User Reviews

I should've known as soon as the POV footage appeared on my TV what I was in store for after putting "The Devil Incarnate" into my DVD player. As if the cover of a baby with horns adorned with a logo featuring an upside-down cross in place of the "t" wasn't enough of a warning. I love a good possession or religious thriller so I wanted to give it a chance. I'll need to remember to listen to my instincts next time.

Holly (Graci Carli) and Trevor Davidson (Rod Luzzi) are newlyweds on a road trip for their honeymoon. After stopping to have their palms read, Holly begins acting strangely. The announcement that she's pregnant further sets off a chain reaction of bizarre behavior and strange occurrences. Is she suffering from mood swings because of the pregnancy or is there something more sinister at work?

The only thing good I have to say about "The Devil Incarnate" is that its actors all come across as genuine in their roles. They give the audience no indication that they didn't take the movie seriously during production. It's a testament to each of them and their individual skills. I felt this needed to be recognized.

No sort of Biblical theology is explored in "The Devil Incarnate." There are two possible "messages" the movie might be trying to convey to viewers. One is that we shouldn't get involved in the occult. The other is that the sins of our ancestors will affect us. Unfortunately, it doesn't award us any hope that we can break such a generational curse.

"The Devil Incarnate" is not rated, but would hold an "R" if it were. While there's no nudity, it contains enough adult situations and content to push it beyond "PG-13." It also includes frightening images and profanity.

Many times an anemic independent project like "The Devil Incarnate" can gain some sympathy with me if I can see the sort of hard work and passion filmmakers poured into its creation. A "Making of" featurette or "Behind the Scenes" documentary gives a reviewer like myself a chance to experience the blood, sweat, and tears everyone involved in the production put into it. Unfortunately, the DVD contains no special features to help redeem it in my eyes.

"The Devil Incarnate" is the sort of horror film we really don't need any more of. Playing like an unholy mash-up of "Drag Me to Hell," "Rosemary's Baby," and "The Devil Inside," it's an unnecessary addition to the demon possession and "found footage" genres that've been overdone lately. There's not a shred of originality to be found in its 76-minute running time.

The US title, "Devil Incarnate" and DVD cover are misleading. The UK title is "Cursed" which is keeping to the film. The movie opens with narration during the credits. A curse is placed on a family line. They would be infertile unless they sacrificed or "cut out a child." We then see a bunch of hand held camera shots along with normal filming. Trevor (Rod Luzzi) and Holly (Graci Carli) are newlyweds traveling in Florida filming their honeymoon. Through a series of circumstances Holly meets a woman fortune teller (Barbara Van Fleet) that sends her screaming and then discovers she is pregnant. They move into his parent's house, which they gave them as a gift.

Soon weird things happen and Holly's behavior becomes erratic. Marissa, (Emily Rogers) is Trevor's highs school lesbian semi-goth sister who has a thing for Holly as well as a snoop who investigates her past.

The film offers nothing new and exciting to the evil baby films. The acting was on par for a "B" horror film. It had potential, but didn't capitalize on it. No special effect scenes. Nothing that seems supernatural. Let's keep it in budget.

A so-so rental for the Cassadaga crowd.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. One sex scene. Near shower nudity.

A newlywed couple inadvertently reactivate a dormant curse. Pregnancy, lesbianism, and skyping ensue, with none of them being remotely as much fun as they sound. And I'm fully aware of how much fun skyping sounds.

Shown on the Horror Channel as "Cursed", the identity crisis from which this film suffers becomes clear when you try to find it on IMDb under that name. Nope. Googling the synopsis details from the on-screen TV guide offers up "The Devil Incarnate", so enter that in IMDb and ta-daah! Success! But wait a minute - what has appeared on screen is a film called "Copiii: The 1st Entry." Yes, that's right, 3 "I"s in "Copiii." And what does it mean? It conveys nothing. Consider the title/s and you get the measure of the film.

Grown from the same seeds as Rosemary's Baby (which had clearly been left in the greenhouse so long they had forgotten how to germinate), this effort is a) boring, b) another colour movie which has been desaturated to the point where it is effectively monochrome, c) drab and d) tedious. It is in focus, and the sound is adequate, and that's it as far as the positives are concerned.

But take it from me, you have better things to do with 90 minutes.

Newlywed couple Holly (a lively and winning portrayal by Grazi Carli) and Trevor Davidson (a solid and engaging performance by Rod Luzzi) embark on a road trip to celebrate their honeymoon. While in Miami, Florida the pair run afoul of old fortune teller Vjestica (a scary bit by Barbara Van Fleet), who informs Holly that she's pregnant with an evil child.

Director/co-writer L. Gustavo Cooper keeps the engrossing story moving along at a snappy pace, grounds the premise in a believable everyday reality, takes time to develop the likeable main characters, and ably crafts a creepy gloom-doom atmosphere. Luzzi and Carli both do sound work in the lead roles while Emily Rogers lends sturdy support as the concerned Marissa. The grim ending packs a startling punch. Both Ryan Patrick Dean's crisp widescreen cinematography and the moody score by Brian Jerin and Andrew Avitabile are up to par. Worth a watch.

This is a hybrid found-footage film that pulls through on the creepiness factor. The director has a unique style that I haven't seen before. If I have to describe it, I would say it's like looking into a shimmering reflective-pool that gets shaken and disturbed every so often. The husband's acting was bothering me at first, but he slowly pulls it together, the lesbian daughter is cute and she is very convincing. Her skype friend is also really cute and she is genuinely hilarious. Her facial expressions are so good. The movie slowly builds as we get more and more information about the troubled past of the pregnant wife Holly. It falls short in the end, the outcome is too quick and jumbled, almost could've been an effective splattering of pure wickedness and horror.....