Beast Within and Devil’s Prey – kids in peril double feature

Groups of young friends know how to have all the stupid fun…and get into some cheesy horror trouble at the same time. Let’s see what happens when they come face-to-face with killer birds and a satanic cult in Beast Within and Devil’s Prey.

BEAST WITHIN (aka: Virus Undead) (2008)

It’s pretty clear from the start that the Beast Within is going to be fairly absurd. It even has that 1970s Euro horror feel, where nothing really makes sense but you get some cheap horror thrills along the way, as well as some humor that may very well not have been intended.

A really cut kid’s grandfather died—birds were somehow involved—so he and his two buddies, a geek and a prick in a leather jacket—head to the grandfather’s estate to get things in order. Within minutes of running into locals, it’s clear that this kid has a long, volatile history with a cop, an ex-girlfriend, and a couple of Smashmouth looking bullies. Considering he appears to be about nineteen, did he wrong them all when he was five?

Cutie Philipp Danne

Dead birds and animals are popping up everywhere in town. One even ends up in the fast food the kids have delivered to the estate (courtesy of the bullies). Soon, characters start acting weird…and turning into spastic zombies! There are explosions, people being tossed through the air, and everyone the main kid has wronged magically showing up at the estate as a zombie.

But these resourceful kids, who all seem to have degrees in science (even the ones who work at gas station convenience stores), fight back. They fend off the zombie hordes with electrocution, blowtorches, and guns. But their ultimate weapon is one babe who goes rogue with a sledgehammer. Awesome.

And then…the killer birds come.

WTF?

DEVIL’S PREY (2001)

Remember the days when kids in slashers would head to a rave and then get systematically hacked up by a masked killer? In Devil’s Prey, there’s a whole satanic cult of masked killers!

At first, it’s rave-mania: the lights, the sounds, the sights, the fashions, the drugs, the big boobs in cages. Meanwhile, not to be outdone by his brother Jerry’s turn in Scream 2, Charlie O’Connell is the scream king in Devil’s Prey. And his friends all have horror resumes: Ashley Jones (True Blood), Bryan Kirkwood (Hellbent), Jennifer Lyons (Jack Frost 2, Killer Pad, Return of the Killer Shrews), and Elena Lyons (Club Dread).

After getting bounced out of the rave, the kids are chased through the woods for a good stretch of the film by satanic robed crazies wearing what look like evil drag queen masks. It’s pretty much the classic film Race with the Devil turned into a hokey, sexy teen flick. Even Trancers hero Tim Thomerson appears as the local sheriff.

The big climax features satanic sex, a ritual sacrifice, a barn blast…and Charlie O’Connell’s shirt getting ripped off during a final battle with a baddie. What’s not to love?