Everything I've read about Devil Seed says it's pretty much just an Exorcist rip-off. But I haven't seen that (tsk tsk) so I can't comment. But to me, it did seem reminiscent of another big horror hit - here's how I saw the pitch go: "Think of the Paranormal Activity franchise. Although no found footage stuff. And instead of just haunting this girl, the demon gets her pregnant. And we'll make it cheap. And in Canada."
And with good box art! This has been lurking in my Netflix queue for sometime, solely on the promise of this picture. I like to think that even in this post video-store landscape, box art can still win me over. (And still lead me astray.) And yes, it should be called something other than "box art" now but I'm sticking to my guns, dammit!
Although looking at it now, I'm wondering if my subconscious won out due to the crotch-shot. Hmm.
Anyways, the story is about a young college student named Alex (Michelle Argyris), who is moving in with her best friend Jessica (Shantelle Canzanese). Also at the house is Breanne (Vanessa Broze), a girl Alex doesn't really like, and would probably like even less if she knew she was sleeping with her boyfriend. After a drunken night out at a club, Alex and Jessica go to a psychic on a lark, and the psychic kind of freaks out, saying Alex is doomed, etc. Some weird stuff starts going on with Alex in her attic room - it starts with general creepy feelings, moves onto brief physical contact, and eventually escalates into full on levitation and crazy demon/poltergeist activity. As the title suggests, the demon not only possesses Alex, but impregnates her as well. A local priest catches wind of this and attempts to help her. That's where The Exorcist stuff happens, I guess.
Honestly, I don't really have a lot to say about this movie. I'm currently in the process of trying to catch up on my blog entries - I watched this less than a week ago and can't really remember much about it. Devil Seed is just very forgettable, which is one of the worst things you can say about a movie. At least if something is terrible, you can remember it. But Devil Seed just very much had this "been there, done that" vibe to it. But here's what I remember:
The Good
I was kind of charmed by the film's Canadian-ness. I'm a sucker for accents, and while they aren't really prominent, they are there. I was also kind of smitten with Alex's friend Jessica - I want to say I thought she was cute in an Alanis Morrisette kind of way, although that could be the Canadian bias rearing its ugly head. There is a scare where an unseen force brushes Alex's hair that is pretty solid - although the post-scare afterglow is ruined by a car driving by in the back of the shot. I'm pretty sure it was just a hair dryer - just shoot it again!
The Bad
Other than my new crush Jessica, the acting ranges from passable to not very good. Alex's boyfriend - I can't track down his name and will *not* watch this again - was bad news every time he was onscreen. I'm not sure if writer-director Greg A. Sager instructed him to be a sniveling, annoying jerk (which would make sense with the character), but no aspect of his performance worked for me - I couldn't see him disposed of soon enough. And I don't even remember if he did get killed. Some people died at the end. There was some blood.
The priest is brought into the story in a very convoluted way. It's a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend type thing. His character is not well-developed at all, even for a cheap horror movie. I'm guessing some of Devil Seed was cut for mass consumption? Netflix has the running time listed at 98 minutes, while the imdb page has it listed at 108. The imdb also has acting credits for possessed girl 1970, young priest 1970, and Cop 1970, which were really only non-speaking background stuff for the opening credits. I wouldn't be surprised if the first cut of the film had this part in there - it would flesh out the priest's story a bit and wouldn't make the entire finale seem so haphazard. As it stands I guess we're just supposed to take all of our other exorcist movie priest stuff and superimpose it on him..
Although I can't blame them for making the cuts. I liked the box art enough to watch a 98 minute film. I didn't like it enough to watch a 108 minute one. For some reason, that 10 minutes makes a big difference. But even with the cuts...
I would not recommend this film.
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