Last year I had the pleasure of catching Greg A. Sager’sDevil Seed(The Devil in Me in the UK), a possession tale that has some really
good moments of storytelling and pretty intense scares.
The last time I briefly talked with Sager late 2012, he told me that
he was gearing up for his next movie, and as I enjoyed Devil Seed, we agreed that he’d
keep me in the loop.
So here you go! This press release was just released from Matchbox Pictures.
MATCHBOX PICTURES BEGINS PRODUCTION ON NEW FEATURE
LONDON, ON. February 19, 2013. With the success of Devil Seed under their belt, Matchbox Pictures is gearing up for principal photography on their next feature, Kingdom Come. Principal photography will begin on Monday February 25, 2013. The movie is about a group of strangers who wake up in an abandoned hospital and find themselves stalked by a supernatural force with sinister intentions. As they begin to question the coincidences that link their pasts, they soon realize that the decisions they make will seal their fates forever.
Filming will be taking place in a million square-foot location in the Southwestern Ontario area. “We were blown away by the offer to film here,” said Greg A Sager, director. “We were looking for the right amount of creepy – both visual and auditory – and this place has got it.” Filming will take place over a period of 30 days with the main cast for Kingdom Come shaping up perfectly. Ryan Barrett (Neverlost) and Camille Hollet-French (Making ‘The Domino Effect’) will be playing the lead roles of Sam Becker and Jessica Martin, respectively.
Other main cast members include Jason Martorino (Angela’s Eyes), Soroush Saeidi (Curious and Unusual Deaths), Jo Jo Karume, Chelsey Marie, William Foley, and Katie Uhlmann. Making her debut in the film industry with Kingdom Come is Elle O’Brien.
In addition to the stellar production crew, Matchbox Pictures will be welcoming students from Fanshawe College’s Advanced Filmmaking Program for the duration of the film shoot to provide valuable hands-on experience in the movie making industry. Fanshawe’s Advanced Filmmaking Program Coordinator, Adamm Liley sees this as a phenomenal opportunity for their students, “They’re getting the chance to take what they have learned so far in the program and apply it in the real world under the mentorship of industry professionals.” Gary Elmer, producer for Kingdom Come says Matchbox is happy to be collaborating with Fanshawe College, “The amount of things these students will see and do will give them an advantage as they go forward in developing both their skills and careers.”
Let the anticipation begin!
(And kudos to Matchbox Pictures for bringing students onboard to secure the future of genre cinema)
I’m not much of a fan of possessed chick films, as they
often tend to become way too silly, or perhaps it would be better to say that
they lack in presenting a believable shift from an ordinary to an unordinary
world. I unfortunately find it to be a lazy genre, which stays overtly close to
convention and rarely ventures out of the box. As most sub-genres and flavour
of the week niches, the outlet is of varied quality, with some highlights, and
some low marks, but personally I find the sub-genre predominantly stale. Devil
Seed may not be all that original; although it does have some good moments that
make it somewhat stand out amongst the rest of the clutter.
Without messing around the movie plays straight into the classic
demonic / Satan possession film traits –
young prudish woman becomes a vessel for evil forces following an intoxicated
visit to a gypsy tarot reader – who they drunkenly insult. Evils forces are
unleashed visualized through nightmare rock-video aesthetics…something that
oddly never reoccurs – and then her world starts to crumble as the demons
successively take over her body… Somebody call a priest and save her soul!
It all starts with a tone setting imagery of priest and
writhing woman cursing her way thorough an exorcism, as the credits blast by,
before plunging into generic geekery as college student Alex [Michelle Argyris]
returns back to her new apartment that she’s to share with friends Jessica
[Shantelle Canzanese] and Breanne [Vanessa Broze]. The first generic nudity is on display within
the first five minutes, Alex boyfriend Brian [Kevin Jake Walker] makes an appearance
and all seems hunky-dory…classic turf; now just wait for the scares to start
hammering down.
But despair not; this generic tomfoolery is what establishes
characters, the complexity in the structure of the constellation of friends’…
hostility, relations, and infidelity. You learn a lot more about this bunch in
these first five minutes than the average horror movie, and I really like the
way director / writer, Greg A.Sager, establishes those we need to root for and those we can see as cannon fodder
early on in the piece. Not forgetting that the dirty little secret we are in on
really gives an interesting intrigue to all the scenes with the affected parts
from that moment on.
