I want you lot to take a good look at these DVD covers. The one on the left is the one I found at my local library. Why they have this and not Fargo, I do not know. It was distributed by Inception Media Group for the US in 2015. The one on the right was distributed by Fabrication Films in 2013 outside the US. Before 2015, the right cover was the only copy of the film you could find and buy outside the US. Now, look at these covers and tell me which movie you would rather see? If you picked the one on the left, than more power to you. A creepy ghost in a creepy looking abandoned house. The cover looks false, but hey, it can't be that bad, right? Now, if you picked the one on the right, I can easily see why. You have a helicopter flying over Los Angeles, which is in burning flames, and you have a man in a gas-mask overlooking all of the destruction and chaos. It looks like a balls-to-the-wall apocalypse story set an alternate 2014. Now, guess which cover accurately details the events of the movie? NEITHER OF THEM. The film takes place in a house on Gabriel Street as the left cover suggests, yes, but that's not the house. Hell, I can't even call the house in the movie a house when it's a goddamn apartment building. But for some reason, everyone in the movie keeps calling it a house as if one person resided there. The left cover is also false because this movie has nothing to do with a haunting or ghosts...until the very end. The film takes place in LA as the right cover suggests, yes, but a majority of the film is spent in either an up and running apartment building or a dilapidated apartment building. The film has nothing to do with "the dawning of a new horror phenomenon" that has left the city of Los Angeles in a disastrous state that requires people to wear gas-masks. Not a single gas-mask or helicopter make an appearance in this movie. This movie doesn't even take place in 2014, it takes place in either June or July of 2011. I say either because the intro to this movie says there is a six month difference between an incident that occurred before the events of the movie, and the events of the movie itself. But everyone in the movie says five months. Someone went to the Texas Chainsaw 3D school of math. Speaking of which, throughout the movie, the newspaper text and dialogue from our characters go back and forth on the numbers 42 and 43.
The film was made in 2012 as The Sigil, starring writer, director, producer, and editor Brandon Cano-Errecart as Brandon. The film also stars writer and producer Nathan Dean Snyder as Nate. The film also features Devan Liljedahl as our main character Devan Lewis, Miki Matteson as Miki and Matthew Black as Matt. The film was produced by Triple D Productions in association with Onac Pictures. Sadly, there are no triple Ds in this movie. The film revolves around the death of Devan's brother Logan Lewis, and 41 or 42 of his neighbors in apartment building 413 Gabriel Street in LA, rounding up to a total of 42 or 43 dead people. Supposedly, the apartment building was built on top of an uranium deposit, and the radiation supposedly killed Logan and his other housemates. Devan and her friends travel down to LA to gather his belongings and figure out what really happened.
The film begins with a two minute intro of text provided by an unseen FBI Agent named Stan LaVey, who explains that the following information is classified, and Clearance Level S-71 is required to watch it. So basically, this Direct-to-DVD film can be seen by EVERYONE WORLDWIDE, for EVERYONE has Clearance Level S-71. The subject of the case being shown is labeled the Sigil, and Agent LaVey explains that we are watching damaged tapes recovered from a house in Western Los Angeles where, 5 OR 6 months prior, 42 or 43 people died. No connection has been found between the tapes' contents and the events of 5-6 months prior. The identities of the people in the tapes are classified (per Federal law, according to the Agent), and the whereabouts of the people in the tapes remain unknown. Already, this film is off to a bad start.
- It claims that no connection was found between the documented tapes and the deaths of the 42 or 43 people five or six months prior, yet the entire movie is about that connection. The connection is crystal fucking clear: 40+ people died by uranium supposedly, and several months later, one of the victim's relatives, and her friends, enter the same building searching for answers. Still, the FBI Agent says no connection at all has been found.
- It claims that the identities of the people in the tapes are classified, per Insert Federal Law Here, yet that wall of text inter-cuts with footage from the movie in which the characters say each other's names.
