Devilreux is a low budget- borderline homemade horror- featuring a shovel-wielding Baron Samedi type character, with a backstory about being the son of a Voodoo witch, that was murdered by a family of racist slaveowners, before being brought back by his mother...to reap vengeance from beyond the grave.
The character, himself, is alright.
But the rest of the acting is so laughingly bad.
It makes it hard to take the film seriously.
Especially considering the poor plot structure around which the story is based.
Which I'd chock up to director Thomas J Churchill having way too many projects on the go at once.
Because it jumps around way too much, and lacks cohesion.
Going from the opening sequence; to a completely unrelated case, used to introduce the backstory of the character; followed by a lengthy (much too drawn out) flashback sequence, that comes off as a bit redundant- and feels like it should have been the basis for the film as a whole (as opposed to taking place on the two different timelines).
The flashback needed to be much shorter, and more succinct, to prevent it from ruining the flow of the film.
Considering the length it is, it should, at least, have been used as the opening- before jumping forward in time, to the present- with a bunch of scenes cut for lack of importance.
The main problem is, that they take no time at all, to develop the characters we are supposed to care about.
So it never manages to fully engage you on any front.
A condemnation that results from the overuse of time and resources on the development of the backstory.
And it's lack of cohesion, overall.
The best things about the film are definitely the sets and costumes.
Which come off as impressive, in relation to the low budget feel the rest of the film gives off.
However, they aren't enough to save this from being the travesty it is.
Because it flows so badly...that it's impossible to care about any of the plethora of characters that are introduced.
So this gets a hard pass from me.
2 out of 10.
The character, himself, is alright.
But the rest of the acting is so laughingly bad.
It makes it hard to take the film seriously.
Especially considering the poor plot structure around which the story is based.
Which I'd chock up to director Thomas J Churchill having way too many projects on the go at once.
Because it jumps around way too much, and lacks cohesion.
Going from the opening sequence; to a completely unrelated case, used to introduce the backstory of the character; followed by a lengthy (much too drawn out) flashback sequence, that comes off as a bit redundant- and feels like it should have been the basis for the film as a whole (as opposed to taking place on the two different timelines).
The flashback needed to be much shorter, and more succinct, to prevent it from ruining the flow of the film.
Considering the length it is, it should, at least, have been used as the opening- before jumping forward in time, to the present- with a bunch of scenes cut for lack of importance.
The main problem is, that they take no time at all, to develop the characters we are supposed to care about.
So it never manages to fully engage you on any front.
A condemnation that results from the overuse of time and resources on the development of the backstory.
And it's lack of cohesion, overall.
The best things about the film are definitely the sets and costumes.
Which come off as impressive, in relation to the low budget feel the rest of the film gives off.
However, they aren't enough to save this from being the travesty it is.
Because it flows so badly...that it's impossible to care about any of the plethora of characters that are introduced.
So this gets a hard pass from me.
2 out of 10.
