Oct
30
2018
0

31 Days of Horror 2018: Day 30- Along Came The Devil

It’s Halloween Eve, ghosts and ghouls, and for Day 30 of our macabre movie march we have the demonic possession thriller Along Came The Devil. Ashley (played as a young girl by Lia McHugh and then as a teenager by Sydney Sweeney) and her sister Jordan (Kyla Deaver) suffer at the hands of an abusive father after their mother, Sarah (Heather DeVan), has apparently died. Years later, Ashley goes to live with her aunt Tanya (Jessica Barth). She reconnects with an old friend, Hannah (Madison Lintz), and begins to have visions of her mother. The visions are followed up by the appearance of a demon, which apparently had also menaced her mother. 5/10 stars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jtiKRW7DyE

Along Came The Devil seems to show promise in spots, but never pulls it all together. The “based on true events” tag on exorcism/demonic possession movies has become a cliche, and this film seems to revels in numerous tropes, including the standard horned visage with glowing eyes, swarms of flies, and the ever popular deep “demon voice” we’ve heard in far too many other movies. There are a couple of minor jump scares and some okay effects. The biggest problem is the character continuity, with characters like the abusive father and the older sister Jordan vanishing after the film’s opening, with no real explanation of why Ashley went to stay with her aunt.The acting is competent at best, and the film ends abruptly where it seems things could get interesting. Director Jason DeVan (Mindless) seems like he tried to want to do something new with the horror sub-genre, but ended up giving us something we’ve seen in other, far better films. Now available on Blu-ray/DVD.