- The two minute opening to this movie was made by the FBI as if it was their own homemade episode of "A Haunting". I am assuming Agent LaVey is in charge of the Film & Editing Department with evidence found by the Los Angeles Federal Bureau of Investigation jurisdiction.
- The two minute intro that explains this movie is found footage...cuts to a third person point of view style of filming. This movie is not 100% found footage, meaning that half the scenes shown in this movie is stuff we're not supposed to be able to see. I like the concept of mixing found footage and standard film-making, but when the film introduces itself as a movie recovered from tape footage someone filmed, and proceed to show scenes that couldn't be accomplished without a film crew near by, your film's concept falls flat on its ass. So keep it mind, there are times in this movie where it switches back and forth between found footage and standard movie footage. I'm not going to point out when exactly it happens because I want don't want to waste any more energy talking about this movie, but just keep in mind, it goes back and forth between those two styles.
Wait a minute. Perhaps I'm thinking about this the wrong way. Perhaps the footage that Agent LaVey possesses is not of three young adults searching for answers. It's footage of a film crew making a movie about three young adults searching for answers. No, that wouldn't make any sense. The only logical thing left is that there is an invisible film crew following our main characters around for some reason. As they're driving, Brandon and Nate begin making a recurring joke that they'll make a documentary out of the footage and enter it into the Sundance Film Festival. Something tells me this movie never saw and never will see the day it gets into the Sundance Film Festival.
They get to the building, 413 Gabriel Street, and right away things don't add up. So much so, the characters have to point it out themselves. There are plants growing on the side of the building that is supposedly built on top of the uranium deposit. There are also people living in the adjacent apartment building, which is not safe at all if the adjacent, dilapidated apartment building is located above some uranium deposit. Oh, and the residents of the adjacent building have most of their windows open to let all of that radiation in. They're stopped from entering the building by one of the adjacent apartment residents named Miki, warning them it's been falling apart since the incident happened. Remember that for the ending; the apartment has been falling apart for a while. Miki allows the group to question her and her roommate Matt about what happened. Miki claims she moved into the apartment a week after it happened, but all she knows is what Matt knows. Matt claims that he heard the residents of the apartment went crazy and started killing each other, and the radiation poisoning was the supposed cause of it. Miki allows the group to spend the night with her and Matt so they can check the building out the following night.
While sleeping, Brandon wakes up to Matt chanting-in his sleep. Matt then violently wakes everyone up screaming "No!". Miki explains that Matt's behavior is due to him adjusting to a new medication he's taking for low blood sugar, and to top it off he has night terrors. The next morning, Devan questions Miki's treatment of Matt when she barely knows what's going on with him, and then gets upset because Nate did not give her attention when she said she's nervous about going into the apartment building. Devan, this is about you trying to figure out what happened to your brother, not you using his death to try and make a boyfriend out of Nate. By reading this, you think I'm an asshole for thinking that, but when you listen and watch her behavior during those scenes, you just want nothing more than for Miki to beat the fuck out of her. And the funny thing is, by the end of the movie, we're supposed to be rooting for Devan, but I was doing the exact opposite because of how much of a bitch she was. None of these characters, except maybe the naive Brandon, are likable.
Brandon shoots some B-roll of the abandoned building outside with Miki, and notices an amulet of sorts dangling from one of the broken windows on the second floor. Miki gets a shower and her hair starts to fall out and a Geiger Counter is heard going off in the background. So...Matt's behavior is due to radiation, and now Miki's suffering some effects too? I don't know what the fuck that was supposed to mean. While she's doing that, Brandon and Nate go interview people around LA, only to piss a couple people off. Later that night, Miki makes Matt take the group inside the apartment building by climbing a fence, where he begins to have problems again with his health. Upstairs, they go to Logan's room and find his diary. Wait, there is a diary that documents what happened and the FBI didn't seize this? Way to go, Agent LaVey, Devan then begins to have a mini breakdown, cursing everything in the house for taking her brother away from her. To me, it's not that the actress isn't trying, it's because the actress is making the character Devan more like a broken woman just so she can get close to Nate. I don't know if that was supposed to be the intent or if it was bad writing or improvisation, but whatever it was it makes Devan a lot more annoying.
