Devil’s Crossing 
Director:James RyanGary 
Writer: James Ryan Gary 
Stars: MichaelSharpe, PatrickG. Keenan and Kevin L. Johnson
Reviewed by Char Hardin 
Horror – Western – Zombie
1 Out of 5

“What the Hell?”

 The Devil’s Crossing is from first time director James RyanGary and is a western zombie flick, I saw a trailer for it and it looked like something I would like to review. The film also stars MichaelSharpe. I became a fan of Michael Sharpelast year after seeing his short films in which he was in the role of director for Monomaniacal and the Deviling. Deviling actually made my 2011 list favorite list. In Devil’s CrossingMichael plays Shadrach a “Soul Collector” for the Devil played by Patrick G.Keenan.

As I watched the story unfold, I was taking note of all the things that seemed out of place. I thought, I was watching a zombie western and the absence of zombies was unsettling. There is a definite time warp western like setting going on, but I was also noticing colored bar lights in the saloon, lighter that looked out of place and time, a colored photograph and some dude with a black t-shirt with a skull on it. What is going on? I stopped the film and reached for the DVDcase and read the synopsis for the story. It helped a little, but didn’t deliver what I thought, I would be seeing. 

The time is supposed to be post apocalyptic after a nuclear devastation and the survivors have gone back to the days from our history’s past…western times with horses, six-shooters saloons with whores and whiskey and samurai swords…wait a minute I am so confused! What the hell am I watching?

Shadrach, 235 years ago made a deal with the Devil/Louise after he lost his family. He became the devil’s “Soul Collector”. He is given a list and he goes a-hunting and well, after all this time, Shadrach is fed up with the Devil’s Collection business and ready to call it quits. It’s something,Louise doesn’t agree with. He reminds Shadrach pain will follow him if he doesn’t follow Louise’s orders.

Shadrachends up at a saloon in the dusty streets of Celestial at the same saloon as McDermitt, the man he has been tracking. McDermitt is slam-bamming some whore, while a smattering of locals are playing cards, drinking and making nice with other whores and Shadrach is sitting at the bar drinking…MILK. What feels like forever, later on McDermitt picks a fight with Shadrach, the Devil comes to Celestial and FINALLY a horde of flesh eaters show up and there’s a shoot out and a samurai sword cuts through the night as chaos erupts in the town crawling with zombies. 

Holy smokes! I watched this movie back-to-back and each time, I am left scratching my head and wondering, what the hell happened? I didn’t like it. I think the best part of the film is a fast and furious zombie annihilation shoot out (the trailer I saw was taken from this scene) but by then it was too late, I was thoroughly disappointed in the film as a whole.

DC was slow burn and the characters weren’t really anyone I cared about. Shadrach is definitely the main character and the viewer is given so few details on him, that frankly, I didn’t care if he broke his contract with the Louiseor died in the streets with zombies. The others in the saloon were of no more concern, than why an old burned out hull of a truck was parked outside across the saloon. Nothing made sense and it became a mess to decipher and muddle through.

Unfortunately, I would say pass on Devil’s Crossing due to boring content, poor character development and lack of details. Even the zombies weren’t scary. Some were made up and others looked like they rubbed mud on their faces. And if they were living in western times…where does a zombie get a hoodie? And why does “Soul Collector” uses a samurai sword? Where have the zombies been?

Zombies are saturating the horror film industry much like the vampires and werewolves of the past and it is getting harder for filmmakers to come up with new stories as it has all been done before. One of the elements I liked or what I thought, I would have liked about Devil’s Crossing was the mixing of genres of horror, zombies and adding a western setting. However, it just didn’t work in Devil’s Crossing or it could have with a better written script. The actors were fair but are not what let me down. The concept was there, but the artistic vision by this first time writer/director to bring it to the fold, failed.

Devil’s Crossing 1 out of 5.