Puffball: The Devil's Eyeball (2007)

Powerful supernatural forces are unleashed when a young architect (Kelly Reilly) becomes pregnant after moving to an isolated and mysterious valley to build a house. And when the ... See full summary »

Director:

Nicolas Roeg

Writers:

Dan Weldon, Fay Weldon (novel)

Stars:

Kelly Reilly, Miranda Richardson, Rita Tushingham

Cast

Credited cast:
Kelly Reilly	...	Liffey
Miranda Richardson	...	Mabs Tucker
Rita Tushingham	...	Molly
Oscar Pearce	...	Richard
William Houston	...	Tucker
Donald Sutherland	...	Lars
Leona Igoe	...	Audrey
Tina Kellegher	...	Carol
Pat Deery	...	Dr.Holmes
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mark Byatt	...	Polish Laborour
Caoimhe Gilsenan	...	Becky
Laoise Gilsenan	...	Juliet
Elaine Gormley	...	Nurse
Julie Kinsella	...	Radiologist
Suzanne McAuley	...	Radiologist

Storyline

Powerful supernatural forces are unleashed when a young architect (Kelly Reilly) becomes pregnant after moving to an isolated and mysterious valley to build a house. And when the neighbouring farmers take against the unborn child, it's her very survival that is threatened.

---

Plot Keywords:

panties | upskirt | male rear nudity | female nudity | bare breasts | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content, language and some violent/bloody images

Details

Country:

UK Ireland Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 October 2007 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Puffball: The Devil's Eyeball

Filming Locations:

County Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£2,600,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amérique Film, Dan Films, Grand Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Samantha Morton was originally cast as Liffey.

User Reviews

Know when to quit… (always best) while you're well ahead!

I've just had to sit through Puffball at the Exeter Phoenix screening –where Mr. Roeg graced us with his presence for a listed Q& A session pre the movie viewing…and thank god for 'his' own sake he did. I thought Basic Instinct II was a turkey… but this movie takes bird basting to a whole new level… There's no doubting Nic's past pedigree (40 years ago) with über works such as Walkabout, Don't Look Now and that allegory of our current times The Man Who Fell to Earth… but in his current contemporary offering the only truly menacing character in this supernatural themed movie is Molly's (Rita Tushingham's) Dog… It does the menacing stare very well… though as I know not of the book (original material)…I cannot judge what Fay Weldon's original story had in mind? And interestingly, Mr. Roeg stated pre viewing…that this is a woman's film… which as I saw the movie with three women… all four of us didn't seem to share this heterogamy vision… Major problems with the film are it's done on a shoe string budget… and the characters particularly Liffey lack real depth and any sense of believable credibility… And the monotonous steady delivery of the plot with no twists or unexpected turns also means that you just wish the whole experience would come to a more dramatic, less over acted, swifter end… I kept expecting to have Father Dougal McGuire appear, with Mrs. Doyle in tow… in which case some real farcical humour could have ensued…so at least the 'naff' typical Irish stereotypes could be further exploited… for better comic affect.

I imagine as a favour to his buddy from the 1970's - Donald Sutherland's cameo appearances were there to add an A list weight -.playing the mad senior 'deity' partner from Liffey's city slicker, architectural practice past. Poor old Donald wanders around grinning maniacally like a Cheshire cat mumbling words of architectural design guru wisdom, ruefully confessing to having always wanted to see an ancient fertility stone….

The continual references to Odin throughout the movie (Norse paganism) for me seemed at odds with the setting of in-depth Celt southern Ireland… but lets not be a stickler for accuracy here… perhaps it should have been shot in Stavanger? The heavy handed use of somewhat unsubtle sound xfx and inappropriate Irish music doesn't help either… and I do suspect greatly with this work that younger members of the team have been overawed by the combined presence of Weldon (by proxy through her son, 2nd unit Director, and screenplay writer Dan) and Roeg into creating a low budget, 2 year film school result, instead of following their own more polished and well-honed intuitions. Miranda Richardson… should really have known better… And as a woman we do 'get' how babies are made on a biological level… seeing frequent cutaways to spermatozoa and uterine membrane walls if over done leaves you feeling somewhat violated… To sum up, I'd recommend seeing this movie for one reason only… it's a testament to triumph of ego over more humble led creative sanity… and you need a film like this every-now-and-then to appreciate what's really good…I saw 2 Days in Paris by the wonderful Julie Delpy last week… this is definitely a 'womans' movie also made on a low budget… and is a remarkable result because of it… And I whole heartedly recommend you all go see that!