I would normally give something this weak a 1/10. It gets a 3 because it did have couple funny scenes in it and it was not a total waste of my time.

Problem is, it is great concept executed really badly. Acting is on par with maybe high school drama class. Actors deliver their lines extremely stiff. It was actually worse than soap operas.

Concept of restaurant owner making a deal with creature that is a cross between a vampire and something from H.P. Lovecraft books is awesome. And this could have been really solid film. But it is like someone wrote a skeletal script on a napkin, and then filled it up to extend the story with nothing but really, really bad filler scenes.

Ending felt forced. Not preplanned, and well thought out, but like someone simply decided "ok, I wrote enough, time to end this thing" and came up with one of dumbest endings for a movie of this type I have ever seen. And I see a LOT of films.

I understand that this was likely very low budget attempt and probably people involved had fun making it, and if this was one of those free straight-to-YouTube films it would be ok. But as a demonstration of anyones skill at film making, it utterly fails.

I wanted to like this film more. I really did.

THE RESTAURANT AKA THE DEVIL'S RESTAURANT tells the story of a Faustian Bargain between the manager of a Restaurant and a demon. The terms of the deal are that the demon makes the restaurant successful by sending it lots of guests, many of whom will never be missed if they disappeared, and in return the manager feeds some of those to the demon.

Based on this premise, a script for a horror-comedy would seem to almost write itself: many aspects of the restaurant industry can be mined for scenes of situational humor, not to mention that food itself is a ripe subject for entertainment.

Alas, this movie felt very much like the script needed to be rewritten a few more times. After an awesome prologue during the opening credits, by far the best part of the film, it gets progressively sillier and worse. By the time the movie ends, one feels disappointment at just how short this fell of its potential.

The main characters cannot be blamed. Mark Robert Turner and Anthony Misiano did well, the best job in the cast. Turner's character reminded me a bit of John Cleese's character in the TV series FAWLTY TOWERS, and Misiano seems to be a natural comedian.

The production design was okay. The exterior of the restaurant looked kind of shabby compared to what a fine dining Italian restaurant is expected to look like, but that may well have been the point: it would take the demon's powers to attract lots of people to this place.

Some of the cinematography gave this away as a low budget affair, but this does not set the movie back nearly as much as the screenplay. The premise was good, some aspects of the story were innovative, some of the gags landed, but it all felt like it should have been allowed to stew a little more before being served up for realization.

Desperate restaurant manager Andy (nicely played by Mark Robert Turner) makes a deadly deal with a demon to ensure that his Italian eatery Scoppa is a success. However, complications ensue after busboy Jeremy (amiable Anthony Misiano) finds out about this deal.

Writer/director Eric Ford Holevinski relates the fun story at a constant pace, maintains an engaging tongue-in-cheek tone throughout, gets a good deal of laughs from the amusing sense of inspired dark humor, and delivers some cool bits of bloody gore. The game cast have a ball with the loopy material: Matthew Thomas Burda as the huffy Michael, Byron Clohessy as laidback pothead Richard, Stephanie Juergens as the sweet Karen, Paul Casali as lethal demon Exses, and Robert Clohessy as the irascible Chef Dominick. A total hoot.