It
isn’t just vampires. Once you invite any kind of evil entity into your home, it
will be the devil’s own time getting rid of them. For some reason, demons from
Hell are particularly keen to possess members of Ashley’s family. It could very
well be her turn in Jason DeVan’s Along
Came the Devil (trailer
here),
which opens today in Los Angeles.
Dad
was abusive and mom just up and disappeared. Now that her older sister Jordan
is off at college, Ashley has returned her original hometown to live with Aunt
Tanya Winbourne. Her old pal Hannah and the crushy lug who used to have a thing
for her want to pick up where they left off. However, Ashley will quickly scare
away everyone but Hannah with her crazy behavior. Alas, Hannah is fascinated with
the occult, but knows just enough to put Ashley in dire jeopardy.
Aunt
Tanya is skeptical of the supernatural, but Reverend Michael has seen his share
of demonic horrors. In fact, his spirit is hanging by a thread, which is why
young and dynamic Pastor John handles most of the church’s day-to-day services.
Of course, when the infernal chips are down, you want a seasoned demon-hunter
like Rev. Michael performing the exorcism rituals.
Along is a ultra-low-budget
film that has its merits (and probably had even greater potential), but the execution
is uneven. Sadly, there are several conspicuously missing scenes. The film
starts with title cards to explain Ashley’s messy family history and references
an incident in her class that we never see. We would guess the production had
permission to film exteriors at the high school, but not interiors, so they
just punted Ashley’s second freak-out scene.
Still,
there are some surprisingly compelling supporting turns, particularly TV
veteran Madison Lintz (Walking Dead,
Bosch), who shows big-screen-worthy presence and energy as Hannah. Bruce
Davison is also terrific—looking like the personification of world-weariness as
Rev. Michael.
