Here Comes the Devil (2012)
Directed by Adrián García Bogliano
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures
Fear, terror, disbelief—these were not among the feelings I had while watching Here Comes the Devil, which premiered in Ottawa Feb. 21 at Mayfair Theatre.
Unlike its foreboding title, this indie “horror” film, written and directed by Adrián García Bogliano, is nowhere near interesting, let alone scary. That is, unless a blatantly underdeveloped plot can be considered frightening.
The film stars Francisco Barreiro and Laura Caro as Felix and Sol, a married couple who lose their preteen children, Sara and Adolfo (Michèle Garcia, Alan Martinez), after letting them hike up some hills by a gas station in Tijuana.
Felix takes advantage of their children’s absence by enticing Sol to a moment of intimacy in their parked car. Meanwhile, Sara and Adolfo wander into an ominous cave and do not return.
The children are miraculously found by police the next day and return home, but they begin to act strangely.
Sol’s motherly intuition tells her that something sinister must have changed her children in the hills, so she and Felix set off to uncover the events of the night they went missing. The couple then very slowly discovers that Sara and Adolfo were possessed by the devil in the cave.
This story has no significant build-ups and many parts of the film remain unexplored. There are opportunities, albeit few, for it to develop into something meaningful, but it never does.
Bogliano tries to compensate for the underwhelming plot by distracting from it with shocking, provocative imagery. There is an enormous focus on sex, female nudity, and taboo fetishisms in lieu of an exploration of the supernatural.
While Bogliano’s intent is clear, his vision is poorly executed. The inclusion of several choppy zoom-ins and a laughable amount of ketchup-like blood makes Here Comes the Devil seem like a failed replica of a 1970s horror film.
The scenes he intended to shock audiences with are so excessive and frequent that they only emphasize the film’s lack of substance.
The one disconcerting aspect of the movie is its misogynistic undertones. A pattern is revealed as the devil is only summoned following scenes that depict womanhood, female sexuality, vulnerability, and sexual forthcomings. Perhaps the real horror, then, is what Bogliano is trying to convey.
Here Comes the Devil is, at its core, terribly ordinary and a poor directorial effort. With a faltering deception to appear as something intriguing and thrilling, it merely ends up being a pointless movie that is not worth watching.
