The Devonsville Terror

The little town of Devonsville, 1683. Three slightly eccentric, yet innocent women are gruesomely tortured and executed. Devonsville, 1983…around the same time three hundred years later 3 single women come to settle in the town that is still congested by Puritan, superficial villagers. The 20th century-inhabitants of Devonsville simply seem like reincarnations of their forefathers and they quickly begin to suspect the newly arrived ladies of witchery. The gorgeous new teacher (Suzanna Love) in particular.

Ulli Lommel's The Devonsville Terror is cheap 80's taking on the gruesome subject of the Inquisition and witchery, a horror sub genre that I personally cherish highly. Obviously, the atmosphere and tension doesn't come near the classic titles in this sub genre, like 'The Witchfinder General' or 'Mark of the Devil' but it does feature some chilling scenery and ingenious horror moments. Veteran horror actor Donald Pleasance stars as the town's doctor who constantly has to pick living worms out of his own flesh (due to a curse placed on his family, centuries ago). The film is overall decent and certainly worth a watch if you're an undemanding horror lover. Too bad about the bad ending, though…Well, it isn't exactly a BAD ending. More like an unsatisfying one. Just when the plot takes a vicious new twist, the end-credits start rolling over the screen and you're left behind with an empty feeling in your stomach.

Typically I dislike films about witches (with the exception of Dario Argento's horror classic Suspiria), but The Devonsville Terror is quite amusing. The script is disastrous, the performances are over-acted, and the special effects are anything but special. The plot is devoid of any significant twists or surprises. The audience anticipates the impending events faster than do the characters, and the conclusion is accomplished suddenly and sloppily. However, I can't deny that this film makes me curiously happy when I watch it. Something about the lighting and overall appearance of the film. The soundtrack is also quite good, and gives the film an eerie quality. I particularly like the scene where Walter Gibbs' face melts (the special effects are primitive but cleverly done using wax melting in time-lapse). That scene always gives me the creeps. The storyline, despite its uncreative, allows the characters to really show their true colors. Walter Gibbs' character specifically is quite gross, and almost matches with his looks. A film worth trying, and for those who are skeptical, Donald Pleasence of John Carpenter's Halloween also stars.

Ulli Lommel was like the Rainer Werner Fassbinder of horror movies. He must have learned Fassbinder's exhaustive work ethic first hand. I mean 66 directoral credits. Ridiculous amount.

To me, this film is a large budget companion to The Demons of Ludlow directed by Bill Rebane in the same location. Both have similar plots, but this one is derivited of the Demons movie. This movie gets better remembered because it clearly has a larger budget and some Hollywood acting talent which Demons lacks. You'll see the same actors in smaller roles because they are still pretty good but they aren't Donald Pleasance, Paul Willson or Robert Walker Jr either.

The production values are better too making for better effects. Lommel no doubt had better financial backing but he also had loads of experience making these films.

Generally, the story is a bit slow and some of it doesn't quite make sense to me like why what starts the revenge push does it? Surely other things happened over the course of 300 years.

The.most unsettling thing about this movie is the actions of the locals and how vague they are in dropping hints of what's to come. Their intended victims never had a chance. If the point of view were switched to one of the victims, this would be as intense as the Wicker Man.

I watched this film completely sober, which is never a great idea when you're watching low-budget horror films. But this one was alright. The plot was firmly established, the death scenes were obviously amateur but at least creative in their methods. And Donald Pleasance, who can really do no wrong (I watched this film about a week after seeing "Alone in the Dark" - I should have made it a double feature). Other critics of this film might say it is not original. Maybe so, but the director and the actors were able to establish a "creepy level" unparalleled in any other film. Almost every two minutes some character acted in a way that weirded me out. What was made into a 90-minute film should have been a Twin Peaks-esque television show. The only thing really missing in this film is a woman talking to a log. Were there plot holes and other flaws? Sure. The laser beams from the eyes were a bit unusual, and the weekly meetings with the drunk priest, and the unexplained need for hypnotized people to be naked, and the obvious fact the wormy arm was not a real arm... but I digress. A fine film ion its own right - 6 out of 10.

Director Ulli Lommel this time created the idea of three women back in 1683 who are arrested for crimes that they obviously did not commit and are sentenced to death in three different gruesome ways which I will not describe (watch it!) Then the movie goes three hundred years into the present (1983) where in the town of Devonsville, there are all of the sudden three young beautiful women who mysteriously arrive to the town. This town is your average small-town where everyone knows your name 'cheers' style. Lommel does capture that small-town feel very successfully and I found myself drawn into the complex web of ignoramuses inhabiting this town. The only smart one in my opinion was Dr. Worley (Donald Pleasance), Pleasance always provides an utterly fantastic performance in any work he does and he didn't let up in this movie. The ending is a perfectly blatant ripoff or homage if you will, of the Raiders of the Lost Ark. You would think Lommel would pay homage to another slasher flick but oh well. Otherwise this movie wasn't too bad, Suzanna Love is great as always but I wasn't to keen about her short hair, what do I know? It was 1983 and I guess that was the big 'thing' then. Witch fans will love this flick no doubt. Peace