Rating summary
Movie | | 4.0 |
Video | | 4.0 |
Audio | | 4.5 |
Extras | | 3.5 |
Overall | | 4.0 |
Here Comes the Devil Blu-ray Movie Review
Beware the Children
Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 18, 2014
Spanish writer/director Adrián García Bogliano makes genre films that are long on style and
short on plot. Here Comes the Devil has a simple story, but Bogliano tells it in such an
elaborately roundabout way that, depending on your cinematic taste, it will either try your
patience or make your skin crawl (or maybe both). Bogliano lists many films as inspiration but
two are indicative of his approach: Richard Stanley's 1990 cult classic Hardware and Nicholas
Roeg's stylish 1973 tale of fate and clairvoyance, Don't Look
Now. As different as those films
might appear on the surface, they share common elements that resurface in Bogliano's work: an
unusually frank sexuality, a foreboding atmosphere so thick you can cut it with a knife and the
sense of an alien presence invading everyday existence. But where Stanley lets you know who
the enemy is, Roeg leaves you guessing, even at the end. So, too, does Bogliano, despite the lurid
title. Maybe it's the devil. Maybe it's something else.
Here Comes the Devil had its international premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September
2012, followed immediately by its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, which is co-sponsored by the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Other
films at Fantastic Fest that year included
Looper, American Mary, Antiviral and Holy Motors
. Among horror films, Bogliano's film won
Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Magnet Releasing, a division of Magnolia
Pictures, released it in theaters in December 2013 and is now issuing it on Blu-ray.
Bogliano has said that he enjoys films that drop the viewer in the middle of events with no
explanation, as if the projectionist had skipped the first reel. He opens
Here Comes the Devil
with an explicit love scene between two women, Sandra and Abril (Jessica Iris and Dana Dorel).
Gradually, it becomes clear that this is the first lesbian encounter for one of them. (Sexual
awakening is a major theme in the film.) After the neophyte gets up to leave, the sequence takes
several sharp turns. Before it comes to an end, Bogliano has shown us a distinctively rocky hill
formation to which the film returns repeatedly.
After this prologue, the film focuses on a family of four who spend a day's recreation in the
country outside Tijuana, Mexico. Time has passed since the events of the prologue, although we
don't know how much. During the course of the afternoon, the two children, Sara and Adolfo
(Michele Garcia and Alan Martinez), go off on their own to explore the hills first seen in the
prologue. The parents, Sol and Felix (Laura Caro and Francisco Barreiro), take advantage of the
children's absence for an all-too-rare opportunity to make love. The scene has an intimacy and
frankness that is intended to be unsettling, especially given events with Sara earlier in the day.
(Here again, sexual awakening is an important theme.)
When the children do not return, Sol and Felix are frantic. The police are called to search, and the
parents check into a motel for the night, where their guilt erupts in mutual recrimination. But the
next morning, Sgt. Flores (Giancarlo Ruiz) brings Sara and Adolfo to the motel in his cruiser,
having found them wandering on the road with little memory of the evening. The family returns
home, exhausted and relieved.
But the children are not the same. They behave differently at home and at school. A psychiatrist
(Michele Estrada) believes they may have experienced something traumatic, maybe even a sexual
assault. The parents suspect an abduction by an eccentric local named Lucio (David Arturo
Cabezud), whose van was spotted by Felix when he was searching for the children. Because the
police have no solid evidence, Sol and Felix, who are desperate for some sort of closure, take
matters into their own hands. Even so, Sol become increasingly convinced that other forces are at
work. No loner with a pickup can explain the nightly occurrences of flickering lights, odd noises
and strange visitations that continue to afflict their home. With her husband unwilling to listen to
her concerns, Sol begins her own investigation and learns the local lore of the hills where the
children disappeared. Eventually she explores those hills for herself.
Bogliano has been criticized for his many stylistic tricks: the sudden zooms, the abrupt cuts, the
deliberately bombastic and overheated soundtrack designed to keep the viewer on edge. And
some of the actions taken by these supposedly ordinary middle class parents are so surprising in
their extremity that they seem to come from nowhere—but then again, these are people acting
under enormous strain. What Bogliano is really doing, though, is reinventing familiar material by
refracting it through his own temperament and technique. In essence, his plot is a demonic
variation of
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but the best filmed versions of that story created fear
by showing a realistic, everyday surface that was being subverted from within.
