By DAKOTA DAHL
Starring Natalie R. Hurt, Jesse Green, Chris Thigpen and Olivia Pearl Hansen
Written and Directed by Dillon Brown
Horror Nerd Productions
The problem with being a fan of found footage is that the ratio of garbage to quality is like 10:1. Most people see the amateur nature of found footage and think that means they can have an easy payday filming them and their friends running through the woods with on a Nokia Razor. This makes it all the more pleasing when someone actually manages to pull together something palatable, especially on a shoestring budget, which is exactly what Dillon Brown manages to pull off with THE DEVIL’S CHILDREN. We also owe a huge thank you to the streaming screwball saviors over at POV Horror and Wicked Horror TV for giving us, the little people, a chance to view this cinematic delight.
Like all the best examples of the subgenre, the film functions as a film within a film. Two dickish film students (the lowliest of the found footage protagonists) are interviewing the lone survivor of a local massacre. They approach this with all the tact you’d expect of film students (i.e. none) and borderline harass her into coughing up footage of the massacre! Lucky for us! What then transpires is a story of two men trying to have a house party/séance while simultaneously trying desperately to get laid, and of this in a house that was host to a horrible crime some time ago. You know how raging hormones and summoning spirits in a murder house always work out for the best in horror movies? Predictably, shit goes crazy for both the partiers and amateur filmmakers.
Despite being made on a shoestring budget (and not good shoestrings, but those thin ones you buy hastily right near the cash register) many of the gore effects are enjoyable, feeding the schlocky atmosphere Brown is going for. The acting is better than passable, and the writing is more believable than many bigger budget found footage films. One of the shining stars is the spooky devil mask which you will find front and centre in much of the promotional material, and for good reason. It has that intangible, retro, minimalist yet threatening feel that masks of old evoke. The film even has original music from the band Fire From Olympus, and it’s a refreshing showcase between artists on an indie film.
The only strike against the film, and this is a cardinal sin for found footage, is that it sometimes drops the conceit altogether. Brown will occasionally shoot scenes where the audience can see hallucinations from multiple camera angles, and there are assorted scenes when there is no camera in the room. This might not be a big a deal for most viewers, but for found footage purists, it breaks the immersion.
THE DEVIL’S CHILDREN does exactly what it sets out to do; sell a film on no money and a lot of heart. This isn’t the soulless cash grab that a lot of films in the genre tend to be, nor is it a hastily thrown together vanity project. It’s a labor of love done by artists who have both insight and respect for what makes a good found footage film work. It’s unpolished, it’s clunky, but it’s perfect the way it is. If even half the films that oversaturate this subgenre approached things with this kind of aplomb, maybe it wouldn’t be so maligned.
THE DEVIL’S CHILDREN is now streaming on POV Horror and Wicked Horror TV.
