Devil's Whisper (2019) Reviews

• Death will not have the last word

  nogodnomasters2017-10-06

  Alex (Luca Oriel) is a 15 year old Catholic, aspiring to be a priest, getting Confirmed rather late in life. He is led to discover his grandfather's cross by a demon who controls the motion of closet doors and electricity. Things begin to happen that simply can't be attributed to a moody teen. Then there is Alex's childhood issue with his grandfather and demon which was never really explained except with refrigerator style drawings and "sometimes people hurt people." The film was slow. We see glimpses of the demon early and some of his powers, but the demon himself was poorly explained or was explained with a reading from Enoch and left us leading to believe this was a religious film peppered with F-words. About 10 minutes from the end, the film reaches a scene that should have happened about 30-45 minutes into the film and then have the family go into panic mode...kill off the priest who needed to look more like Robert Patrick, and then bring in a Zelda Rubinstein clone to explain the plot. Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

• Awful Plot and Not Scary

  iowagoldcorn2017-10-20

  The plot is extremely awful and very confusing, and the movie fails to maintain its theme throughout. I understand how hard it is to write a good script for a horror movie; yet this seems to be done by amateur writers or the script was hastily put up together. As a result, I often get distracted by inconsistent plot, leaving me more confused than scary. And that leads me to criticize this movie even further: the movie is not scary. It has some jumpy moments like other horror movies, but the psychological effect from those scary moments is almost absent. Those moments become very predictable and make me stare at the screen with much boredom. Special effects and acting are relatively decent.

• Totally not scary and current score is so fake!

  ferditiusbernard2017-10-21

  This movie is not supposed to get 7.3 score (on 19 oct)! the plot is awful (i can see no plot here), bad camera, just trash with fake score on watchlist. tbh i used to get my watchlist from scoring in IMDb or rotten tomatoes, especially while trying to get decision to watch horror movie. first time i saw this movie was rated 7.4, i'm quite surprised and it built my eagerness to watch it. the moment i watched this movie, from the early scene it got me suspicious because either the dialog and picture taken is so awful, but it still hold me on my seat because of 7.4 score. But as the movie went halfway, i realized those reviews are fake and cancerous. Please don't waste your time watching this trash, even emoji still got my respect with its' honest reviews. this trash tried to manipulate people by faking review and score! if you don't trust me, just give yourself a try for 10$, consider it as charity for the producer.

• Turn on subtitles to know what the devil is whispering

  hi_im_manic2017-11-14

  This little-known addition to the over-saturated horror>possession genre was a bit better than some more well-known films of its kind. It distinguishes itself from the pack. The CGi was surprisingly good and the scares are more than just jumps. I think that what's missing here is more chilling elements that could have been woven into the environment or into the story itself. I found our protagonist to be more sympathetic than the ones seen in most of these films. He's a well-behaved, kind teen with respectable aspirations yet doesn't come off at all creepy. He discovers a sealed box hidden within his grandmother's armoire, opens it, and learns a lesson that all thriller and horror fans know: leave mysterious boxes closed! Within it is a cross pendant that belonged to the late grandfather that his parents wished their son would have never met. ** Spoilers Begin ** Our protagonist is primarily fending off the terrifying spirit which seeks to possess him rather than the other characters attempting to rescue him. It's those who are close to him that are attacked by the entity rather than him directly. The entity haunts him at night and he leads and fairly undisturbed, normal teen life during the day until one day things inexplicably turn ugly. The change in the boy is sudden and dramatic. As an audience, we're as perplexed as those characters close to him must be. The boy's obsession with the cross pendant and with the grandfather that he can't remember is central to the haunting. The boy's faith and spirituality make him tasty prey to the spirit poised to possess him. These strengths of character also prove to be his greatest defense. ** Spoilers End ** Curiously, this film won several awards. It's made curious because it's not a great masterpiece nor particularly outstanding in any way. It is worthwhile watching if it's a slow night or you're great fan of this film genre.

