Wednesday 15 January 2014

Here Comes the Devil - Reviewed


"A couple's preteen son and daughter inexplicably reappear after being lost overnight on a desolate, cave-riddled mountainside. Becoming withdrawn and beginning to exhibit strange behavior, their parents quickly assume something sinister happened to them while missing and alone. But after hearing an ominous local legend, the concerned mother and father begin to realize that their children may have fallen prey to something inhuman - and that this dark, unstoppable evil has now returned home with them."
Initial release: December 13, 2013 (USA)
Director: Adrián García Bogliano
Running time: 97 minutes
Screenplay: Adrián García Bogliano
Music composed by: Julio Pillado
Cast: Laura Caro, Francisco Barreiro, Giancarlo Ruiz.

Here Comes the Devil got a hell of a lot of hype before its release and it appears since its release as many horror movies it’s not quite lived up to peoples expectations, but I for one enjoyed it, or I think I did?
The film opens with two young ladies having a bit of sexy time and when they are through one of them lays there ridden with guilt when there is a knock on the door. “Don’t let anyone know I'm here!” says one of the ladies to which the other reassures her that she wouldn't and proceeds to leave the bedroom and venture downstairs to see who is at the door. A few moments pass by and the other lady here’s some banging and screaming noises so goes to see what the hell is happening only to be confronted by the scene of her lover being severely beaten, With one fell swoop her attacker takes off several of her lovers fingers with a machete. She grabs the nearest heavy object she can find and smashes him on the head with it and he runs away bleeding profusely.
The attacker flees the scene running up high into the hills where he duly strips naked and claws at the ground whilst screaming in pain and starts what appears to be a small earthquake. And that’s just the 1st few minutes!

The movie then moves on to our main characters, a seemingly perfectly happy family who are spending a day at the beach. The mum and dad sit high on a sand dune watching there boy and girl play happily below, all of a sudden the mum notices something not quite right with her daughter. She descends the dune to find her daughter sitting quietly and her brother staring very oddly at her. Her mum looks down and see’s blood between her legs, she has had her first period. So day over at the beach and the stop at a local petrol station where her mum takes her into the bathroom and changes her, Leaving her underwear on the side she notices the window is open and looking through it is a guy named Lucio the local town weirdo!   The quickly go back outside and decide to let the children go for a walk. This results in mum and dad sitting in the car waiting for them and they both also end up having sexy time. They  fall asleep and wake much later than they had hoped, The children haven’t returned.


In panic mode they go looking but to no avail, the local police are called and the parents are told to seek a hotel locally for the night whilst the police conduct a search. They blame each other which results in a fight. The next morning still distraught they are sitting in the car when they realise that the children have been found and they are all reunited. One big happy family again? No, definitely not.  

With them all back home, the mother who seems a lot more in touch with the children than their father notices that things are not quite right, they have changed somehow. The mother tries to reassure her daughter by saying that having a period is perfectly natural and to put her mind at rest she will take her to the local female Doctor. She takes her and the Dr tells her all is fine and not to worry. But all is not well; The Doctor asks the mother to come back in and tells her that there have been signs down below of what could have possibly been sexual abuse. She is obviously horrified and determined to find out what has gone off. Was it when they were walking in the hills? If so why didn't she say and who was it?



The film then takes many a dark turn. The kid’s get stranger. The Brother and sister are seemingly inseparable even the school notices that they are acting strangely together. I Shan't say any-more as I don’t want to spoilt it but I do have to say that the acting is top notch. There is a murder scene later in the film which it has to be said is one of the most gruesome deaths I have seen in a movie for a long while. But on that gruesome death point alone don’t let that be the only reason you see this. Like I said at the begging of the review, after I had finished it I still was unsure whether I liked it or not and I'm still divided. On one side it was a bit of a jumbled movie with seemingly great ideas that didn't quite pay off for me but then on the other side there were some truly great and shocking moments. Often at times an uncomfortable watch  but it has just the right amount of pulling power to make you to want to stay to the end to see what is going on.
With a lot of releases being very poor this one in my opinion stands slightly head and shoulders above those films and Director Adrian Garcia Bogliano is one to watch, well worth a look ,I think!

7/10 JONNY T.



OFFICIAL TRAILER



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