Suddenly, they begin to hear chanting, the same kind that Brandon heard Matt said in his sleep, which he admits to the group, but not before Devan reveals she used to hear Logan chant in his sleep an unspecified time ago before his death when he came home to visit family. Okay, shouldn't that be a sign to the group that whatever happened to Logan is now happening to Matt? These guys, especially Nate, who is a conspiracy theorist, cannot connect the dots that fucking easily now for some reason. They grab Matt just as loud clattering is heard throughout the house, and yet Nate declares they are going to come back. Goddamn it, who the fuck would go back after that? Hell, I would drop Matt outside Miki's apartment, get into my car and drive the fuck back to Rockford, Illinois. Speaking of dropping Matt, they drop the unconscious Matt over the fence they climbed via front flip in one shot, but in the next shot he lands in a position that could only occur if they back flipped him over the fence.
Suddenly, they begin to hear chanting, the same kind that Brandon heard Matt said in his sleep, which he admits to the group, but not before Devan reveals she used to hear Logan chant in his sleep an unspecified time ago before his death when he came home to visit family. Okay, shouldn't that be a sign to the group that whatever happened to Logan is now happening to Matt? These guys, especially Nate, who is a conspiracy theorist, cannot connect the dots that fucking easily now for some reason. They grab Matt just as loud clattering is heard throughout the house, and yet Nate declares they are going to come back. Goddamn it, who the fuck would go back after that? Hell, I would drop Matt outside Miki's apartment, get into my car and drive the fuck back to Rockford, Illinois. Speaking of dropping Matt, they drop the unconscious Matt over the fence they climbed via front flip in one shot, but in the next shot he lands in a position that could only occur if they back flipped him over the fence.
They carry Matt upstairs, and you can clearly see they're shooting day for night because all they did was pull the blinds shut, yet sunlight is still coming through the blinds, and acting as the scene's source of lighting. And also, I'm beginning to notice that Nate's hair keeps changing throughout the movie sporadically. Miki and Devan get into another argument over Matt's health, and rightfully so, Miki tells Devan she is being irrational and tells her she can leave if she wants. And then Devan becomes more upset when Nate doesn't back her up. Bitch, quit complaining about the health of a person you do not know, nor could you possibly trust! Quit trying to be an emotional wreck just because you're not getting Nate's sympathy out of this, and stop taunting him about it! Nate is your friend, I know, but goddamn it, its obvious you want more from him, and now is not the time for that! I'm supposed to be rooting for you, not against you, Devan, so for Christ's sake be more likable by not being nosy and goddamn man needy! So Devan storms out and Nate goes after her, where they reconcile and Devan declares that Nate gave her the courage to come to California. Despite this whole trip being her idea, Nate doesn't bring that fact up as they kiss each other. Upstairs, Brandon gets a Coke from a vending machine and goes back into the apartment to see Miki have radiation burns and welts along her back. Seriously, either there is radiation or there isn't. Which one is it? Maybe its the Coke from that vending machine that caused her burns.
