Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 3, 2017

The battle between good and evil has always informed many (but not all) major religions, and most westerners are of course familiar with the supposed duel between God and Satan. Names for the devil are numerous, as any lover of demonically themed horror films can tell you, but one of the most interesting is Lucifer, the moniker the horned deity has in Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival. As etymologists will probably already know, Lucifer’s Hebrew antecedent is an unusual word that actually only crops up once in the Hebrew bible (in Isaiah), where later Latin scholars translated it as “lucifer”, which can mean either morning star (as a noun) or light bringer (as an adjective). This tends to link the word, however tangentially, to other creatures from myth and legend like Prometheus, the “light bringer” to Mankind who stole that heavenly fire from Mount Olympus (and, like Satan or the Devil or Lucifer), was soundly punished for that peccadillo. Lucifer (Terrance Zdunich) is definitely up to no good in Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival, but instead of trying to steal something from heaven, he’s actually attempting to infiltrate the divine realm by shipping denizens of hell there, leading God (Paul Sorvino) to fume and vow revenge. As I referenced (perhaps tangentially) in my The Devil's Carnival Blu-ray review, this nascent franchise’s metaphysics tend to be a bit muddled, foundational concepts which are further obscured by some odd narrative choices and a song score which I doubt few are going to be humming after the film ends. As with The Devil’s Carnival, Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival is strong in the visual aesthetic department, and it has to be admitted it’s at least marginally easier to follow than its predecessor, but, perhaps like some religions themselves, this will be an acquired taste for many.

While the skirmishes between Lucifer and God are more or less on the same level as they were in The Devil’s Carnival, there are some elements in this follow up which are, if not completely new, at least further developed in the sequel. In a no doubt intentional shift of focus, while hell’s carny atmosphere is still more or less the same as it was in the previous film, heaven is now detailed to be something akin to a 1930s movie studio, with “applicants” trying to learn their “lines” (so to speak), and with some nubile young potential starlets hoping for their divinely inspired big break. This is already a somewhat tenuous metaphor, since God, in Sorvino’s portrayal, comes of as less of a studio honcho and more of an Old Testament martinet (which I guess some could argue is like a studio honcho).

The “plot” to pack heaven with folks who really, truly should be spending eternity in a somewhat lower environment is kind of silly on its face, and isn’t helped by the film’s kind of nonchalant attitude about supposed divine omnipotence. In fact, in this iteration, God seems like an apopleptic parent unable to control his unruly offspring, which is fine in and of itself, but it also tends to put the lie to the whole “studio system” that applicants are depicted as being all too eager to get into.

Kind of interestingly (at least for those who like their metaphysics straight, no chaser), there’s really no JC character here (though the film’s cheeky casting including Ted Neeley, probably best known as a certain Jesus Christ Superstar), and so instead God’s right hand man is the opaquely named Agent (Adam Pascal) who, frankly kind of like Jesus in some stories, does invade hell on God’s command, ostensibly to stop the nonsense of the residents of hell being transported to heaven. The film’s way over convoluted plot involves June (Emilie Autumn), Ms. Merrywood (Briana Evigan) and what seems to be a time travel element (despite this film’s longer running time, it still tends to wallow in obscure narrative displays as much as its progenitor).

As such, there are a number of plot points which frankly escaped me, including a late revelation that a kind of ghostly figure that Lucifer is consulting turns out to be another character. Also curiously, there’s some kind of weird homophobic content introduced that some may find questionable, if not downright objectionable (even if it fits into some fundamentalist interpretations of scripture). The film kind of lurches to and fro, finding energy from director Darren Lynn Bousman’s perpiatetic camera and a nicely realized production design.

Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cleopatra with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa as having been utilized, as with The Devil's Carnival, and virtually everything I said about the video presentation of that film in my The Devil's Carnival Blu-ray review holds true here as well. Once again reds and yellows predominate in the hellish scenes, while heaven is cast alternately in kind of pea green tones (especially in some scenes featuring God), but with more of a gauzy and at times pretty soft looking approach that I assume is meant to mimic old movies. The film recurrently offers glowing light sources in the frame which tend to feature slightly blooming whites, with the resultant halos sometimes eradicating fine detail. Close-ups still offer really excellent fine detail most of the time, highlighting the extraordinary makeup on Zdunich or "simpler" elements like the glitzy costumes some of the heavenly singers wear. There's little to none of the banding issues that I mentioned in the review of the first film.

Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that is very much in keeping with some of what I mentioned in the above linked review of this film's progenitor. This film's score has arguably a bit less of the massed low end, and so lyrics (such as they are) are more easily discernable, and the musical sequences typically provide excellent surround activity. Immersion is also accomplished courtesy of the cacophonous carny atmosphere in hell and even some of the crowd scenes in heaven. Fidelity is fine throughout, rendering dialogue, score and effects cleanly and clearly with no problems whatsoever.

Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As can be seen in screenshot 20, Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival follows in the footsteps of The Devil's Carnival by offering some pretty cheeky menu titles. Ankle This Way plays the film. The other choices are:

• Get a Wiggle On is a fancy title for scene selections.


• Behind the Velvet Rope contains the following submenus:

  Divine Documentaries

  Only By Design: The Making of Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival (1080p; 1:10:45) is another engaging making of piece very much in line with the one found on, including some fun interviews and good behind the scenes footage.

  All Aboard! Hitting the Road with Allieluia! The Devil's Carnival (1080p; 31:36) documents another road trip by the troupe.

  Hitting on all Sevens: The Music of Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival (1080p; 31:53) focuses on the film's score.

  Bumping Gums offers two commentary tracks:

  Audio Commentary with Director Darren Lynn Bousman, Composer Saar Hendelman and Writer/Actor Terrance Zdunich

  Audio Commentary with Actors Emilie Autumn, Marc Senter and Lyndon Smith

  Pious Previews:

  Theatrical Trailer (720p; 2:32)

  American Murder Song (1080p; 1:47)

  The Librarian Web Teaser (720p; 9:07)

  Blessed Bonuses:

  Shovel and Bone (Extended Version) (1080p; 4:23)

  Heaven vs. Hell PSAs (1080p; 22:05)

Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival is marginally less confusing than The Devil's Carnival, but in my estimation it definitely could have used some clarification on some key plot points. Metaphysics may not be screenwriter Terrance Zdunich's strong suit, but this film has the same unique and quite winning visual aesthetic that the first film did, and it once again features some nice performances, even if the song score is not exactly a gaggle of chart topping tunes. If you're a fan of the first film, my hunch is you'll probably actually enjoy this one even more, and for folks like you, technical merits are generally strong.