The Barrens: Thoughts on the Trailer

There's never been a really good movie about the Jersey Devil, and there are damned few good books. "The Pines" by Robert Dunbar is really the only fiction one that springs to mind. "The Jersey Devil" by James F. McCloy and Ray Miller is probably the best among the non-fiction books on the legend. And as far as movies go, there have been a few, all awful, the worst of the bunch about a decade ago was called 13th Child and struck a new low in cinema.

This one, The Barrens features "True Blood" star Stephen Moyer playing a man who takes his family camping and finds himself convinced he's being stalked by the Jersey Devil. Even the trailer, just a few seconds over two minutes long, is already full of inaccuracies about the legend. I'm a South Jersey boy, I should know.

The worst mistake of all is in the title itself. The Barrens referred to are the Pine Barrens, so called because of the short stunted trees in the region, not at all like the ones we see in the trailer depicting the Ontario, Canada location. As yet, the film has no release date.