Nate and Devan read Logan's journal together out loud, with flashbacks included as they read. Yes, this found footage that the FBI possess on tapes include flashbacks somehow. Anyway, the journal chronicles January 4th, January 9th, January 12th, January 14th and the date everyone in the apartment died on, Saturday January 15th. Wait, the newspaper earlier said Thursday, January 20th. Is it January 15th or January 20th, movie?! January 4th detailed that a man named Luke kept looking at Logan's girlfriend and he wants her. January 9th detailed Luke giving Logan white pills to mix into water for something, and that the upcoming Thursday is THE DAY. By that logic, Thursday would be January 13th. Nate immediately jumps to conclusions and thinks that Logan poisoned his own girlfriend with the pills, despite nothing in the journal indicates that happening, unless Nate read ahead of Devan. January 12th, a Wednesday, details Logan keeping his girlfriend in his apartment not tied up, despite Luke's wishes for her to be. January 14th, a Friday...time out. Thursday was THE DAY mentioned previously on the 9th. What happened Thursday the 13th? Was Thursday referring to the 13th or next Thursday on the 20th? If so, why the hell wouldn't Luke say next Thursday? And if THE DAY (a Thursday mind you), is supposed to be the day everyone dies, why the hell does the journal chronicling this end on Saturday the 15th, and not Thursday the 13th or Thursday the 20th?! Goddamn it, movie, stop going Texas Chainsaw 3D on me with telling time and shit!
Anyway, January 14th revealed Luke to be a supposed prophet of Baphomet, and Luke and the other housemates want Logan's girlfriend to be the vessel for Baphomet. Logan expressed concerns over Luke's bullshit and how Luke just wants Baphomet and his Sigil for himself. January 15th, or 13th or 20th, depending on which ever one this movie will decide on, details Logan's plan to save his girlfriend. It involved breaking the chant by ripping off his own Sigil in front of everyone. Brandon, overhearing Nate and Devan's journal narration, looks up Baphomet and Sigil on his laptop, and tells Nate privately that Baphomet is a deity worshiped by cults, known as the "Sabbatic Goat"; half man, half goat. Sigil is a magical seal, like a pendant or amulet, and the Sigil of Baphomet is the official insignia for the Church of Satan. Everyone in Apartment Building 413 on Gabriel Street was involved with Satanism, and they're all dead because Logan broke the chant. Also, our characters turn in for the night, the Sigil of Baphomet appears on the moon for foreshadowing reasons, I guess. It's lucky the invisible camera crew filmed that footage of the moon. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to see this occasion.
Anyway, January 14th revealed Luke to be a supposed prophet of Baphomet, and Luke and the other housemates want Logan's girlfriend to be the vessel for Baphomet. Logan expressed concerns over Luke's bullshit and how Luke just wants Baphomet and his Sigil for himself. January 15th, or 13th or 20th, depending on which ever one this movie will decide on, details Logan's plan to save his girlfriend. It involved breaking the chant by ripping off his own Sigil in front of everyone. Brandon, overhearing Nate and Devan's journal narration, looks up Baphomet and Sigil on his laptop, and tells Nate privately that Baphomet is a deity worshiped by cults, known as the "Sabbatic Goat"; half man, half goat. Sigil is a magical seal, like a pendant or amulet, and the Sigil of Baphomet is the official insignia for the Church of Satan. Everyone in Apartment Building 413 on Gabriel Street was involved with Satanism, and they're all dead because Logan broke the chant. Also, our characters turn in for the night, the Sigil of Baphomet appears on the moon for foreshadowing reasons, I guess. It's lucky the invisible camera crew filmed that footage of the moon. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to see this occasion.
That night, Brandon wakes up to find Matt climbing over the fence into the apartment building, and he and his friends go after him, while Miki objects to them following him in there, and once again, Devan shows off her bitchiness by unnecessarily brushing by Miki while going out the door. The group follows Matt upstairs, but somehow lose him. Looking around more thoroughly this time, they find a picture of Matt labeled "Luke LaVey, Class of 2013". Two problems here:
The group concludes that Miki has some kind of control over Matt and that's why he acts sick every time he does something she wants him to do. Yet, after learning that those two are the bad guys, they proceed into the basement to find Matt and get answers out of him. STOP ACTING SO STUPID! They go into the basement, where they discover where the cult held their gathering. There, they also supposedly find the Sigil Brandon saw earlier, which is also supposedly the one Logan took. Nate and Brandon explain to Devan that her brother was a Satanist, and she barely bats an eye to this information. My guess, after kissing Nate earlier, she doesn't give a shit about what happened to her brother anymore, or more than likely, never did.