Bogliano has no interest in realism; as he says in his feature commentary, if one wants realism,
then go to the bathroom. His technique as a filmmaker is to seduce the viewer into a thoroughly
artificial world that is uncomfortable but irresistible (which is no doubt why scenes of explicit
sex play such a key role in
Here Comes the Devil). If Bogliano hasn't yet achieved the mastery of
some of the filmmakers he most admires, he is well ahead of the curve—and he'll only get better.
Here Comes the Devil Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
Here Comes the Devil was shot with a Red camera by Bogliano's regular cinematographer,
Ernesto Herrera, and finished in post-production on a digital intermediate. Magnolia Home
Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was presumably sourced from digital files. The
image is sharp, clean and detailed, except for scenes that have been deliberately softened in the
original capture or on the DI (e.g., the opening love scene). The color palette runs the gamut from
the subdued, darkened interior of the opening scene to the hot sandy outdoor scenes that
Bogliano intended as a deliberate homage to Hardware
. Black levels are appropriately set, as is
the contrast that is essential to making out crucial details in certain key cave interiors. No
digital processing appears to have been applied, other than what was necessary to
finalize the Red footage for output to film, DCP and home video.
The average bitrate of 19.99 Mbps is somewhat low for Magnolia, but Red footage compresses
well. In any case, no artifacts were observed.
Here Comes the Devil Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The film's 5.1 mix is available in a choice of original Spanish or English dub, both offered in
lossless DTS-HD MA. A choice of English, English SDH and English narrative subtitles is
available.
Bogliano confirms in his commentary that the loudness of the audio mix is intentional, and he
isn't kidding. Viewers will want to consider reducing their usual listening volume by several db.
It's not just the sound effects that are pumped up—banging on doors, walls and ceilings;
screaming and yelling, both human and otherworldly; even a few earthquakes—but also the
musical score by Julio Pillado, which has a strong heavy-metal element. The dynamic range is
powerful, and the bass extension is unusually deep. If your system has a sub with any power, be
prepared to feel several key moments.
The surrounds are used effectively to expand the listening space for elements like passing traffic,
the chirping of crickets and a few elements that can only be described as demonic.
Here Comes the Devil Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- Commentary with Director Adrián García Bogliano: In heavily accented English, the
writer/director provides a detailed account (at times one might almost call it a "defense")
of his stylistic choices, along with multiple references to his influences, including the
aforementioned Hardware and Don't Look Now, other films by Nicholas Roeg, The
Omen and various European horror films of lesser renown. Bogliano is somewhat less
forthcoming when it comes to exploring his film's underlying themes, particularly the
connections between its demonic villain and the explicit sexual content. He does point
out some interesting visual and auditory parallels between the opening sequence and later
events that will probably go right past most viewers (they certainly went by me), but he
expressly declines to explain them. Either there's a lot more than meets the eye in Here
Comes the Devil—or a lot less.
- Extended Nightmare Scene (1080p; 2.40:1; 1:32): This is a longer version of a
nightmare experienced by one of the film's characters.
- Behind the Scenes Comparisons (1080p; 1.78:1; 6:26): This extra shows specific shots
being filmed, with the final version, as seen in the finished film, inset in a small window.
- Rehearsals (1080i; 1.78:1; 9:34): Raw rehearsal footage of key scenes, including
significant improvisation.
- Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery (1080p; various; 7:23): Approximately 100 photos,
which play as a slideshow.
- AXS TV: A Look at Here Comes the Devil (1080i; 2.40:1; 2:55): This is the standard
AXS TV promo. Its inclusion here is particularly valuable, because it includes the only
interviews with Caro and Barreiro among the extras.
- Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment: The disc includes trailers for The Last Days
on Mars, Beyond Outrage,
How I Live Now and Big Bad Wolves, as well as a promo for
AXS TV. These also play at startup, where they can be skipped with the chapter forward
button.
- BD-Live: As of this writing, attempting to access BD-Live gave the message "Check
back later for updates".
Here Comes the Devil Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
I find most horror efforts dully formulaic, which is probably why I enjoyed Bogliano's film,
which benefits immeasurably from fully committed performances by Caro and Barreiro as the
distraught parents struggling to contend, first, with a sense of guilt, and then with a situation that
defies comprehension. But Bogliano's approach isn't for everyone; so I recommend that
interested parties either rent or try Here Comes the Devil on VOD before purchasing. The Blu-ray
should certainly satisfy on a technical level, and the extras are worthwhile.