The Devil’s Ground (2009)

Daryl Hannah? Why?  What are you doing in this movie?  And why does the cover give you a moon face?  It’s very disconcerting.

Daryl plays Carrie, a woman retracing the steps of her missing boyfriend who was taking the backroads across the country to Bangor, Maine.  On an isolated, one lane, dirt road in the middle of nowhere - which is a ridiculous choice for traveling cross country - Carrie almost runs into Amy, who is traumatized and standing in the road. Amy begs for help because someone is after her. Eventually Carrie lets her in the car.

The story is Amy and four other students where doing research for an environmental studies course. The professor provided info on an area that could be a potential Indian burial ground. The land is designated for a coal mining operation so if they find remains, they can stop the mine.

It’s not clear how they got grouped together on this project. Amy and Mike seem nice, but the two other girls are mean girls, and Greg is a grade A douche.  The area had a huge mining accident at one point and over 100 miners died. Greg says the worlds economy runs on fuel so if miners die, they are collateral damage. No big deal. Why is he in environmental studies?

The group stop for gas and meet Billy, who has no hands and warns them not to go to Arrowhead. But do they listen? Of course not! Also they broke the rule where you should never announce where you’re going to a creepy hillbilly. 

The group parks the RV for the night and the next day heads into the woods and finds bones.  They are unearthing bones in an Indian graveyard on sacred land. That isn’t good. To make things worse, in another area, they unearth a jaw bone with gold fillings and an arm bone with a watch.  Do they immediately go get the police? No, they keep digging and contaminating a potential crime scene. At the very least they are destroying evidence and putting their own finger prints all over the keepsakes buried with the bones.

When they finally go back to the RV so they can contact the police, they find someone is already in it. As it starts towards them, they are unable to figure out that RV’s don’t have much of a turning radius and the best way to avoid getting hits is to step aside. After the first death, the rest run into the woods and the hunt is on.

While Amy is likable enough, she doesn’t make great decisions. She’s terrible at hiding and her running is really awkward - and she runs a lot. Also for Billy being a handless hillbilly who works at a garage and fixes cars using his plier hands, he’s incredibly clean.  There’s no dirt or oil on his face or anywhere else. And don’t even get me started on the killer who looks like Dumb Donald from the Fat Albert show.

Dialogue that should never be said to a hillbilly when you’ve wandered behind his garage and find a heavy chain going into the barn that is attached to something or someone: 

Amy (annoyed) - what are you doing sneaking up on me like that?

Billy  - what are you doing back here anyway?

Amy -  what’s in your barn?

Billy - Just my dog. Mangy thing lives there.

Amy (clueless and indignant) - It doesn’t sound like a dog.

In case you miss the highway sign,
Bangor is over 700 miles away

Billy and his plier hands

Are we really supposed to believe plier hands could maintain
their grip on a machete if it hit something?  Then we’ve got the guy
in the back. His hat has eye holes and is pulled down
over his face, looking like Dumb Donald from Fat Albert

Not everyone in the group understands when you unearth
an arm with a watch, it is not a Native American burial plot.