Matt appears and attacks Nate in an attempt to retrieve the Sigil, but is knocked down by Brandon. Miki comes in, talking in a demonic voice now, and tends to Matt. Suddenly, Nate is possessed by the spirit of Logan Lewis, and he makes dialogue with his sister, saying it all started as mock rituals, but Luke pushed things. Logan reveals that Miki was his girlfriend, and was the vessel for Baphomet. Because Logan disrupted the chant and took away the Sigil, Baphomet possessed Miki and turned against the congregation by using the chant against them, melting their minds and making them kill each other. Logan exits Nate's body, and Nate recovers from being possessed by Logan. The Baphomet possessed Miki explains that her vessel is weakening, which explains the burns/welts I guess (not really), and needs Devan's body to continue on living, but needs the Sigil for protection......
So why did you wait five to six goddamn months to do so?! You knew where the goddamn Sigil was earlier, so why not get it yourself?! In fact, who the fuck moved it from the upstairs window to the damn basement?! Matt?! Is Miki just possessing Matt to retrieve the damn thing for her, and if so, why does he keep moving it?! Does Matt keep remembering he has full control over himself better than Baphomet does, and just attempts to move it to fuck with her?! Better questions! Why can't Miki, who is possessed by Baphomet, grab the damn Sigil herself?! Does it have to be given willingly by someone and not taken?! What are the rules for using this Sigil that prevent Baphomet from completing her task?! Even better questions! What the fuck would have happened if this group didn't show up?! Would Miki just keep continuously and effortlessly keep sending Matt back in to grab it, but fail every time?! Would Baphomet continue doing so until he burns his Miki-vessel out?!!!
FUCK IT, it's almost over! Matt stabs Brandon (who continues to record everything as he's bleeding out), Miki takes Devan hostage, and Nate threatens to destroy the Sigil. The possessed Matt attempts to get it off of Nate, but breaks free of Miki's control again for a brief second just to tell Nate to smash it. Nate does the exact opposite of what he threatened to do, and tells Miki and the possessed Matt to fetch the Sigil for themselves as he chucks it across the room. But it hits a wall and breaks off-screen...I think. And the vibration on the wall, I guess, causes the dilapidated building to finally start collapsing in on itself. Miki and Matt are left in the basement searching for the Sigil...or the broken pieces of the Sigil or something, I don't know. The lighting gets really bad at this part. The main characters try to escape as the ceiling above them starts collapsing in the cheapest way possible. It is so cheap, it mirrors the crappy high school projects I've seen many do over the years. Brandon drops the camera, whose battery dies out as it appears they are about to escape, and the film cuts to black as the credits roll. It's bad when The Devil Inside ended like this, but the fact that this movie established it combines standard film-making and found footage together, but ends abruptly because the fucking camera's batteries died, is insulting to the audience. But wait, there's more. An after credits scene is shown where the FBI find the tape of what happened in the ruins of the house, and they hand it over to Agent LaVey, who still remains to be seen.
Overall? I will say there is some passion here from director Brandon Cano-Errecart in terms of acting and directing, and he does have a bit of a style, but it doesn't mix well with the other factors. The acting from most of the cast is forgettable, the editing of standard movie scenes is okay, the lighting sucks, there are too many errors and holes in logic and it's just a waste of time. Whichever cover or version of the film you come across, I repeat, don't waste your time with it. 1 out of 10.
- The film takes place in 2011. If Class of 2013 is supposed to hint that Matt is a sophomore in High School, Matt does not look like a High School Sophomore, unless he's supposed to be a Sophomore in College.
- Not only is Matt the Luke that Logan Lewis wrote in his journal, but his last name is LaVey.
