The budget may be low, but the level of scares and imagination are lower still in “Along Came the Devil,” a feeble indie horror film that sometimes seems like a straight retread and other times feels like a movie aimed specifically at Christian audiences.
Either way, it creaks more than it creeps, to the extent that various scenes appear to be missing from director Jason DeVan’s disjointed debut. Uninspired and increasingly silly, the Atlanta-shot movie will strike most genre fans as overly derivative, while the moderate amount of cursing and gore (however unconvincing) will nevertheless be more than faith-based-entertainment seekers typically find palatable. Gravitas Ventures is giving the picture a limited theatrical launch Aug. 10, simultaneous with on-demand/digital HD release.
Warning bells go off immediately as the film starts with far too much explanatory text, a ham-fisted childhood flashback and the de rigueur claim: “Based on true events” (though if this movie is based on anything, it’s William Friedkin’s original 1973 “The Exorcist,” whose ideas are at times quite shamelessly copied).
