Here Comes the Devil

Married couple Felix (Francisco Barreiro) and Sol (Laura Caro) are on a road trip with their children, teenager Sara (Michele Garcia) and younger brother Adolfo (Alan Martinez), when they decide to pull over at a truck stop for a break; while the kids go off to explore a nearby hill, the father explores his wife's nether regions. Everyone's happy! But when the kids fail to return, the worried couple call the police, checking themselves into a local hotel while they wait for news. Luckily, the kids are found the next morning, but although they seem unharmed, there is something about their behaviour that doesn't seem right Heres Comes The Devil kicks off with two buck naked lesbians grinding their honey-pots together in a intense, sweaty embrace—a scene that has absolutely zero bearing on the plot, making it the epitome of gratuitousness. Having firmly ticked the sex box, the film quickly moves on to some equally gratuitous violence, with one of the aforementioned young women answering a knock on the door only to be met by several swift punches to the fizzog from a machete wielding maniac who, having rendered his victim unconscious, proceeds to chop off her fingers. The second lesbian fights off the attacker, who flees the scene. Neither lesbian is seen of or mentioned again. This sensationalist approach continues throughout the film, with frequent sex and nudity for no good reason, and one grisly moment that is even more brutal than the face-thumping/finger-lopping; it's a good job too, as far as I'm concerned, because without all the bare flesh and nastiness I would have struggled to stay awake, such is the gloomy atmosphere and leaden pacing of this sombre supernatural horror from Mexican director Adrián García Bogliano (some have likened the film to the haunting classic Picnic at Hanging Rock, which I have yet to see, and probably won't for some time now thanks to the comparisons). Bogliano touches upon several interesting themes, including sexual abuse, incest, and revenge, but in the end it all amounts to little more than a trite supernatural thriller told in a manner that is neither fresh nor interesting, with a final revelation that is as old as the hill that features so prominently.

This is a very weird movie. Almost feels like exploitation. And while this is a hard sell, the way it is portrayed and played is really great. There are some holes in the plot and you might wonder about motives and actions of the main characters (especially the mother), but it all fits into the rhythm of the movie and the way it tells the story, no matter how out there it seems. The acting is really good and for a small budget movie this really knows how to set the mood. This is something that some other movies miss out on. If you can dig that, you will also dig the abyss this movie opens from time to time. Ending something like this, is always a fine line. And I think they did a really good job here with that too ...

While out and about, married couple Felix (Francisco Barreiro) and Sol (Laura Caro) and their tween kids Sara (Michele Garcia), who's just had her first period as the film opens, and Adolfo (Alan Martinez) stop at a gas station. The kids wander off up a hill near some caves and don't show up again until the following day. They're not quite the same when they do. Now withdrawn, cold, creepy and emotionless, the children begin to retreat into their own world, form a rather unhealthy (and possibly incestuous) attachment to one another and ditch school to make return trips to the cave. A visit to a shrink reveals that the two appear to have suffered from some kind of vague "traumatic sexual experience," which leads Sol on a quest to find out what really happened the night they vanished. Ahí va el diablo ("Here Comes the Devil") is neither terrible nor great. I was fairly engrossed in the plot - at least for awhile - but the direction (particularly excessive zoom shots) and editing annoyed me at times and the whole film has this really murky, ugly look to it. Other moments, like a sudden burst of metal music in the car when the kids are spazzing out, made me laugh out loud and I don't think that was the intended effect. I did like the loose nature of the plot and always appreciate it when a filmmaker respects our intelligence enough to allow us to fill in the blanks ourselves, which seems to be what the true intent was. However, it also doesn't capture the same haunting quality of several movies it clearly takes inspiration from like PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK and THE VANISHING. So while I was reasonably entertained, I was never once scared or even mildly creeped out by what goes down here, and I think that's what ultimately disappointed me. Like many other modern genre films, it's more unpleasant and dreary than anything else. For what it's worth, there's are lot of nudity (including an opening girl-girl number that has nothing to do with the plot) and a few gory moments (including a nasty bit where the parents violently lash out at the neighborhood weirdo / pervert / possible child molester). The score (aside from that awful metal song) is also pretty good.

this movie wont be for everyone. I'm sure im not the only one who has a hard time with sexual horror. There is a lot of uncomfortable sexual scenes in this movie that will make it hard for some people to watch. They even get pretty damn close to crossing the line when it comes to the children yet thankfully they showed some restraint. For such a smutty type movie it did however feel intelligent. The plot was gripping and very intense and had me wondering until the end when it concludes very nicely. I liked the ending a lot and thought it wrapped things up nicely. It also left room for a sequel which would be interesting because of the unique antagonist in this movie. There isn't a lot of gore but when it shows up it was very unnerving and brutal. Here Comes The Devil is a movie that is too raw for a mainstream audience but is smart enough that it will probably find cult appreciation.

