20131201: Horror Review--Devil Seed

The Devil in Me (Devil Seed)

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian live action feature length film, 2012, NR, 98 minutes, horror.  Aspect is 2.35
2. IMDB: 4.1/10.0 from 1,430 audience ratings. Spoken word is in English.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 71% on the meter; 46% liked it from 4,630 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.2/5.0 from 113,019 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Greg A. Sager.  Written by: Geoff Hart, Greg A. Sager.
6. Starring: Michell Argyris as Alex Froshiber, Shantelle Canzanese as Jessica Martin, Vanessa Broze as Breanne Whitaker, Kevin Jake Walker as Brian Wolski, Wayne Conroy as Professor Madison, Louise Hollingsworth as Old Psychic Woman.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The introduction suggests a possession in 1972 terminated by the killing of the possessed young woman by a Catholic priest. Then we shoot forward to the present, say 2012, the year of the film's release.


2. Alex rides home from an airport with Jessica; they arrive at the new house where they meet Breanne, and soon Brian.  Brian was Alex's boyfriend, but he had been intimate with Brianne when Alex arrived.  Alex's grandmother has been ill, which was why she was gone most of the summer.  Brian acts like things are still good between them.


3. That night they go to a party.  Brian makes an excuse about needing to be with his father, and leaves the party early.  As Jessica and Alex walk home a bit drunk, Jessica insists on stopping at a psychic's shop to check out whatever is needed to see the future.


4. Sigh.  So let's see, we've got sexual infidelity, drunkenness, and messing about with occult implements.  In the setting of Catholic mythos, this means there has to be at least one bad consequence coming up.


5. Jessica is incredibly insulting to the psychic, referring to her as a gypsy to hippie crossbreed, a 'gyppie.' This fits in with the plot, but what a terrible thing to say to someone you are going to for a service.  The psychic asks for cash; Jessica supplies some for Alex to get a reading.  The psychic guesses that Alex is an Aries, then asks which kind of cancer it was.  Alex takes that to refer to her grandmother.  The psychic goes on to say that Alex's mother has passed; the mother is worried for Alex.  The psychic sees someone with Alex, and commands them to show themselves.  The whatever takes possession, or at least a toe-hold with Alex then.


6. Alex gets home OK, which seems unlikely.  Then the signs start showing up: electrical appliances start of their own accord; things go bump in the night; whispering voices; the next day, unexplained partially healed lacerations.


7. This is 30 minutes in.  Bump in the night goes on for quite a while.  Brian continues to cheat on Alex with Breanne.  Alex starts to sleepwalk, in a creepy way.  Alex and Jessica discuss this the next morning.  Alex starts researching possession in the library and online.  She does not seem to have the tools to get out of her situation.


8. People start to notice.  She meets with a mixed bag of effective and ineffective advice and help.  The cheating boyfriend is not all that helpful, nor is the well-intended professor at first.  Soon enough, Brian just blames the whole thing on her so he can break off the relationship.  Jessica, at least, is able to produce calm for short periods.


9. Things get much worse for Alex.


10. Will Alex seek help?  If so, does she get help?  Will Alex be freed from the possession?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Don't give your psychic a hard time before a reading.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 6/10 The introductory sequence mixed with the credits just stank on ice.  The closing credits were hideous as well.  The actual movie, with these black holes removed, was not that bad.


2. Sound: 5/10 Over-driven and unhelpful, in places; nicely tension building in others.


3. Acting: 4/10 Most of the performances were amateurish.  Shantelle Canzanese was fairly good as Jessica.


4. Screenplay: 5/10 The writing establishes context quickly, which was nice.  After the establishing phase, the action moves quite slowly.  Much of the dialog is incredibly bad, which makes it worse.