• A taut horror thriller whose scares will follow you out of the theater.

  royo-853-2946142017-06-10

  With few exceptions, during the course of the past several decades, horror movies have become nearly unwatchable. Where a filmmaker's goal was once to horrify an audience with a tableau that would not only create an immediate visceral reaction but also occupy a place in that viewer's memory; one that the viewer would carry long after having left the theater. Those who grew up watching horror films made in the 1970s and 1980s can recall quickly and gleefully the nightmares that were generated weeks, months, and years after the respective films' two- hour run time had long passed. More recently, the focus of directors of such films has shifted dramatically. It seems like most recent horror films are designed to maximize the number of jump scares in order to be able to create a trailer that features the reactions of audiences filmed in low-light to the on-screen scares. One would have understood if writer/producer/director Adam Ripp and co-writers Paul Todisco and Oliver Robins chose to rely upon jump scares when creating "Devil's Whisper," a supernatural horror film about an ancient demon that has been terrorizing children since the dawn of man. Instead, the filmmakers went in a different direction, making the most of their limited budget and 19 days of principal photography and created a taut, 85-minute thriller that not only fills the viewer with a sense of crushing dread within its first two minutes, but also, amazingly, leaves the viewer frightened enough long after the film ends that one might find oneself wondering if the suddenly- flickering light in one's bedroom is the result of more than a mere dying bulb. Based on a personal story shared with Ripp by a friend who suffered from years of recurring nightmares, "Devil's Whisper" tells the story of 15-year-old Alejandro (Alex) Duran (Luca Oriel), a religious, Latin-American teenager (who aspires to be a priest) who discovers a mysterious wooden box hidden in an armoire once owned by his grandparents. The box has no visible way of being opened, but it rattles when shaken and piques Alex's interest. With the help of his father, Marcos (Marcos Ferraez), who operates the table saw, Alex opens the box and discovers a cross in it, which we learn once belonged to his grandfather. Unwittingly, by opening the box, Alex has also unleashed a demonic spirit bent on possessing him. This ancient demon, which has tormented children since the dawn of man, is bent on destroying Alex and everyone in his life. And were that the extent of the film's plot, "Devil's Whisper" might have been no more than your average horror film; however, beneath the obvious battle between Alex and his demon, the film is also a psychological thriller about childhood memories and repressed childhood trauma – one built upon traditional horror movie tropes (flickering lights and bedroom closets that open mysteriously) that are used to great effect. One would argue that said tropes had no right ending up as frightening as they were considering that we have seen them used previously in countless films, but it is a testament to the combination of a taut script; Ripp's ability to ratchet up the creep factor throughout the film – while including several unobtrusive homages to films that shaped his artistry – leading up to the inevitable final showdown between Alex and the demon; and superbly nuanced acting performances from the entire cast in roles small and large. Oriel is a revelation. His attempt to contain the internal battle between religious, somewhat-sheltered teenager and possessed young adult could easily have turned into a farce in the hands of a less- talented actor; one who would rely on overacting to portray the battle. Oriel is able to strike fear in the viewer by contorting his face slightly, whether it be a crooked smile or a shift of his eyebrows, and he fights the internal battle between good and evil throughout the film. That you don't always know when the demon will cause him to become evil is the reason that the viewer feels impending dread throughout. As with many low-budget films, the performances of the every cast member, regardless of the size of the part, are crucial to the success or failure of the film, because a weak actor cannot be hidden. Rick Ravanello portrays Father Cutler with a measured intensity that adds a gravitas to a role that another actor might have played as mere caricature and Alison Fernandez, who portrays Alex's sister Alicia, breaks out in a small-but-crucial role. In one scene late in the film, a sudden shift in her performance is both terrifying and thrilling and, in the future, one will be able to point to that moment as the instant that her prodigious acting talent made its presence felt. In addition to the aforementioned skills of the writers and director, credit to this film's success also goes to the technical crew. Despite having a budget that would cause a big-budget film's craft services department heartburn, "Devil's Whisper" is produced so judiciously that the limited financial resources available to its creators never detract from the quality of the film. Even the portrayal of the demon seems to benefit from the limitations of the budget. A more realistic (and more expensive)-looking demon would have ultimately resulted in a less-frightening creation. While "Devil's Whisper" is set in the present, it also feels like somewhat of an anachronism; a horror thriller that relies on a developing sense of impending dread instead of throwing at the viewers cheap scares that don't necessarily further the film's narrative. Because of that, horror fans will not only enjoy "Devil's Whisper" tremendously in the theater, but like other memorable horror films, they will remember the small things that they usually ignore (like a suddenly-flickering lamp) and, at the very least, encounter pangs of terror long after they leave the cinema.