Bedeviled

Bedeviled is the latest in a long line of cyber horrors featuring the standard young hot cast as they become besieged by a supernatural force spawning from a mobile phone application.

Now though this hardly sounds like the best of premises it actually works, it's just not handled very well at all.

Shortly in I thought that our antagonist had the potential to be a new much needed horror icon. He looks the part, he sounds the part and his method of killing is interesting and with room for some unique moments.

The writers took the ball and ran with it, sadly they fumbled and dropped it at least half a dozen times en route to the line.

With the right writers and a competent director this could be salvaged and made into a decent franchise, but I won't hold my breath quite yet.

I'm not saying that Bedeviled is bad, it's just not what it could have been.

Oh dear, this was painful to watch, in so many ways.

First off, let me say, I liked the premise of this film. A killer app!

Shame that's all it has going for it, the writers and directors, Abel and Burlee Vang, missed so many opportunities to create a good horror film here and were lax with what they had.

The directors don't even try to build any tension or create any kind of atmosphere. They rely too heavily on crescendos to make the audience jump. When I say heavily it was at every chance they had - somebody reaches for a shoulder (BA BAA), a shadow passes by (BA BAA), a door opens (BA BAA), a camera pans (BA BAA), a gnat farts (BA BAA) - and all turned up to 11. Hey, Guys! It's the volume that makes people jump NOT your story.

Then there's the apps name; "Mr Bedeviled"; I take it the college students aren't taking English are they(?) Or they would be a little more cautious in using the app. Then there's the fact that it auto- installs on their phones. I don't know about you but if something auto- installed on my phone I would be instantly reflashing my phone back to factory presets.

Another thing I found tardy was the stolen ideas. The scene where granny does "The Grudge" is sad but extremely funny; I'm smiling now just thinking about it. If I were the Vang's I'd be most embarrassed at their demon who is a pathetic caricature of The Joker, this was really dismaying to see. I can understand why they just kept showing the smiling mouth the full effect is unintentionally hilarious and the make- up is the poorest I've seen.

However, the actors do a passable job with their characters and cope with the bad script in their stride. They at least worked for their money.

I hope somebody takes the idea of this story and decides to do it justice as this could be one hell of a story and one hell of a movie. At the moment it's just hell.

My expectations were very low going into this flick. The camera work and direction were much better than I anticipated from the trailer and reviews. The story is way out there and some of the acting should have been better, but I will probably end up watching this again.

Bedeviled by horror stereotypes. Thats how I would describe this film.

Lamentably everything about this flick has been done to death (pardon the pun). It's replete with horror stereotypes we have all seen a million times before.

To get away with recycling well worn ideas something at least little different is needed, not to mention a lot of polish but really, its just not there.

Thats not to say Bedeviled its a bad film. Its a fun production, with what appears to be a limited budget. It does reasonably well with what it has. Its story line is predictable but not terrible and the acting is actually, quite good.

I would say this film is certainly worth a look just don't expect anything especially novel or remarkable. If you can accept this limitation give Bedeviled a go, it's certainly fun and does have a few, decently creepy, moments. Six out of ten from me.

This flick has a nice plot (not original but fun) and some really gorgeous young actresses (the main reason to watch this).

Sadly there are way more negatives than positives. Sound design is terrible. I really hate the old trick of popping up the volume 1000% when someone screams. Also, this kind of movie needed way way...way more SFX. All you get in this are homemade quality SGI, and quite few at that (The SGI in the final scene are especially bad).

This flick is for a fun night with friends, a few laughs, and watch preferably while playing a board game or something. Enjoy...