Here Comes the Devil, despite an unwieldy title, is appropriately creepy and tense, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in the plight of a couple that temporarily loses its two children while visiting Tijuana - only to find that the kids are now exhibiting some peculiar behavior. Felix (Francisco Barreiro) and Sol (Laura Caro), after a day of sightseeing, allow their kids Adolfo and Sara to hike up a hill and do some exploring while their weary parents wait in a gas-station parking lot. The parents fall asleep, and when they awake it's almost dark with no sign of the kids. The police are called, but because of the lack of light the search is put off until the morning. Felix and Sol blame each other and themselves and argue, suffering a sleepless night. The next morning, though, good news: Adolfo and Sara have been found. They're returned to their parents, but it soon becomes clear that the children have changed. They're largely uncommunicative with their parents but have seemingly formed a stronger bond with each other. Around this time, Sol discovers some oddities about her daughter's entry into puberty and becomes quite suspicious. There's a lot of atmosphere here and not an overwhelming amount of dialog (it's in Spanish, with subtitles), both of which I consider pluses. What's up with the kids? Is someone or something controlling them? Probably. Are they in danger? Very likely. Sol becomes more frantic with each revelation, and when she discovers someone who may have been on the hill with the children - she suspects molestation - she and Felix take matters into their own hands to resolve the issue. But do they have the right guy? Caro, our protagonist, is aces high, and Barreiro is a fine match as the husband who just wants to put all of this madness behind them and be thankful his innocent children are back safe. Something's sure amiss with Adolfo and Sara, but each step down the winding rabbit hole leads further into utter madness. It's probably more serious than even molestation. Here Comes the Devil is just straight up frightening. PS: I've seen this film compared favorably with Peter Weir's 1975 classic Picnic at Hanging Rock, and I have to agree.

Felix (played by Francisco Barreiro) and Sol (played by Laura Caro) are on a family outing when they make a detour to a truck stop when their daughter, Sara (played by Michele Garcia), gets her first period. When the kids want to make a fun trek up a nearby hill, the parents spend some much needed alone time in the car and all is fun and games until the kids fail to make their way back. They are found the next day but it becomes obvious pretty quickly that they have been somehow changed by something sinister. Honestly, this movie was just… a bit too much at once for me. I had a feeling it wouldn't sit well with me when it literally opened with a lesbian sex scene — of course nothing to do with the fact that it was lesbians and everything to do with the fact that I am not a fan of sex just for sex's sake in movies/TV. This scene would prove to be just one of several fairly graphic sex scenes over the course of the 90 minutes I spent trying to sift through the chaos of this movie (there's THREE sex scenes in the first 25 minutes which is excessive to say the least). It was obviously paying homage to 70's psychological horror movies and I think it did that fairly well at times but it just kept missing the mark for me. The entire first scene — arguably what should be drawing viewers in and getting them engaged — relied way more on the lure of sex and naked bodies than anything truly interesting, including good acting. Really, the acting in most of the movie left much to be desired, though considering it was Caro's film debut (she's primarily a Mexican singer- songwriter) I should maybe give her some more credit. It was obviously going for a low-tech look and feel, but I think it could have used some more oomph at some points, like the multiple levitation scenes that should have been scary but honestly just made me laugh. Literally the only scene that really freaked me out was when their babysitter, Sandra (played by Jessica Iris), is describing what happened when she was alone with the kids, and says "the devil stood on my chest" before showing Sol her bruised chest marks in the shape of footprints. I felt like the director, Adrián García Bogliano, just took everything he could think of and threw it against a wall to see what would stick. Satanic possession? Check. Both straight and lesbian sex scenes? Check. Some kind of vague hinting at evil being tied to sexual coming-of-age? Check. Horrifically graphic gore? Check. Let's just toss that ALL in the pot and stir it around. But, really, the lack of focus on any one particular theme left this feeling like a muddled mess.

Parents Felix and Sol take children Sara and Adolfo on a trip. Sara starts her first period, which is a temporary alarm. After visiting a medic, they return to their motel, and the kids want to go exploring again. While waiting, the parents get interested in each other, and the time gets away from them. The sun goes down and the children have not returned from their trek to a steep, rocky hill. The police wisely advise to restart the search in the morning. The next morning, the police return the kids. However, not all is well. Sara draws some disturbing art. Both Sol and Felix get unexplained bruises on their bodies. Sara has an unexplained seizure when she sees a man who was around just before the kids went missing. The parents do a dastardly violent crime at night. The babysitter has an horrific blackout. That is just the beginning of the family's descent. Is the family doomed, or will they find a way back to sanity? -----Scores----- Cinematography: 8/10 Good, but not great. Sound: 7/10 The actors were well-miked, but I was paying more attention to the sub-titles. The music was only mildly helpful for setting mood. Acting: 3/10 Some people were in front of cameras while they hit their marks and said their lines. I would not call any of this good acting, however. There was way too much time spent with the camera on Laura Caro's stone face while someone off camera spoke. Francisco Barreiro was quite unconvincing. Screenplay: 2/10 The film does tell a story, but it is neither interesting nor well told. The SFX and the hallucinations were not convincing at all.

