20140506: Horror Review--Here Comes the Devil

Here Comes the Devil

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Mexican live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 97 minutes, horror, thriller.
2. IMDB: 5.7/10.0 from 1,128 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 41% on the meter; 34% liked it from 2,609 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.7/5.0 from 19,665 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Adrian Garcia Bogliano.
6. Starring: Francisco Barreiro as Felix, Laura Caro as Sol, Michele Garcia as Sara, Alan Martinez as Adolfo, Giancarlo Ruiz as Sgt. Flores.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Parents Felix and Sol take children Sara and Adolfo on a trip.  Sara starts her first period, which is a temporary alarm.  After visiting a medic, they return to their motel, and the kids want to go exploring again.  While waiting, the parents get interested in each other, and the time gets away from them.  The sun goes down and the children have not returned from their trek to a steep, rocky hill.  The police wisely advise to restart the search in the morning.  The next morning, the police return the kids.


2. However, not all is well.  Sara draws some disturbing art.  Both Sol and Felix get unexplained bruises on their bodies.  Sara has an unexplained seizure when she sees a man who was around just before the kids went missing.  The parents do a dastardly violent crime at night.  The babysitter has an horrific blackout.  That is just the beginning of the family's descent.


3. Is the family doomed, or will they find a way back to sanity?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Neither scary, nor suspenseful, nor gory, nor interesting.
2. Two stars of five


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 Good, but not great.


2. Sound: 7/10 The actors were well-miked, but I was paying more attention to the sub-titles.  The music was only mildly helpful for setting mood.


3. Acting: 3/10 Some people were in front of cameras while they hit their marks and said their lines.  I would not call any of this good acting, however.  There was way too much time spent with the camera on Laura Caro's stone face while someone off camera spoke.  Francisco Barreiro was quite unconvincing.


4. Screenplay: 2/10 The film does tell a story, but it is neither interesting nor well told. The SFX and the hallucinations were not convincing at all.