Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Devil Story Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf November 2, 2021

1985’s “Devil Story” entered production with a best of intentions, but director Bernard Launois was quickly overwhelmed by the demands of low- budget filmmaking. His attempt at something resembling a ghost story evolved (or stumbled) into an offering of dream logic, with the finished movie heading everywhere at once, becoming the French equivalent of an Ed Wood movie, but with a higher concentration on weirdness. “Devil Story” is bizarre work, with Launois almost proud of his nonsensical ways, delivering a nutso celebration of genre events, repetition, and gore, laboring to find some way to make audiences submit to his half-baked tale of death and animal agitation. And there’s a mummy in here for some reason.

Storytelling is elusive in the feature, which kinda-sorta follows a young woman (Veronique Renaud) as she travels across the French countryside in a car with Florida license plates (don’t ask me), exploring the wilderness while her husband deals with automobile trouble. The character is somehow connected to an incessantly meowing cat who’s roaming the area, which is also populated with an incessantly neighing horse, which causes the stranger to incessantly scream. I suspect the sound design provided here is some sort of sick game from Launois, who’s trying to add subtle torture tactics to the picture. The couple eventually ends up at a mansion for the night, with the homeowners randomly sharing a story about local bandits causing a shipwreck ages ago, with the boat containing stolen treasures from Egypt.

Sounds passably interesting? Well, “Devil Story” actually opens on the exploits of a physically deformed man wearing a Nazi uniform running around killing campers, with Launois lingering on shots of spurting blood. This crazed murderer is the son of a local woman who’s gone crazy after the death of her daughter, with the deceased resurrected by a recently unearthed mummy who’s been living behind a sarcophagus lid, not the whole container. And there’s the estate owner, who spends most of his screentime trying to shoot the neighing horse, blasting everywhere but at the unmissable target.

Makes sense? Of course it doesn’t, and that’s the point of “Devil Story,” with Launois scrambling to make something, anything, with the materials in front of him. It’s all a blur of shots and moments that appear out of nowhere at times, with the female character sliding though a series of surreal adventures with animals and predators. She’s even pursued by the mother and grotesque son, with the equinox fueling some sort of mass insanity event. Launois gives up on making sense of it all fairly early in “Devil Time,” but he doesn’t cease adding additional elements of agitation, including a synth score that’s presented randomly, working a tight music loop to support goofy acts of murder.

Devil Story Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation is sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative. "Devil Story" definitely wasn't made with care, but it looks as good as possible here, with Vinegar Syndrome giving the cult film an excellent refreshing for a new generation of admirers. Detail reaches as far as possible, capturing makeup textures and gory events, including goopy guts and spurting wounds. Skin particulars are compelling, along with exterior tours, which provide naturalistic and architecture highlights. Colors are nicely refreshed, with deep red blood and bright costuming, including yellow rain gear. Greenery is exact. Grain is heavy but film-like. Delineation is satisfactory. Source is in good condition, with some light scratches and debris.

Devil Story Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 1.0 DTS-HD MA mix is offered in French and English, with the latter providing a clearer listening experience. There's not much to this track besides tinny scoring selections and sound effects, which are repeated to a point of insanity. Dialogue exchanges are acceptable.

Devil Story Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Select Scenes Commentary (24:38) features director Bernard Launois.

• "Once Upon a Time…'Devil Story'" (34:12, SD) explores the creation of the picture, featuring interviews with actress Veronique Renaud and director Bernard Launois, along with several admirers (including Frank Henenlotter), film programmers, and journalists. Searching for the story behind the "worst film ever made," the documentarians seek out Renaud, who shares his career ambitions in 1985, looking to become a working actress. With "Devil Story" her first movie, excitement was immediate, but once she saw the finished feature, Renaud was mortified, hoping the picture would just go away. Launois is a bit more defiant, discussing the French film industry and the "losers" who made up his crew, eventually coming up short during principal photography, requiring enormous amounts of padding to fill a sellable run time. The cult legacy of the endeavor is explored, with Renaud still greatly upset about the experience while revisiting Normandy locations 25 years later.

• "Launois Story" (28:12, HD) is a 2018 interview with the "Devil Story" director, who offers biographical details and recalls his early adventures in filmmaking. Tales from the "Devil Story" shoot are offered as well.

• French T.V. Coverage (3:13, SD) is a local news report on the making of "Devil Story," including interviews with director Bernard Launois, who makes it clear he's trying to top American horror movies with this endeavor. Some BTS footage is quite interesting.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (3:49, HD) is included.

Devil Story Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Devil Story" entered production as a serious endeavor, but many things went wrong for Launois, transforming this effort into a prime Bad Movie Night selection. It's sincere in its oddity, but screwball in execution, watching the helmer figure out ways to piece together random imagery, often turning to obvious padding to fill the run time. "Devil Story" isn't a good film by any means, falling apart repeatedly as unexplained events start to stack up, but there's an undeniable level of lovable lunacy involved in the feature, especially with viewers who understand going into a viewing that nothing they're about to see makes sense, has technical skill, or is easy on the ears.