I can honestly say I was really pumped for this movie after viewing the trailer. The trailer, however, makes it look like something it just isn't. Portrayed as a horror title about the devil, but merely comes of as a boring, stretched and far from scary flick. The pace of the movie was just very slow. It felt like I was waiting for some climax that eventually didn't even come. Sure, slow pace can be beneficial for a movie, but there has to be some sort of development, either in the story or characters which is believable. The character played by Laura Caro was so ridiculous in here decision making it was just laughable. She saw things, heard things and even experienced things but never even thought about confronting her kids with them or even talk about them with her husband. I actually never understood why the policeman was in this movie, trying to get information about the couple if they didn't even do anything whit him in the end. Slap on some random nudity and a few gory scenes and you've got this movie. At the end I didn't even care about anything happening to the main characters, they just felt really dull and so did the two children. I was expecting a horror movie, with an interesting story, a scary atmosphere or at least some kinds of scares. Sadly, I was really disappointed. Don't led the trailer or the hype mislead you, it's not worth one and a half hour of your time.

This movie is an amazing steaming pile and an unintentional comedy. Here's the start in a nutshell. Lesbians make out, one of them dies. Then there's like an amazing family scene. The young girl has her period. It begins to pan down. "Please don't show the goddamn period" said my room mate. They do. This is just weird. It's already spelled out, this wasn't particularly necessary. They show it and talk about it repeatedly. Anyway, they're changing in a rest room or something and lo and behold A PEDOPHILE SHOWS UP in the mirror and he spies the prize - sweet stained panties. I think they even did a zoom in on the panties or his face, and at this point everyone in the room laughed. He even looks like a real pedophile. I hope whoever played this part did not get credited. It can only go downhill from here if you did, man-MORE pedophile parts in movies! Then parents let their kids go up a hill without watching them (parents of the year) and they decide the kids are gone so they start performing sexual acts in a service station (parents of the year) and then fall asleep and forget about their kids (parents of the year). Nobody finds their kids. From this point, little to nothing will make sense to you. I think that's intended. The comedy is not. Here's a word about the shots and overall directing: it is so terrible, you will laugh. There is a schlocky B grade movie zoom in effect that happens all the time. This is supposed to make things tense, but it's done so poorly that every time everyone in the room started laughing when these came up. At one point in the movie, the camera zooms on a goddamn rock that is in no way important to the story. Actually, I think this zooming in on rocks happened multiple times. Also, everything is pretty much in focus all the time which makes it look like a daytime soap opera in terms of quality. The angles of shots are generally not dramatic and poorly chosen. Let's get to the lighting: it's bad. Really bad. There's a reason most horror movies take place at night: it's scarier. A valley of rocks shot in bright, harsh sunlight at what looks to be midday is not scary. Not in the slightest. The lighting also accentuates the skin tones of the actors and not in a flattering way - it makes them look terrible like they have acne and also because it's the wrong colour temperature. The daytime soap operas I mentioned before? They have better lighting than this. Early on, there is a scene where the pedophile dude is murdered. There is an incredible amount of blood and gore. My room mate yelled out "MORTAL KOMBAT!" when he had organs removed. It was hilarious. You expect just a throat cut but they go far beyond that -he explodes for over 10 seconds. Unfortunately, this is probably one of the 3 points in the movie that will stand out. My favorite part of the movie is that it's more than implied that said man that dies is not only a filthy pedophile that steals girl's underpants but has a thing in particular for period/blood soaked panties. Later, one of the lead characters questions that "maybe he wasn't such a bad guy" and they shouldn't have killed him for stealing their daughter's panties. Oh, that wacky pedophile- let's pat you on the head, and run along you little scamp and live to be a creep another day! The movie is entirely predictable in places, they'll introduce objects (the gun) or people for obvious intentions and come back to them later. That said, I have absolutely no idea what happened in this movie because the supernatural/horror elements are never explained particularly well. All this is a shame because there's 3 points in the movie where you may think "wow, this part is well directed." There's an incredibly intense flashing scene that I liked (despite me towards the end of it thinking "man, is that too much flicker?"), and a few other scenes but in general you'll just groan at the terrible cinematography throughout.