Writers: Geoff Hart, Greg A Sager
Director: Greg A Sager
The Devil In Me (also known as Devil Seed) sets out its stall very early: the opening credits are intercut with a scenes which appear to show an exorcism from the 1970s going badly wrong.
We then switch to the present day. The story revolves around three young women who are sharing a house. Although it’s never stated there are definite hints that it’s the same house we saw in the exorcism sequence (why else would the rent be so cheap?).
Two of the women, Alex (Michelle Argyris) and Jessica (Shantelle Canzanese), visit a psychic on the way home from a drunken night out. The psychic sees something that she won’t talk about and soon after strange things start happening around Alex. At first it’s little things and there’s the possibility that it’s all in her mind, but it soon ramps up to an undeniable full-blown demonic possession.
It’s all decent stuff, if rather slow at the start. But once the possession proper kicks in there are some really strong scenes. Acting is good, especially Argyris who is superb in the dual role of Alex as worried victim and evil demon.
The script is also solid. For example we learn very early that Alex’s arsehole boyfriend Brian (Kevin Jake Walker) is screwing the unpleasant Bree (Vanessa Broze). At first this just looks like an excuse for some sex scenes but it turns out to be important to the plot.
So apart from the overly slow start there’s nothing wrong with The Devil In Me; but at the same time there’s nothing really special about it. The plot is by the numbers, you know exactly what is going to happen. For example one character is introduced late and you can immediately guess exactly what slot he fills in the story.
Once you give up on anything new and just let the familiar tropes wash over you it actually does a decent enough job. So The Devil In Me is an uninspired and unoriginal but surprisingly watchable demonic possession story.