DVD Review: HERE COMES THE DEVIL (2012)

HERE COMES THE DEVIL (2012) 

Label: Magnet Releasing 

Region Code: 1 NTSC

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 98 Minutes

Audio: Spanish and English 5.1 Dolby Digital with Optional English SDH Subtitles 

Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) 

Director:  Adrian Garcia Bogliano 

Cast: Francisco Barreiro and Laura Caro, Alan Martinez, Michele Garcia and Barbara Perrin Rivemar, Jessica Iris and Dana Dorel

A young couple are on a day trip in Baja, California when their pre-teen kids Sara (Michele Garcia) and Adofo (Alan Martinez) disappear on what turns out to be a cursed mountain. The parents argue and lay blame on each other but thankfully the kids are found the next day and returned to the parents seemingly unharmed... but there's somethings not quite right about the kids afterward, there's something sinister about them. 

Director Adrian Garcia Bogliano grabbed my attention from the first shot of two attractive young women engaged in a strenuous scissoring-session -  it's hot stuff. Surprisingly there's a strong sexual element to the movie with multiple moments of onscreen sex and sexuality - some of it straight-up and some of it more subtle and darker. Scenes of finger-banging, scissoring and pierced nipples pepper the film as do more disturbing implications of incest.

The mother (Laura Caro) is the first to notice that something is wrong with the children. Concerned for their well-being she takes her daughter to a doctor and a psychologist - the doc tells her that her daughter's hymen is missing and the head-shrink says that the children may have suffered a traumatic sexual encounter on the mountain. Out of their minds with the idea that the children may have been sexually assaulted the parents investigate the involvement of a dim-witted weirdo named Lucio (David Cabezud) who frequents the mountain. When they discover that Lucio has a pair of their daughter's period-stained panties in his possession you can imagine the encounter tuns dark. I will say that the gore throughout is not overwhelming but this scene specifically is tense and very brutal.

Afterward the strange occurrences continue and while the father chooses to ignore it altogether mom discovers that the kids have been skipping school and returning to the mountain, but to what end? As mom sleuths the mystery she discovers the horrifying truth about her children and the dark forces at play. 

There's some decent side characters including the dim-witted Lucio and the creepy gas station attendant who provides a dark mythology about the cursed mountain with his own tragic connections to the events. There's also police officer who assists with the kids recovery but whom also suspects the parents in the  death of Lucio, this cop has one of the most magnificent mustaches of all time, it's quite a soup-strainer. 

The supernatural element become more pronounced as the movie rolls along which includes the babysitter recounting a surreal and trippy nightmare scenario which occurred  while she watched the kids one night. It's a hallucinatory encounter involving lost time, incestuous overtones and the existence of Satan which ends with her revealing two large footprint-shaped bruises across her chest and barbel-pierced breasts - by far my favorite sequence of the movie. 

Verdict: Here Comes the Devil (2012) has an effective creepy kids vibe and unsettling supernatural elements plus shocking moments of sex and carnage. This gets a definite recommend to horror fans who can tolerate a bit of a slow build-up. 3.5 Outta 5