Ashley (Sydney Sweeney) returns to the hometown where her mother bit the big one and her days and nights were spent living with her abusive ass hat of a father (and his bristling beard). Rekindling a her friendship with her gal pal Hannah (Madison Lintz), Ashley partakes in a sinister seance (aided and abetted by a cell phone app…fuckin’ kids these days, always on fleek and shizz, amirite…) and within a millipube (it’s real…us reviewers know things) has a creep-tacular visitation from Mommy Dearest that leaves her experiencing supernatural shenanigans six (six, six) ways to Sunday! Before long ol’ Ash is in a battle for her very soul, and no one around her is safe from the demons at her door!
Man-o-man, Along Came the Devil is one slick-ass supernatural shocker! Featuring beautiful cinematography by Justin Duval, razor sharp editing by Evan Ahlgren, kinetic directing by Jason DeVan, and a surprisingly effective YA take on the whole possession/seance bag courtesy of screenwriters DeVan, Heather DeVan, and Dylan Matlock…this was a picture that delivered waaaay more horror biz thrills and spills than your’s cruelly expected! Along with the ghastly goods provided by the aforementioned ghoulish gang, there is also skilled acting on display. Sweeney and Lintz make a believable duo of fast friends who easily transition from the typical teen trials to folks way over their heads in paranormal activity and the former makes an engaging lead that gets to bounce from scared victim to possessed hellcat with ease! Also on display are some rad-ass demon and ghost make-ups that really bring the preternatural elements to eerie existence!
On the negative side; this flick gets a tad preachy with the Jesus biz, but with a story concerning demonic presence this is to be expected, but I know some of you lot are put off by that so I figured I’d pay it mention. At least great performances from Bruce Davison and Matt Dallas as the mentor/student Preacher archetypes make it palatable. And yeah, the third act does become The Exorcist like you won’t believe…again, not sure how this can be avoided, but yeah…it’s there, it’s obvious, but damn, if it doesn’t feature gorgeous visuals and make-up…
To sum it all up; Along Came the Devil is a solid entry in the possessed teenage girl sub-genre of our beloved horror biz; it’s aesthetically impressive, well acted, and features some great make-ups and creature designs. It’s only flaw is it gets derivative, but with all of the above mentioned pluses that is not much of a deterrent for your’s cruelly!
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