The Devil’s Hand mixes slasher vibes, satanic notions, fundamentalism in recipe for failure
Not knowing what genre the film you’re making belongs to cannot be any good — except if you’re a gifted auteur defying conventions and deliberately fusing genres. But if you are a regular film director making a mainstream PG-13 horror film that soon turns into a run-of-the-mill thriller, which eventually aims to be a serious drama only to later on become a shy horror film with a sort of a sinister ending, then you’re in trouble. You just can’t have those many films in one — especially when none of the genres has been tackled skilfully, to say the least.
Such is the case of Christian E. Christiansen’s The Devil’s Hand (also known as Where the Devil Hides), which mixes a slasher plot (with little, if any, gore, and unimpressive kills), some satanic notions that are never firmly rooted, a drama about religious fundamentalism in a small Amish town and how much it affects families in general, and young women in particular.
Exactly 18 years ago, six baby girls were born on a fatidic date: the sixth day of the sixth month. The town’s fearful religious leader wants to kill the girls to fend off or avert a prophecy that says one of them will be the Drommelkind, a satanic demon (or something like that) when she is 18.
But the father of one of the girls confronts him and saves the girls — except for one who’s killed by her own mother who then kills herself as well. Now 18 years have gone by and a mysterious unknown killer — thriller alert — is keen on slaying the 5 remaining girls.
Apart from the genre confusion, most of the performances bring to mind those of low-budget, formulaic horror movies from the 1970s and the 1980s — which were likable at the time, but are pitiful in a different context — beginning with the cartoonish Colm Meaney as the town’s leader. Some tension is achieved from time to time, but overall The Devil’s Hand is pretty dull.
And while the cinematography is technically well executed, it fails to create a menacing atmosphere. The ending, however, while trite, reveals there was a potentially effective (albeit standard) horror feature to be made provided director and screenwriter had stuck to the genre and fully exploited it.
When and where
The Devil’s Hand (US, 2014). Directed by Christian E. Christiansen. Written by Karl Mueller. With Rufus Sewell, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Thomas McDonell, Adelaide Kane, Leah Pipes, Jennifer Carpenter, Jim McKeny, Katie Garfield. Cinematography: Frank Godwin. Running time: 86 minutes
