Director: Christian E Christiansen
Writer: Karl Mueller (Screenplay)
Starring: Alycia Debnam-Carey, Rufus Sewell, Thomas McDonell, Adelaide Kane, Leah Pipes, Jennifer Carpenter
Plot: When young girls start to go missing within a religious cult, older followers fear a long-told prophecy while the younger members suspect abusive elders are killing them off.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Horror Enjoyment
Story: The Devil’s Hand starts in a religious community away from the world still using non-technology based that live in fear of a prophecy involving the teenage girls of the community, Mary (Debnam-Carey) is one of these girls that suffers from fits that her friends are all aware of how to prepare for, but when they start becoming more common she gets horrifying visions too.
To make matters worse the girls start vanishing in the community leaving the girls coming together to figure out what the secret within the community is with local boy Trevor (McDonell) who isn’t part of the community.
Thoughts on The Devil’s Hand
Characters – Mary is one of the six girls born on the sixth day of the sixth month approaching her 18th birthday. When some of the girls start going missing the Mary must learn about the myth about her birth, her mother’s death and just how twisted the cult like life she is living in. Jacob Brown is Mary’s father, he has clashed with leader before and will do anything to keep his daughter safe from all the twisted ideas the community might have to stop the curse from coming true. Trevor is from the normal world, he helps where he can to try and being the Sheriff’s son is more of a convince than anything else.
Performance – Alycia is making a name for herself in the horror genre now with this being the third horror based entertainment material I have seen her in and she does work for this film well. Rufus Sewell is good in the supporting role in this film with Thomas McDonell being good as the by the book love interest. It is the supporting performances that do come off the greatest with Jennifer Carpenter and Colm Meaney both being the best characters.
Story – The story follows a small community that still live by the religious beliefs away from the technology of the world, they come together for the most part but when a legend and myth takes over the community the 5 remaining girls find themselves being targeted by something running riot through the community. The story does follow the traditional ideas of a potential evil or is it just someone evil idea which pushes the extremists away from the strict leader as everything turns into a control of power.
Horror/Thriller – The horror side of this film splits between slasher as the girls seem to get picked off and the idea the devil is coming into our world.
Settings – Most of the film is set in the community which shows us how the beliefs of the people could be tested to new levels when they have never been able to experience the new world.
Special Effects – The effects are only used at times and all well, they are no pointless CGI thrown in here which helps us understand just what is going on.
Scene of the Movie – The vision realization.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Everything just feels like nothing has happened until this moment for nearly 18 years.
Final Thoughts – This does work as a horror thriller, it keeps us on edge, offers us twists and most of all balances the religion to reality beliefs.
Overall: Horror that sure works well through the film.
Rating
