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The Devil Comes at Night
Canada 2023
produced by Todd Campbell, Shawn Ahmed, Ryan Allen, Nelson Rogers, Adrienne Kress (executive), Scott Leaver (executive) for Bats! Productions
directed by Scott Leaver
starring Ryan Allen, Adrienne Kress, Jason Martorino, Elias Zarou, Shawn Ahmed, Todd Campbell, Dana Fradkin, Dl MacDonald, Jeremiah Sparks (voice), Julie Cohn (voice), Ty Andrassy, Scott Leaver
story by Scott Leaver, screenplay by Adrienne Kress, Ryan Allen, Scott Leaver, music by Simon Passmore
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Originally, Ben (Ryan Allen), a washed-up boxer, came to his recently
deceased father's house only to find dad's safe and clear out the money,
which is legally Ben's anyway. However, he runs into neighbours Ted (Todd
Campbell) and Lisa (Dana Fradkin), who try their hardest to invite Ben
over to theirs for drinks, despite Ben being a recovering alcoholic, and
who get mad when he refuses, and it becomes clear that this is a more
difficult job than he might have thought. Later local handiman Mason
(Jason Martorino) shows up and insists on putting a scarecrow in the
garden since Ben's father has paid him to do so, and despite Ben's
protestations. And then Ben stumbles upon Amy (Adrienne Kress), a friend
of his father's who apparently has been hiding out in the house, and she
claims since Ben's dad's death the locals have all gone crazy. And soon
enough her claims are confirmed when Mason, Ted and Lisa all try to lure
Ben out of the house and attack him - but weirdly enough are unable to
actually enter the house. Eventually, Ben and Amy find Ben's dad's safe,
and in it plenty of information to what's really going on in town:
Apparently, Mason is the leader of a cannibal cult, and Mason believes
that eating Ben, whose father and grandfather have both been priests, will
give him unlimited power. But he and his minions can't enter Ben's
father's home as the house has been built on the foundation of a burnt
down church and thus on consecrated ground. Thing is, while they can't
come in that also means that Ben and Amy are trapped inside - and Mason
and company have means of luring them out, like having taken Ben's best
friend (Elias Zarou) hostage ... Nice horror thriller of the
evil cult variety, and one that works particularly well as it doesn't give
its game away too soon, instead leaves the audience guessing just like the
film's protagonist, only slowly revealing its backstory while also giving
out many false leads to lead one astray, all the while going strong on
suspense, with well-placed explosions of violence. And the finale, and the
idea behind it, sure pack a punch. And an effective directorial effort and
a solid small ensemble cast help making this pretty cool genre
entertainment.
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