Devil's Revenge Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.0

Devil's Revenge Blu-ray Movie Review

One assumes the title refers to the film.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 22, 2019

There are so many questions that accrue around Devil’s Revenge that it’s almost hard to know where to begin, but let’s just start with the trailer, a promo piece which prominently features the line “from the writer of Star Trek: The Next Generation”. Aside from the perhaps weird use of that definite article (didn’t Star Trek: The Next Generation have several writers over the course of its long run?), there’s this little factoid: while Devil’s Revenge has a kind of weird "TV series-esque" credits sequence which offers on screen looks at the stars as their names appear, and a "screenplay by Maurice Hurley" credit is offered, Hurley's name is oddly missing from the official listing on the back cover, and his writing credit is nowhere to be found on either this film's listing or Hurley's listing on IMDb, which makes me wonder if perhaps there's some kind of Writers Guild arbitration going on (Hurley did write several episodes of TNG, just to affirm that.) Moving on, there’s the obviously Star Trek-centric casting in the film which aggregates William Shatner from the classic Star Trek: The Original Series (and film follow ups, of course) and Jeri Ryan from the Star Trek: Voyager enterprise (sorry, couldn’t resist), though Hurley (or whoever) decided to keep these two Star Trek alumni almost completely apart from each other in the film. A whole host of other quandaries may occur to various viewers as they wend their way through this pretty lo-fi effort which seeks to document a generations long curse afflicting a family, but the absolute weirdest question which occurred to me personally was: what the [insert expletive here] is that thing lying on the landing of the home where Susan (Jeri Ryan) and John* (Jason Brooks) live? (See screenshot 14 for a glimpse of what I’m talking about.) I kind of half expected “it” (whatever it is) to suddenly come alive and attack Susan early in the film, but, alas, it doesn’t, meaning Susan (and the viewer) survive to engage in other battles, for better or worse.

*Hilariously (at least for those who enjoy this kind of unintended and frankly kind of inexplicable production snafu), the film's closing credits list the character's name as "Sergio".

The plot, such as it is, involves spelunker (or, perhaps more appropriately, archaelogist) John, who goes after some kind of possessed relic located in the bowels of a cave which has a kind of shrine in it. His first attempt doesn't exactly go well, leading to not just the death of a co-worker, but seemingly John's expiration in an emergency room shortly thereafter. A pretty miraculous recovery aided and abetted by lots of hallucinations (or are they?) of demonic beings may be the adroit viewer's first clue that things are heading toward a supposedly mind blowing twist at the end of the tale, which my hunch is most folks are going to see coming from an EKG reading a mile long and/or away.

Once John is back among the living (or is he?), he has to deal with his totally grumpy dad (William Shatner, chewing the scenery as only he can), who seems to disparage his son for not taking care of finding and destroying the relic, which in turn will free the family of a curse which has haunted them for generations. Now some of you sons out there may be asking, as I did, why John doesn't respond with a hearty, "Well, if you had taken care of business, Dad, maybe I wouldn't have had to!", but that kind of realistic sentiment is left by the wayside, as John, now convinced he has to go back and finish the job he started, of course recruits his wife and children, because, you know, possessed relic, bowels of cave, and demon shrine. This film often plays like a decidedly low rent version of Ad Astra, with a father and son finally reaching an understanding, albeit ostensibly at death's door (or is it?).

Devil's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Devil's Revenge is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual and Cleopatra Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.78:1. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the IMDb doesn't list any technical information for the shoot, and probably just as unsurprisingly, I haven't been able to dig anything else up on the internet. This is a somewhat variable looking presentation that has some noticeable banding in some of the cave scenes, especially when things like "helmet lights" are aimed directly at the camera. Outside, especially in the (relatively few) bright and sunny scenes, things pop rather well, with good detail levels and a nicely suffused palette. A lot of the film features very quick cutting combined with "jiggly cam", both of which tend to give at least the appearance of softness. Some of the practical effects, including the "rubber suit" prosthetics for various demonic types, can look pretty good, all things considered, while some of the CGI definitely leaves something to be desired.

Devil's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This is another Blu-ray release from Cleopatra which only offers audiophiles lossy Dolby mixes, in either 5.1 or 2.0 (the disc has been authored without a popup menu, and trying to toggle audio with the audio button on my remote didn't work, so that means you need to exit to the main menu to switch tracks). The surround track has some good directionality and it recreates the echo laden reverberent space of the cave location rather well. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly.

Devil's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Slideshow (1080i; 4:20)


• Trailer (1080i; 1:58) has some pretty serious mix issues, with dialogue hard to hear under a way too hot score.

Additionally, a Soundtrack CD containing Jurgen Engler's kind of trippy score is included.

Devil's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Several years ago, the Jewish Federation of Oregon presented William Shatner as their special guest at their annual gala, and my wife and I excitedly attended just for the chance to hear him speak. Shatner was a little discombobulated, frankly, but he spoke movingly of Leonard Nimoy and also got into his long love of horses. The fact that this film offers some scenes of Shatner with some equines may offer a clue as to why he agreed to this weird outing in the first place, but Devil's Revenge is pretty much a waste of Shatner's talents, and it certainly doesn't do any favors for the rest of its cast. That "thing" on the landing I mention above looks curiously like someone huddled in a fetal position, to which I only semi-jokingly ask, "why should the audience be the only one?" Technical merits are so-so for those considering a purchase.