Bury The Devil

Framing a house inferno, screams coming from within, Bury the Devil then takes us back 75 minutes for a real-time, single-take catchup of the events that led up it.

Julia (Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez) is a hospice nurse looking after dementia patient Evelyn (Dawn Ford). Getting Evelyn ready for bed she prays while Julia takes a call from her father who doesn’t appear to understand her job and leads to an exchange about her late mother.

Before long Randall (Bill Rowat), Evelyn’s ex arrives and asks to see her. He’s holding a rosary and as they reminisce asks her about a letter she wrote which has him troubled. He departs with a warning for Julia, who by now realises that something isn’t quite right. Confirmed when Evelyn begins to wander about the house eating the trash and attacking Julia.

Directed by Adam O’Brien, co-written with Brad Hodson and Philip Kalin-Hajdu, Bury the Devil won’t provide many revelations for seasoned horror film viewers. But the scope of the story, the tightness of the direction and technical skill on show more than compensate for the lack of originality.

A lot is packed in as the source of the evil makes itself known and those arranged against it. However even under the tight discipline of telling a story in real-time and one-shot filming, the film reveals slowly developing the tension and the story, through sigils, incantations, ceremony, icons etc.

Much of the credit here must go Lussier Martinez and Ford. The former as she puts the pieces together with an enveloping dread as the demon turns is sights to her. The latter initially sensitively portraying a person with dementia and an eliciting some empathy before an almost about turn. The male contribution is a little on the clumsy side though an opportunity for the SFX team to show us what they can do.

Bury the Devil received its world premiere at FrightFest Glasgow on 6 March