Devil's Messenger is a short, sweet, and cheap little anthology from my 50 Tales of Terror budget set. I've always liked the idea of the horror anthology - some ideas are really not meant for full length feature films. And even if a story is terrible, it doesn't stick around long enough to be too offensive. Although if it's all terrible, anthologies can be even more of a slog than just a regular movie. Luckily, Devil's Messenger avoids being all terrible - really only one of the three is outright bad.
The framing device is actually my favorite part of this one. It starts at the Gates of Hell (or more like, Low-budget-Hell - I think the rocks in the back are just blankets tossed over a frame of some sort), where Lon Chaney Jr. is collecting a paycheck playing the gatekeeper of Hell. I'm not up on my Christian mythology, but does St. Peter have an *eeeeevil* counter part? But basically, he's just checking names and sending people to a bottomless pit, where actual (i.e. more expensive looking) Hell is hidden away from us, the viewer.
But seriously it's always fun to see Lon Chaney Jr. He's just so instantly recognizable - to me, he's like a big, warm, teddy-bear of horror. Comforting and always a treat to watch.
Evil St. Peter is checking in a heartbroken young woman who recently took her own life, very subtly named "Satanya." Apparently, Hell looks a little more lightly on suicide, because "you only did harm to yourself." Which makes - a lot of sense? It may be taking some liberties with the traditional view of suicide - Christians traditionally hate suicides more than mass murderers, don't they? At least, if the mass murderers repent... Anyways, he gives Satanya a choice - she can go into the bottomless pits of Hell, or go back to the Earth to deliver objects to people who will use them to seal their own fate. It's a neat little device, and gives us the chance to check back into Hell after each story.
The first item she takes is a camera to a stressed out photographer. He's sick of doing fashion shoots and goes out to the wilderness to take some artsier shots. He takes a picture of a house, and out steps a beautiful woman. He wants to take her picture, but she says no. He insists, so she runs away. When he catches her, he kills her for some reason. He tries to hide the evidence, destroying the film and everything. But the pictures keep coming back, Tell Tale Heart-style. Do they drive him to madness? Guess!
It's an okay story. The guy really does seem like an asshole, so it's kind of nice to see him get tortured a little bit. There is an unintentionally hilarious bit too where they are critiquing his photo of the house and say "it's absolutely amazing - your best work!" Maybe I don't have an eye for photography, but it looks like someone went to the end of the sidewalk and took a snapshot of a house. Pretty standard stuff.
The second item is a pick-axe. This story was shit. I don't even know how it ended (and I did watch it). These miner/scientist types find a beautiful young woman frozen in the ice, presumably tens of thousands of years old. One weirdo falls in love with her. He gets obsessed and goes to great lengths (murder) to keep others away from her. He gets it to thaw out, and she disappears I think. The end. If you like it when a guy talks to an ice block, this one is for you.
The third item Satanya brings back to earth is a crystal ball. It's about the guy who drove Satanya to suicide! He goes to a fortune teller, and the fortune teller tells him he will be dead, by her hands, by the stroke of midnight - there's nothing he can do! It's fate! So he decides to hang around - the logic being he can "watch her every move." Shenanigans ensue.
This one was the best by a long shot. It's a considerable bit moodier than the other two - it's shot in an old building and they get some good mileage out of showing some of the more decrepit aspects of the setting. Also, it's really shadowy and has some good shots of the clock - having a deadline (literally!) is always a good, easy way to build tension, and here it more or less works. I've always liked it in horror movies where they zoom in on a clock all dramatically. There are several such shots here (on items other than clocks too!)
So that doesn't sound terribly exciting, and really, it isn't. Overall, the strongest part of the film is the wrap around, and the very ending with Lon Chaney giving Satanya her last task really made me get excited.
*SPOILER FOR A MOVIE YOU WON'T WATCH* - he totally has her bring back the instructions for the atomic bomb! Queue stock footage of bomb testings superimposed over Chaney laughing maniacally and pointing at the camera. If there is anything on this earth that is truly vile, evil, and demonic - it's that goddamned bomb. So I like this bit of alternate history. I thought it was a nice (and kind of heavy) way to end a relatively lackluster affair.
Ultimately
It's pretty short and doesn't offend, and seeing Chaney is always a treat. The sweet ending doesn't make up for it being relatively boring, but it's still probably in the upper-half of what the 50 Tales of Terror budget pack has to offer.
I would shrug my shoulders if asked about this film
wikipedia note: it says Chaney is in fact the Devil, not evil St. Peter. Also, it says that this is actually three episodes of a Swedish TV series "13 Demon Street." I believe it.
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