Devil Seed (2012)

The rapid advances in technology have made it so that practically anyone can make a movie; editing software is readily available and digital camcorders are fairly cheap.  A young, passionate filmmaker can even bypass a distributor and just upload his movie on YouTube, on the hope that it will get views.  Of course, more often than not the movie in question is extremely horrendous, which brings me to the Devil Seed.  

 
I have my own theory about the movie’s origins:  One night, director/writer, Greg A. Sager had a double feature of The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby. After the viewing was over, Sager had an epiphany, “What would happen if I combined The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby? It would be TWICE the scares!” He then high fived himself for this brilliant idea and began working on the script. When he realized the time and effort it took to write a screenplay, he simply photocopied the script to The Exorcist, and penciled in his own ideas; the heroine went from being a twelve year-old girl to an attractive college woman with two roommates (her loyal best friend and a bitchy, curvaceous blonde) and a cheating boyfriend.  He then rounded up a few friends and shot Devil Seed, on his iPhone, over the course of the weekend.  Naturally, the lead role went to the woman he had the major hots for, Michelle Argyris.  It explains so much! 
Now, I’m sure someone will come forward and be like, “That’s not what happened at all! This was a professional production!” If so, then that makes Devil Seed even worse.  It essentially follows the plot to The Exorcist beat for beat:

1)      There is a prologue which introduces Father Madison, as a young man, performing an exorcism on a possessed woman. This ends in disaster! The Exorcist has a prologue set in Iraq, which sets up the climactic battle between Father Merrin and the demon.

2)      Alex, the protagonist, first makes contact with the Devil through a psychic, while Regan used an Ouija board.  Though, Alex’s reason for seeking out a psychic is pretty amusing; her friend Jessica, on a drunken whim, decides that they should have their fortunes read and Alex acquiesces, mainly to humor her tipsy companion.

3)      Alex experiences the same things as young Regan; her bed starts shaking by itself, she urinates on the floor and she even does the “spider walk.”

4)      Father Madison, just like Merrin before him, gets re-introduced to the plot towards the end of the movie and attempts an exorcism on Alex.  The Devil even recognizes Father Madison, just like the demon recognized Merrin in The Exorcist.  Madison’s entrance is hardly a memorable one; he is sitting in a car outside of the haunted house.  It’s not exactly a visually striking moment, like Father Merrin standing outside the MacNeil house, silhouetted in a shaft of light. 

In The Exorcist, the apple cheeked face of Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) was mutilated beyond recognition by the demon. In Devil Seed, Alex’s possession is visualized by applying black eye shadow under Michelle Argyris’ eyes, while she creepily stares at her roommates.  The end result: Agyris looks far more glamorous while under the Devil’s influence, than she does in her “normal” scenes. Was possessed Alex supposed to be hot? I could just imagine a group of bros watching this movie and, when Alex is first possessed, shouting out loud, “I’d tap that!” Couldn’t they have at least fitted her with creepy contact lenses? Covered her face with scars?  ANYTHING!  I once had a co-worker who was attempting to make a vampire movie, with a budget of $2,000 (according to him), and even he could afford creepy contact lenses.  He never finished his movie, and the footage he shot was pretty bad, but I’m sure it would have been better than Devil Seed.  

CHILL at the sight of an attractive college student staring at you in DEVIL SEED!  

Alex is a fairly passive heroine, as well. There is a montage of her looking up “demon possession” on Google (note to filmmakers: having a character stare at a computer screen is not scary, nor interesting, no matter how much spooky music you blare on the soundtrack), but she doesn’t do anything with the information she is given. She tries to hang a crucifix on her wall, but the Devil will have none of that. In fact, it is really her friend Jessica that drives the narrative. Jessica, concerned about Alex’s strange behavior, seeks advice from her professor, who just happens to be Father Madison’s son.  Jessica is easily the most likable character in Devil Seed, largely because her loyalty to Alex never wavers, despite all the crazy shit that she has witnessed. 

The acting, with the exception of Shantalle Canzanese, is dull. It one of those rare examples where terrible overacting would have preferable to what we are given – stilted line deliveries and very little emotions.  Alex has very little personality that it’s hard to really sympathize with what she is going through, while Breanne (Vanessa Broze) is a full fledged bitch.  Professor Madison is extremely patronizing (and completely inept) that you will probably hate him by the movie’s end. Father Madison is in so very little of the movie that he barely registers as a character. Brian is such a tool that it is head scratching as to why Alex (or Breaane, for that matter) is attracted to him.  

Devil Seed is 98 minutes long, but easily could have been an hour; a chunk of it is filler. There is a subplot that centers on Alex’s boyfriend, Brian, sleeping with her roommate, Breanne. Brian and Alex have been dating for two years, but have not gone the distance yet. This frustrates Brian, so he jumps in the bed with Alex’s willing roommate.  The movie never really delves into why Breanne resents Alex so much, or, for the matter, why Alex is still a virgin.  What’s important is that Alex’s virginity is the reason she is handpicked by Satan to bear his child.  The only payoff that comes from the Brian/Breanna subplot is that Breanna is given a gruesome death (she is mauled to death by the possessed Alex), while Brian walks away relatively unscathed. Seriously, he survives the ordeal, even though he is the most loathsome character in the entire movie; when the Devil starts shaking the bed, while Alex is on it, Brian goes off on a rant about how this is a ruse by her not to have sex. 

The movie itself is fairly repetitive: Alex goes to bed, wakes up and freaks out her roommates. The next morning, Jessica calls her out on it and Alex has no memory of it all. This happens, at least, three times in the movie.  Also, who did the casting in this movie?  The actor playing Professor Madison (Wayne Conroy) looks roughly the same age as the actor, Michael G. Wilmot, who is playing his father; I initially thought the professor was Father Madison’s brother.   

There a few hilarious moments scattered throughout: the Devil distracting Alex as she attempts to read a book; a possessed Alex quickly glides past the door in the background, while Jessica is facing the camera, calling out her name; Professor Madison’s inept attempts at trying to help Alex; and the exorcism at the movie’s climax.  Devil Seed is an awful movie, but it is watchable if you catch in the right frame of mind; namely with a group of friends and a case of beer.  

Credits

Cast: Michelle Argyris (Alex), Shantelle Canzanese (Jessica), Vanessa Broze (Breanne), Kevin Jake Walker (Brian), Wayne Conroy (Professor Madison), Michael G. Wilmot (Father Madison), Louise Hollingsworth (Psychic).

Director: Greg A. Sager
Screenplay:  Geoff Hart, Greg A. Sager.
Running Time: 98 min.