Devil’s Whisper will be premiered at Dances with Films on Saturday, June 10th.  

 

Devil’s Whisper, directed by Adam Ripp, follows 15-year-old Alejandro (Luca Oriel), who comes from a devout Catholic family and dreams of becoming a priest when he finds a crucifix in his grandmother’s armoire that reawakens a history of trauma and an ancient evil that has haunted the family for generations. Alejandro is a good kid, but flawed. The film finds a decent balance between treating his more rebellious side as a display of something sinister arising within him, and highlighting the positive aspect of him coming out of his shell.

The burden of the priesthood looms heavy over the film, with Alejandro’s imminent self-imposed celibacy a major source of inner strife and mockery among his friends. It’s for this reason that his priest, Father Cutler (Rick Ravanello) recommends he pursue Lia (Jasper Polish), the girl he has a crush on, a pursuit which only exacerbates his descent into sin – a fitting metaphor for adolescence if there ever was one. This is one of those “monsters as a metaphor for psychological/social issues”, sort of like The Babadook, except this monster represents sexual abuse instead of depression, so for those that felt that film was ham-fisted, this is unlikely to fair much better.

Oriel does an impressive job with a role that requires he display a great deal of emotional turmoil while not being grating or off-putting, though some more insight into why he is so set on becoming a priest could have fleshed out his character a bit more. Father Cutler is arguably the most important character aside from Alex, and has his own dark backstory that doesn’t end up getting too much focus, but factors into Alejandro’s narrative as well as providing some surreal nightmarish sequences the film’s bold artistic direction uses to great effect. His relationship with his mother Lucia (Tessie Santiago) is the other piece of the puzzle that helps build his character, shedding light on the history of what is happening and building upon the film’s emotional backbone with her own history of abuse, which is never handled explicitly, but whose impact is felt throughout. Alex’s sister, Alicia (Alison Fernandez) is given a relatively minor part, only featured prominently during the film’s climax and questionable conclusion, despite dominating the film’s cover art.

The score on the other hand is top-notch, lots of strings and use of choral and orchestral samples along with sinister synths and booming percussion that compliment those themes of the tension between the light and dark excellently. Where the film truly shines, however, is in the visuals. Good god is this some meticulous editing. There are no throwaway shots here with just about every frame having its own character and intent. Every camera angle you can think of, it’s here: we’ve got low angle shots, obstructed shots, overhead shots, shaky cam, slow zooms, and for anyone out there playing cinematography bingo, a lovely vertigo zoom. Combine that with some aggressive editing decisions, creative lighting, and the bold colors of its catholic iconography and it certainly isn’t a bore to look at.

The narrative is a bit of a difficult nut to crack. There is certainly a preoccupation with religion here, but the perspective is a bit muddled, going in a few different directions which seem like they’re trying to strike a balance between piety and a more permissive, secular lifestyle, but the result is the message that was clearly supposed to be there doesn’t get particularly well translated. The dark subject matter may turn some people off, both because it’s inherently controversial, but also because they seem to drop the ball in terms of handling the subject with adequate sensitivity.

Upcoming screenings include:
INTERNATIONAL HORROR HOTEL FILM FESTIVAL
Hudson, Ohio
Screening: Saturday, June 17 @ 8:05PM

NEW HOPE FILM FESTIVAL
New Hope, PA
Screening: Friday, July 28 @ 9:45PM

Devil’s Whisper
RATING: UR  
Runtime: 1hr. 23Mins.
Directed By: Adam Ripp
 Written By: Adam Ripp  Oliver Robins
   

About the Author

Artist. Writer. Horror nerd. Your fear sustains me.