002 · 1/10 · 28 August 2010]

I really can't describe how much angry i am right now as i have just wasted one and half hour watching this awful movie.

This is really a waste of time watching these actors acting in such a silly way or not even close to acting.i hated the silly plot and the silly impressions they had delivered to anyone who saw this movie.

And the scenes were not even logic to a mature human being, they are making fun of the audiences, actually i didn't know whether it was a funny movie to laugh at or a scary movie to get my attention.

I think this little boy has performed his part in this low level movie pretty well as they will never get a silly boy as this one.

After watching this movie i was really angry that i was about to forget the real acting, the acting that attract any audience to watch it.

To some up this movie is really bad and a waste of time.

better than expected

[movieman_kev · 6/10 · 28 November 2008]

Dougie, a less then mentally stable 9 year old, is heavily into a video game entitled 'Satan's Little Helper', so much so that when he spies a murderer in a devil costume he hardly bats an eye before asking to be his minion and asking if his new 'friend' can kill his sister's new boyfriend (Dougie wants to marry his sister himself, but that's neither here nor there). Things soon spiral horribly out of control, as they are apt to do in these scenarios.

I haven't been too kind to ol' Jeff Lieberman in the past, I haven't enjoyed his films since "Blue Sunshine" & have on one occasion even drew the ire of the man himself who wrote to me on here. But with that said, I have to give kudos to a film when I feel that it warrants them and I did find this film does just that. Yes it's silly, but it's still likable in it's own demented way (until it starts to lose steam a tad in the final act)

Joshua Annex steals the movie as the main baddie not even having to say a word, the rest of the cast, including a bizarre acting turn by Amanda Plummer, fare not so well (but again that's not a real slight against the film, as that's a small part of the charm) All in all it's a perfectly capable small black comedic horror film.

Eye Candy: Melisa McGregor shows T&A

My Grade: C+

Where I saw it: Netflix online via xbox 360

This movie sucked like few movies have sucked before

[stanbugle · 1/10 · 20 March 2005]

I am racking my brain trying to remember a few other movies which have sucked as bad as this one. I have seen thousands of movies in my lifetime and generally speaking love horror movies and horror comedies and satirical movies of any type but this qualifies as none of those. This is a 20 minute movie that was stretched out into what seems like a four hour snooze-fest. It has absolutely nothing going for it. The acting stinks, the dialogue is tin-eared, the gore is next to non existent minus a phony looking disemboweling, the pacing is pure punishment, the soundtrack is dime store, the cinematography is poor, the 'twists' are transparent - I'll say one thing - it IS consistent. I managed to get through this stinker without turning it off only due to the fact that I was half asleep and left the remote by the TV. In the end, I had at least hoped to find out who was behind the mask and what the explanation was. Ha - the joke was on me... zilch payoff there. How bad is this movie? To take a couple of quasi-horror movie comparisons, I would say this is Hellraiser 6 (or whatever the hell lame ass Hellraiser they last released) meets Alien versus Predator bad. Except at least those 2 movies had more than 75 cents for the effects. Satan's Little Helper gets zero out of 10 for me - I want my 2 hours back!!!

Entertaining Straight-To-Video Entry...

[EVOL666 · 8/10 · 18 January 2006]

Satan'S LITTLE HELPER surprised me. I was expecting ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from this one, and typically avoid these low-budge, straight-to-video American films altogether...but this one was different. There were definitely a few "flaws" as most of these types of films have, but even so, SLH was a fun way to blow 100 minutes...

The story is about a kid obsessed with a video-game entitled (appropriately enough...) Satan'S LITTLE HELPER. The boy's sister comes back home from college on Halloween to go trick-or-treating with the little brat, but he gets jealous when the sister brings the new boyfriend along. The brat runs off to "go find Satan" and stumbles across some wackadoo in a weird mask who is making Halloween decorations out of his recent murder victims. The brat, having an overactive imagination, believes the masked weirdo to be the Lord Of Darkness, and asks if he can tag along and be his "helper". "Satan" agrees and the boy helps assists new-found master on a twisted and hilarious killing spree...

Two main gripes with this one. SLH would definitely have benefited from a lot more gore. There was only one or two scenes that have any gore in them, and some of the inventive kill scenes could have benefited from some more of the red stuff. But my REAL complaint is that the "sister" is so smokin' hot that it is an absolute TRAVESTY that she never gets nekkid in the film. Everyone involved in SLH should suffer a torturous Satanic death for this HUGE injustice. But those two problems aside - SLH is quite enjoyable. Some truly hilarious scenes, and the performance by "Satan" is very noteworthy. Though he never speaks a word, his body language and charisma show through even though he's in full costume. If I ever meet Satan, I hope he's exactly like this guy...

Under the surface, this film also poses some interesting questions about children's ability (or lack thereof...) to differentiate fantasy from reality, and many children's growing obsession with video-games and other modern media. Not that SLH is any sort of "morality tale" - on the contrary, it definitely has the "heart" of a dark-humored horror film - but it does pose a few interesting questions if viewed in a certain light. Overall, I would recommend this one as a fun "knock-back-a-few-drinks-and-check-it-out"-style film. Worth a look - 8/10

This relies more on humour than horror, but a fun ride nonetheless

[acidburn-10 · 7/10 · 5 September 2023]

'Satan's Little Helper' is a fun but very low budget straight to DVD slasher flick from the early 00's that does show some potential with its interesting premise, decent performances and a clever script that balances the horror and comedy elements quite well, although it does tend to lean more towards the latter than the former.

The plot = A nine-year-old boy named Douglas (Alexander Brickel) becomes fascinated by a video game called "Satan's Little Helper" and then comes across a serial killer wearing a costume and unknowingly helps him on his murderous rampage, while thinking it's all a game.

I did like the movie's playful nature and the dark and twisted sense of humour, plus what helps is the effective pacing and the engaging narrative, but the frustrating elements mainly comes from at just how stupid the young boy is which feels way too unbelievable, despite how detached from reality he is. The production value is very lacking, which is probably down to the low budget, but the direction from John Lieberman is quite solid and provides some nice cinematography and decent visuals, especially during the death scenes which are well staged and provides just enough carnage to keep horror fans satisfied.

Performances are pretty good here with Alexander Brickell providing a strong performance as a child whose very detached from the real world, he was very convincing in his role. Amanda Plummer gives a hilarious and memorable turn as the mother, a firm standout in her role. Katheryn Winnick also gives a solid turn as the sister and then finally Joshua Annex as the masked killer Satan, he provides enough menace and mystery in his silent role and emotes very well despite never seeing him without his mask.

Overall 'Satan's Little Helper' is a fun time even if it does rely more on comedy than horror, but everything is executed quite well and you will have a fun time watching this film.

This Movie was really BAD!!

[solsotherhalf · 1/10 · 9 September 2006]

Where should i start on this movies i saw some bad movies in my life time but man this beats all of them. The Plot of the movie was some what OK but the actor's and the whole mask thing was really bad. The movies didn't make sense at all. In a lot of scary movies some thing don't make sense like there is a door in the house and the actor runs the other way not to the door to escape, but this movie went beyond that they made these people (actor's) in this movies look plain out Dumb and even for this kid as a nerd kid . COME ON!! Chessy movies and i would like to tell people i wouldn't rent it for crap its a wast of money.