Runtime: 83 minutes
Directed by: Ulli Lommel
Starring: Suzanna Love, Robert Walker, Jr., Donald Pleasence, Paul Willson, Mary Walden
From: New West Films
Wake up chat, a new streaming service just dropped… well, rather, a great service was discovered by me via an ad on Instagram, of all places. Somehow, I had never heard of Eternal Family, a platform devoted to a cornucopia of film oddities & obscurities, meaning it is perfect for my esoteric tastes. Its name is a little curious but just a cursory glance at its catalogue & its availability as a Roku app made joining the easiest decision of the month. There are films FAR more obscure than this Ulli Lommel picture available but Devonsville will give me plenty to discuss.
The film will seem modern today; it presents men (both from 1683 and 1983) as terrible. In the 17th century, an event analogous to the Salem Witch Trials occurs. Women were killed due to hysteria-one was accused of being a witch. A curse placed on the town has existed ever since. In the 20th century, a trio of new women arrive in town, including Jenny-the director’s then-wife, Suzanna Love, sporting a short, dyed hairdo that presumably would rile up a small, conservative town, at least in 1983.
Well, the descendants of the past don’t like that the new women are “liberated.” In both time periods, the males are awful pigs so I am confident that everyone (especially those that identify as female) will be quite delighted when the dumb 1980’s males are punished. At least the characters portrayed by Robert Walker, Jr. (he looked a lot like his dad) and Donald Pleasence weren’t vile… well, perhaps Ol’ Donald as a doctor shouldn’t have asked Jenny to take her shirt off as he took her blood pressure then did a session of hypnosis… otherwise, there’s little complaint w/ his character.
As Bill Rebane was a producer and they filmed in his home territory of Northern Wisconsin, some may be shocked that this movie was intriguing & worthwhile. It may help some with the foreknowledge that deaths aren’t sprinkled throughout and viewers should be patient for the finish, which does deliver. The pacing felt appropriate for a film set in a tiny rural town out in the woods; there are quite a few establishing shots which displayed the area-no complaints as not only did the pastoral beauty of the area charm me, the remoteness of the area was established-important for when the events of the final act occurred.
Various themes were addressed: the sins of the past, not learning from the past, the isolation of the town resulting in outdated viewpoints, etc. Considering the feminist themes, no surprise that Ms. Love was one of the credited screenwriters. As I theorized during my review of The Boogeyman last fall, perhaps it was his divorcing of Love (to echo the comment of a Letterboxd mutual, Not Daisy Edgar-Jones) in 1987 was why his career devolved so badly the past few decades.
The Devonsville Terror was an intriguing early 80’s horror picture which was different from the norm, not peppered with death throughout but rather saved death (and the few gory bits) to the conclusion, while covering a topic unique for the era. This was a pleasant surprise & a reason why I’m not only happy to view films from regional genre filmmakers (as a diamond could be found among the rough), but that Eternal Family is a streaming platform available for people that have tastes as esoteric as me. Expect some reviews of bizarre cinema in March.
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