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I never thought I’d see the day where Cuba Gooding, Jr. would star in a horror movie with Ron Perlman, Bill Moseley, Ray Winstone, Taryn Manning, and Henry Rollins.  Given that star power, you’d expect The Devil’s Tomb to be something special, right?  I mean, after all, it’s directed by Jason Connery, son of Sean, who’s done quite a bit of acting in his time. And there’s the fact that, in the most recent issue of Fangoria, Connery likens his film to Aliens and The Thing.  An impressive pedigree, to say the least.  This film has to rock.

Well…not so much.

In fact, to tell you the truth, The Devil’s Tomb really isn’t very good at all.  It’s not suspenseful, it’s not exciting, it’s not scary.  Actually, it’s kind of boring.

An elite group of soldiers is called on a covert mission to retrieve a scientist from a remote testing facility that’s gone online.  They enter, and find data on a “Project Gehenna” (you see where this is going), before venturing deep into the facility and discovering the dangers hidden beneath.

Yeah, I know.  Sounds like Doom, and Resident Evil, and Aliens, and…well, a whole hell of a lot of films.  The problem is that The Devil’s Tomb is nowhere near as exciting or flashy as those other films.  It’s competently made, sure, but I think the efforts to make the film a horror film that’s “more” than a horror film, with intricate backstories that don’t make sense and that you don’t care about, and the sluggish pacing, plus the fact that you never outright…uh, spoiler coming….see any kind of monster in action just take all the fun out of it.  Even The Thing, which is probably what this is closest to, with it’s possession storylines, had the titular creature come out and scare folks.  The gore is good, and, for its budget, it’s high grade DTV quality, but certainly not theatrical.

If the first twenty minutes interest you, stick with it.  That’s pretty much the pacing you’re going to get for the duration.  If you’re not hooked, hit stop or change the channel, because it doesn’t get any better.

Paul’s Awesomeness Score – 4 out of 10!