DON’T LET THE DEVIL IN * U.S.A. 2016 Dir: Courtney Fathom Sell 89 mins
Newlyweds John and Samantha Harris suffer one of the most painful losses to a family…a miscarriage. Relocating from their apartment in New York City to a small town outside of the city, John hopes the space and relaxation will help Samantha. It also helps that his employer has sent John out there to keep an eye on a new building development. Though soon it becomes clear that the people of this small community don’t care much for the Harris’s as they become the target of evil.
Courtney Fathom Sell was the writer/director/editor on this feature film and while at times there is some great atmospheric shots of the town the rest of the movie is dull beyond belief. The devil doesn’t make an appearance in the film at least in physical form but in the form of greed. There is a very small scene dealing with the occult and sacrifice but by the time you get to that scene you will grow tiresome of the storytelling. Low class acting skills are to be found throughout so don’t expect to see the next Tom Hanks in this indie film. If the main characters of Samantha and John Harris were played with more realism by the actors, and got the audiences attention this would have been a fairly decent occult type thriller but due to the dismal acting you can’t help but yawn at their performances. In conclusion DON’T LET THE DEVIL IN is one of those films that you watch and quickly forget.
Review by Peter ‘Witchfinder‘ Hopkins