By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Starring Zelda Adams, Toby Poser and John Adams
Written and directed by Zelda Adams, John Adams and Toby Poser
Wonder Wheel Productions
The Adams Family, consisting of father John, mother Toby Poser and daughters Zelda and Lulu, have become darlings of the Fantasia International Film Festival, and it’s not hard to see why. Their films, particularly the new WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS (a world premiere at this year’s Fantasia), fully embody the independent spirit, finding new ways to approach genre with a personal, handcrafted touch. This is particularly the case with DEVIL, a period piece that feels fully authentic on the moviemakers’ limited means, even as it incorporates deliberately anachronistic touches like a carnival performer with modern facial tattoos and piercings.
This character, known as Rocky (played by Razor de Rockefeller) is one of the denizens of a ramshackle traveling circus eking out a hardscrabble existence during the Depression Era. From the beginning, WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS is all about showmanship, opening with a prologue in which a legless man takes the stage in front of a packed audience to deliver a lengthy (original) poem about Abaddon that ends with the titular phrase, and establishes both the movie’s narrative and thematic concerns. One of the carnival’s most popular attractions has made a deal with Old Scratch, or at least come into possession of one of his organs: Mr. Tipps (Sam Rodd) employs a satanic heart for his act, in which he cuts off his own fingers. It is the responsibility of teenager Eve Axon (Zelda Adams), an accomplished seamstress, to sew them back on after each “performance.”
Eve, who doesn’t otherwise speak, sings beatific hymns while dressed as an angel, but her behavior as the film gets into the meat of its story is anything but. Her parents, Seven (John Adams) and Maggie (Poser), have both suffered trauma–Seven during WWI, as seen in graphic flashbacks–and deal with it in different ways. Maggie commits violent acts that Eve captures on an old camera, eventually becoming more directly involved in the bloodshed, while Seven uses a blindfold to shield himself from the brutality. (Lulu has a small but impactful role as “Axe Girl.”) It’s a compelling and intriguing variation on the family-that-slays-together theme, and the Adamses’ natural chemistry translates on screen as a deep bond between the Axons, which keeps us involved and willing to follow them anywhere–including outside the carnival, where they get up to some of their most heinous crimes.
In all of the environments, there’s a sense of authenticity in the sparing use of sets, locations and props by the Adamses, who literally shot a good portion of the movie in their own backyard. While maintaining that verisimilitude, they also evoke a heightened, off-kilter atmosphere that gives WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS a different feeling from their previous, more grounded HELLBENDER. (One thing the two do have in common is some aggressive rock scoring by family band H6LLB6END6R that, while certainly not period-appropriate, does fit the emotions it accompanies.) Serving as directors of photography, John and Zelda (who won a Jury Award at Fantasia for their cinematography) start with a color-drained look that befits the bleak milieu and further leach the hues from the images as the film goes on, to the point of sepia and sometimes black and white. One key collaborator from outside the family is special effects creator Trey Lindsay, who, as in HELLBENDER, pulls off digitally created or enhanced demises that fully convince as the real, visceral, dripping thing.
WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS is, in fact, the most blood-drenched of the Adamses’ fear filmography (which also includes THE DEEPER YOU DIG), and the gore isn’t there for simple shock value. The family as filmmakers find creative ways to present and utilize the slashing and severing–much as their onscreen alter egos do. WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS combines the splatter, the exoticism of the carny setting and its inhabitants and the central brood’s descent into darkness to cast a strange and unique spell. It sustains right up until the memorable final shot, which is reminiscent of a past horror cult classic but here carries a whole lot more meaning.