Classic stuff like over acting… strange scratches on the
thighs… weird symbols in her schoolbooks… creepy visions… am I loosing my mind
questions… doors that creak in the dark… foul language, and silly overdubbed possessed
voices… and in all honesty it get’s kind of annoying. Apart from alienating me
with some at times really poor acting, what I find Devil Seed doing, is
provoking me with some weak ass moments, then taking these moments and leading them
to great ones. A really sappy research scene lands in images of Annelise Michel pre and post supposed possession by no less than six demons…
and who the movies Annelise Michel: The Exorcist Tapes 2011, The Exorcism of Emily
Rose 2005, and the superior Requiem 2006. I take this as sign of Sager doing
his research correct and knowing what path to take in this journey.
Let’s shift focus. The pros of this film are the jump scares. Phew; I don’t know when demonic possession flick jump scares where as intense
as this. When Sager starts off one classic jump scare moment, he just keeps
pushing on, and frequently nails more jump scares into the same scene. Kind of
like multi layered scare, which just keep kicking. A Chinese cracker of intense
jump scares. It’s really effective and as there’s no tension release, only
blam, blam, blam, it definitely winds the audience up. At the end of the day this is a vital reason
for why we seek out horror related movies, we want to be scared, and Devil Seed
really hammers the frights down solid.
There’s some good storytelling and audience manipulation in
setting up the Alex character and guiding the audience into feeling empathetic
towards her. By letting the audience in on the deceit of her boyfriend, there’s
an emotional recognition - from the
times we have felt deceived or let down by a love one – between the audience
and Alex. This is a good way to help the audience feel more for the otherwise
pretty shallow character, oh and to show that’ she’s still a virgin without
actually having that awkward dialogue. Instead we have Breanne in post coital pillow talk ask why Brian doesn’t
just leave “that little virgin Alex”. He tries to hold some façade but this
comes crushing to the ground when the demon pushes him away as he’s trying to
get into Alex pants… Instead of accepting the incident as proof of Alex
possession, he takes it as a major cock-block and abandons her there and then. As
said, her allies are leaving her one by one… and the audience become more and
more empathetic to this poor girl with her solid values, who after turning down
her boyfriend in a gentle manner is raped by the devil, again.
Oh, and if I where a filmmaker making a flick about the
devil raping some top-notch hottie – which he always does, the devil has great
taste in women - I’d at least make sure that her pants get torn off. Unlike the possessed lesbian act between Alex
and Jessie - brief but it’s there, the demonic rape is nodded at but sort of kept
off-camera. Let’s just say that The Entity 1982 came to mind, but with the clothes
still on. Luckily there are some great special effects courtesy of Anthony
Veilleux, who’s been part of crew’s on some pretty damned good movies. Veilleux
definitely knows his stuff and the cuts, scars, burns and air gropes really get
the job done.
There’s a small Subplot with the parent, Father Madison
[Micheal G. Wilmot] and son [Wayne Conroy] who have grown apart, which never
really develops into anything else than dialogue. Madison is the priest from
the opening montage, and he’s been down this road before, even if he’s
reluctant to perform one last Exorcism. His backstory connects in to the
introduction montage – as the demon recognizes, and taunts Father Madison in a
way that indicates that they know each other. Surprisingly, in all it’s convention, this
last act is what becomes something of a booster for the movie, as it really
picks up here and I find myself liking the movie more and more for ever minute.
If only Sager had worked Father Madison into the plot earlier and built that
character arc more, he could have come out with a tale of one man loosing his
faith, serving time in prison, living a life of remorse only to come back out
of hiding for one last round, re connecting with his faith and redeem himself. But
that’s a completely different story, and at by the end of the movie, Devil Seed
actually manages to take genre convention and warp it somewhat, by partially pushing
the accustomed traits into places I’ve not seen it go before!
I predict Devil Seed sands a risk of being lost amongst the clutter
of similar flicks, as it really doesn’t bring all that much innovation with it,
until that last act goodness. Hopefully this piece doesn’t scare you off, but
instead evokes some interest as Devil Seed has a couple of good tricks up it’s
sleeve, and impressive, intense, nerve wrecking jump scares, that might make
you pee your pants. Grab your girlfriend (or boyfriend), check out the movie
and enjoy some classic generic demonic possession before your date becomes a
portal to the end of the mankind.
Devil Seed is set to be released by NjutaFilms later this
year.
