Anytime four teenagers gather at an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere in a horror movie I roll my eyes like it’s going out of style.  Hey, guess how The Devil Lives Here starts out?

Jorge, his girlfriend Alex, and his cousin Maria are on their way to visit their friend (and Maria’s object of lust) Apolo at the farmhouse his family owns.  We see Apolo painting a pentagram on the floor of the cellar as he chats with his three friends on the phone. They assure him they’ll be there soon.

Meanwhile, land owner the Honey Baron talks to Bento, one of his slaves, about queen bees, worker bees, and the hives that populate his land. Bento’s mother is the Baron’s personal plaything, and the Baron loves to torture them by…making Bento eat an entire jar of honey? That was kind of weird.

The way these two storylines intercut with each other made it hard for me to realize that the Honey Baron section takes place years before and is a kind of set up for the rest of the movie. Would have been nice to have a hint about it up front. Or maybe I’m just slow. Hmmm…

I should have said “three storylines” because there’s another bit about two villagers raising the corpse of slave Bento who appears to be the only person around who can keep the Baron’s evil spirit at bay.  All of these threads come together at the farmhouse the same night the group of friends are there (and it’s not quite the coincidence that I’m implying).

The Devil Lives Here has certainly got some original ideas floating around, but it’s not as cohesive as I would have liked. It meanders a bit, and doesn’t have a strong focus. Even when the chips are down and crap is hitting the fan, there’s no real sense of urgency or menace.  Emotions are muted, actions are half-speed and trapped in amber.

Visually, the movie looks good, and directors Rodrigo Gasparini and Dante Vescio (The ABCs of Death 2.5) kept my interest throughout, delivering a few well-placed shocks that made me smile.  Ivo Müller chews some delicious scenery as the Baron, but isn’t given much more to do than that.  We know he’s evil because the script says he’s evil, but we don’t get that feeling from his actual actions.  I think another pass at the script to streamline the plot(s) would have made this movie more successful than I feel it is.

Still there are some definitely unique and interesting viewpoints sneaking into what could have been a very by-the-numbers flick. Go into it with an open mind and I think you’ll enjoy it. Check it out, so sez Uncle Mike.