THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR (1983)
This was an early instance of a film being sent straight to video, despite originally being planned as a theatrical release. It's kind of a confusing film. The town of Devonsville is depicted as a backwards settlement full of puritanical menfolk. During a prologue, three consecutive women are torched at the stake. Because, y'know, the menfolk say they are witches. A similar situation comes to fruition in the modern day. We are supposed to see the authority figures of Devonsville - the rector, the sheriff, the omnipresent store clerk - as antagonists as they impute three women of "consorting with the devil." There's only one problem; they are right! As it turns out, the main character, an unassuming teacher, is possessed with witchy powers. She uncorks a baleful curse that causes one guy's head to explode. And it's gnarly, but that's not the point. Are we supposed to empathize with the spooky witches? Because that would make this flick a forward-thinking exercise in folk horror.
I don't know if I'm ready to admit that The Devonsville Terror is a willful, transgressive gem of a movie. Director Ulli Lommel isn't exactly known as a maverick. I won't badger him, as I've only seen one of his other pictures (that would be 1980's The Boogey Man). I have to hand it to him, though. He got his wife to co-write the screenplay and star in the thing. Could it be that The Devonsville Terror, with its assertive feminist streak, anticipated something like The VVitch by a few decades? I don't mean to insinuate that this was the first of its kind. Still, it was pretty unique for 1983. How have I bloviated this much without giving my opinion? I quite liked it. The atmosphere is rich with seasonal markers that practically lower the temperature of the room in which you are viewing the film. Moreover, I'm all about the gonzo gore that christens the climax. It comes from out of nowhere, man. An honorable mention goes out to Donald Pleasence. He gives a fireball performance as a doctor who hypnotizes his patients by screaming at them. Are his scenes worthy of golf clapping? Yes. Yes, they are.
Recommended to fans of Eyes of Fire and burning incense.
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