Of the Devil

Bad script, bad acting, questionable camerawork and full of horror cliches. Some nice costumes and set deco. The main problem is the script. Forces the actors into totally artificial reactions to the point of humor. Unfortunately it's not a comedy and the film takes itself seriously. Whoever gave this film a seven rating is completely misleading. I don't want to give spoilers in the event someone wants to give it a try on a boring Friday evening when there's absolutely nothing else to do and you just can't fall asleep early. I would suggest it's better to was dishes. Overall don't waste your time.

Concerned about their son's health, a mother and her husband try to combat their son's cancer diagnosis with an experimental procedure recommended to her by a friend, but after undergoing the procedure his demonic change of behavior it forces them to try to rid the spirit controlling him.

This wasn't too bad of a genre effort. One of the better features here comes from the rather tragic and heartbreaking setup that comes across as quite heartbreaking and relatable for some families. Given the situation involving the young kid being given such a debilitating prognosis and condition that stresses her to the breaking point, her decision to fight for her child's life in the face of such horrific conditions offers the kind of intriguing setup that puts everything into perspective rather nicely. The lead-in to the possession that occurs from this setup as a means of the advice given to try out the experimental treatment to save him has a solid setup that also involves the demonic cult and the bizarre behavior exhibited by the cult once he unknowingly shows up at their compound to engage in the procedure. That setup allows the supernatural action here to come off quite well even within a series of cliched antics. The scenes following the surgery at the cult compound featuring the series of enhanced encounters within the house involving his newfound torturous behavior toward animals or the disassociative attitude towards his parents provide the perfect building blocks for later showcase setpieces. The bird attack on the house where they start flying at the window breaking their necks or the aborted prayer session where he supernaturally affects the religious paraphernalia around him to set up a big finale that revolves around the exorcism attempt to finally free the son from the conflict between them. These factors are what hold this one up overall. There are some problematic aspects that show up here. Among the biggest issues here is the somewhat cliched and unoriginal setup that provides for a series of familiar sequences and plotlines. The genuinely supernatural outbursts and animal-killing that the kid participates in would've been more than enough to set people in motion to find help which is ignored here for underwhelming motivations at keeping her son undiagnosed. It's so late into the film that this all occurs as well that there's little time to build up to any kind of impressive setup for the exorcism to take place which is the film's lowest point. Rather than build to anything logical and exciting, it just features a few blurry camera tricks and then ends without any sense of what's going on and no explanation, leading to the biggest issues here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Violence, and children-in-jeopardy.

While totally lacking in atmosphere, I still liked this movie, even as huge fan of horror. But it almost didn't even seem like a horror film, more an episode of CSI or something.

What was entirely unique & original was the ending for sure! And the rest of the story was original as well, if perhaps a tad awkward in an amateurish way.

The originality factor almost makes this a don't-miss for horror fans. But it wasn't scary, more like visually shocking, but without the atmosphere. With excellent visual props, & a few clever scene progressions, not to give too much away.

Honestly, I'd love to see this one redone with some ambience. Still a good watch though.

This movie suffered from lack of FX budget. There were, I will admit, three scenes with good monsters, but that is all. Also, it confused Christian demonism with ancient American demonism. The acting was alright I guess, but nothing really happened for most of the movie. Also, a few plot arcs were left unfinished. Not worth buying, and really not worth watching unless your only other choice is watching patin dry.

The writing, filming, and acting was pretty OK. I do love Vernon Wells and respect him greatly in the industry, so I rented it just out of respect for him. He was great but everything else was just OK. The story could have been better. And the idea could have been better. The acting besides Vernon was just ok. The fear factor was creepy at times but not great. For me the film hit dead center in the end at 5/10. Watch it for yourself though and you can decide. This is all subjective anyway right? It is not the best movie ever made, but an ok horror movie with an ok story. Anyway, it was a fun movie. But yeah, just not great.