Sometimes what looks like a class project, The Devil Incarnate should have been a class project. This very low budget horror flick looses it’s scary early on, wanders a bit and gets highly predictable. Now on DVD, you really have to be a diehard terror fan to get a charge out of this movie.
The film opens with the story of a 1500’s rape of a woman who accepts a witch’s amulet curse to summon a daemon that will destroy her attackers in exchange for her baby. She goes back on her promise to the daemon and gets cursed with infertility. She raises the baby and he inherits the amulet and the story behind it. Flash forward to modern day and we find a young woman in a room being questioned by police. She tells the following story.
Newly married Trevor (Rod Luzzi) and Holly (Graci Carli) are headed for a honeymoon in Florida. Passing through the small town of Cassadaga, Holly insists on having a reading from one of the local spiritualists. Trevor wants to leave the town behind him, but the car breaks down in front of a house. An old lady (Barbara Van Fleet) invites Holly in offering her a reading and she accepts. While waiting for Holly to finish her reading Trevor wanders around the old house, sees an amulet and steals it. Holly turns up pregnant and the couple move into Trevor’s parents 5 bedroom house. While getting acclimated Holly’s personality starts to change. She gets sexually suggestive with Trevor’s emotionally unstable sister Marissa (Cindy Hogan) and begins talking in a strange language. Thus begins a tale of Satanism as evil starts to creep into the married couple’s lives.
The inexperience of writer/director L. Gustavo Cooper and the absence of a reasonable budget show in this horror feature that falls short of creating a scary film for his audience. The plot drags on with very little substance that’s new or at least exciting enough to overlook new. The cinematography, although good in parts, doesn’t hold up under amateur lighting and editing. He tries to keep his story exciting and terrifying, but it never gets that way due to lack of good props, mediocre acting and sets that aren’t creepy or frightening.
As for the acting, there are moments and then there are flaws. Unfortunately the imperfections outweigh the performances. I did like the character of Marissa, the emotionally unstable sister of Treavor who feels morbid about the whole relationship between her brother and his new wife. She’s like a cat that’s curious about a new toy, wants to become attached, but the instinct just knows the thing can’t be trusted. When Marissa gets to the crux of the amulet, it’s her that warns of its evil powers.
Unfortunately the film does get very predictable, yet I was hoping I would be surprised with the twist ending. Regrettably the ending looks like the production ran out of money and so the best way was to just say cut, it’s a wrap. The credits roll and then there’s one last scene that expects the audience to figure out what it all means.
The video quality is fair and lacks good lighting. There is some purposeful pixelation at times, but for no real good reason. The Sound quality is actually good, although the screaming shock value in a couple of scenes doesn’t come across on the home screen very well.
The Devil Incarnate has not been rated by the MPAA but contains violence, gore and language. Be cautious when deciding to allow immature children see the film as it does have some scenes that are inappropriate for adolescents.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Rod Luzzi, Graci Carli, Emily Rogers
Director: L. Gustavo Cooper
MPAA Rating: Unrated, contains violence, language, brief nudity
Genre: Horror, Supernatural
Running Time:1 hr 16 min
Video Release Date: Oct 7th, 2014
Original Film Release Date:
Language: English
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: 15×9 Aspect Ratio 2.40:1
Subtitles: None
Closed Captioned: Yes
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RLJ/Image Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
