An independent horror film that understands and revels in its limitations can be a truly comforting experience. Mask of the Devil works as such a film with a slightly silly plot, vaguely too broad comedy, just over the top horror and actors tackling all of it with glee.

It’s not surprising this romp understands its roots, as it’s the third indie feature from director Richard Roundtree, with Matthew Davies co-writing. Their experience with small budget filmmaking infuses fun in both the plot and characters in the story. At the same time, their experience allows them to meld the various pieces of this story into a cohesive whole that works more often than it fails.

Mask of the Devil centers on Mary (Nicole Katherine Riddell), a young woman who’s upset about being a virgin and having an over-protective father. Her response? Get a job working as an “assistant” for a low-budget porn company. What happens next is a satire of both indie and porn creation as Mary learns the true nature of her job. While the satire is broad enough that many jokes fail, enough land to make a fun set-up for the chaos that comes next.

That chaos comes in the form of the film’s title, a mask that turns its wearer into a demonic creature whose only apparent goal is to slaughter everyone in sight. And slaughter he (it?) does, with truly bloody and fun practical effects combined with an equally terrible (in just the right way) overlay of digital effects. The remainder of the film becomes a standard “slaughter each character one by one” experience. Fortunately, the choices in how individuals die has enough enjoyable originality it never goes stale and the runtime remains short enough that the deaths and story resolve fairly quickly.

Making the tonal shift from comedy to horror can be tricky. It often seems to work best in indie films, where audiences tend to be both into the idea of someone taking a big gamble and also forgiving of mistakes along the way. Mask of the Devil largely succeeds in this shift, partially because the characters in the porn company are cardboard stereotypes who only exist to be slaughtered. The actors playing them play these one-note characters to the hilt. Everyone chews their way through the film, with roles such as the director wishing he could do “real” films (Kemal Yildirim) and the soundman (Martin W. Payne) who is such a pervert he gets his own terrible catchphrase. Watching irredeemable characters get their just desserts is even more fun than the comedy before it.

Working less for me is the premise behind the mask itself. The film’s opening attempts to give us a framework for how the mask ends up where it does and sets up a finale that is designed to bookend that opening. For me, unfortunately, this section is where the film’s limitations finally become apparent. The mask’s narrative is not coherent and its conclusion only makes that part of the story more confusing. I do not want to be left at the end of a film wondering what, exactly, I witnessed, especially when the majority of the film is both clear and enjoyable.

Mask of the Devil delivers on its general idea well enough that I consider it exactly what most good indie horror films are: something you can enjoy with friends on a Friday night. Approach the film with that in mind and you’ll have a blast.

7.5 out of 10