The group concludes that Miki has some kind of control over Matt and that's why he acts sick every time he does something she wants him to do. Yet, after learning that those two are the bad guys, they proceed into the basement to find Matt and get answers out of him. STOP ACTING SO STUPID! They go into the basement, where they discover where the cult held their gathering. There, they also supposedly find the Sigil Brandon saw earlier, which is also supposedly the one Logan took. Nate and Brandon explain to Devan that her brother was a Satanist, and she barely bats an eye to this information. My guess, after kissing Nate earlier, she doesn't give a shit about what happened to her brother anymore, or more than likely, never did.
Matt appears and attacks Nate in an attempt to retrieve the Sigil, but is knocked down by Brandon. Miki comes in, talking in a demonic voice now, and tends to Matt. Suddenly, Nate is possessed by the spirit of Logan Lewis, and he makes dialogue with his sister, saying it all started as mock rituals, but Luke pushed things. Logan reveals that Miki was his girlfriend, and was the vessel for Baphomet. Because Logan disrupted the chant and took away the Sigil, Baphomet possessed Miki and turned against the congregation by using the chant against them, melting their minds and making them kill each other. Logan exits Nate's body, and Nate recovers from being possessed by Logan. The Baphomet possessed Miki explains that her vessel is weakening, which explains the burns/welts I guess (not really), and needs Devan's body to continue on living, but needs the Sigil for protection......
So why did you wait five to six goddamn months to do so?! You knew where the goddamn Sigil was earlier, so why not get it yourself?! In fact, who the fuck moved it from the upstairs window to the damn basement?! Matt?! Is Miki just possessing Matt to retrieve the damn thing for her, and if so, why does he keep moving it?! Does Matt keep remembering he has full control over himself better than Baphomet does, and just attempts to move it to fuck with her?! Better questions! Why can't Miki, who is possessed by Baphomet, grab the damn Sigil herself?! Does it have to be given willingly by someone and not taken?! What are the rules for using this Sigil that prevent Baphomet from completing her task?! Even better questions! What the fuck would have happened if this group didn't show up?! Would Miki just keep continuously and effortlessly keep sending Matt back in to grab it, but fail every time?! Would Baphomet continue doing so until he burns his Miki-vessel out?!!!
FUCK IT, it's almost over! Matt stabs Brandon (who continues to record everything as he's bleeding out), Miki takes Devan hostage, and Nate threatens to destroy the Sigil. The possessed Matt attempts to get it off of Nate, but breaks free of Miki's control again for a brief second just to tell Nate to smash it. Nate does the exact opposite of what he threatened to do, and tells Miki and the possessed Matt to fetch the Sigil for themselves as he chucks it across the room. But it hits a wall and breaks off-screen...I think. And the vibration on the wall, I guess, causes the dilapidated building to finally start collapsing in on itself. Miki and Matt are left in the basement searching for the Sigil...or the broken pieces of the Sigil or something, I don't know. The lighting gets really bad at this part. The main characters try to escape as the ceiling above them starts collapsing in the cheapest way possible. It is so cheap, it mirrors the crappy high school projects I've seen many do over the years. Brandon drops the camera, whose battery dies out as it appears they are about to escape, and the film cuts to black as the credits roll. It's bad when The Devil Inside ended like this, but the fact that this movie established it combines standard film-making and found footage together, but ends abruptly because the fucking camera's batteries died, is insulting to the audience. But wait, there's more. An after credits scene is shown where the FBI find the tape of what happened in the ruins of the house, and they hand it over to Agent LaVey, who still remains to be seen.
Overall? I will say there is some passion here from director Brandon Cano-Errecart in terms of acting and directing, and he does have a bit of a style, but it doesn't mix well with the other factors. The acting from most of the cast is forgettable, the editing of standard movie scenes is okay, the lighting sucks, there are too many errors and holes in logic and it's just a waste of time. Whichever cover or version of the film you come across, I repeat, don't waste your time with it. 1 out of 10.
