Where the Devil Roams

Short review: 'Where the Devil Roams' made me really happy. To see a family making independent horror movies is terrific, but these are anything but your average home movies. This one is made with a lot of class. It's extremely dark in the early going, but it isn't afraid to throw in some moments of humour. And it's absolutely funny stuff, but the tone is so dark you can almost feel bad for laughing.

This one was described to me before going in as a slow-burn, but I'm not sure I'd agree with that assessment. There's a hell of a lot of violence and mayhem for a 'Slow-burn". Then the twisted ending is the cherry on top. I enjoyed this movie. 7/10.

Yeah that was exactly what I said at the end of this film. I really didn't get it. But at the same time, it was hard to look away because it kept getting weirder with rather fascinating cinematography and imagery. Still...

"Where the Devil Roams" is the latest Adam's Family opus, and while better than "Hellbender," it has serious issues that require an open mind a GREAT deal of patience. It's 93 minutes long but feels a heck of a lot longer. The description sounded interesting: a Depression-era family, part of a bizarre carnival, who go on a killing spree. But where it goes from there is miles away from what you're probably expecting. Sure was for me. The beginning confused me. The second act was tedious but seemed cohesive. But the third act made the confusion of the first act even more so. And the ending was just...what the?

On the positive side, it was absolutely filmed beautifully. The photography is at times stunning, reflecting the bleakness of the time and surroundings. The special effects are reasonably well done considering the budget, and the acting is acceptable-although it threw me off that two of the actors looked a lot alike and I didn't realize until the end of the movie that they were different people.

But truthfully, I don't even know where to begin to describe this. The script meandered as much as the family did. So much was not explained and it reeeeally needed a lot of explaining. And the last 15-20 minutes were just out there. Yes it kept my attention, but I JUST DIDN'T GET IT.

I give it a 5/10 because I'm 50/50 on whether I should recommend it or not.

And this one is out there. In my best estimate, it is as though they have pureed Alejandro Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre with Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde and distilled that into a feature-long Dresden Dolls music video.

Set during the Great Depression, it's a tale of ukeleles, dronecore, baby shoes, shell shock and side-show extremity regeneration. As with most of their previous offerings, the Adamses have done a lot of lore and world-crafting but leave a good deal of it unexplained. Weird things just happen in their films as if all is normal.

And I am totally fine with that.

They are making films they want to make - which is admirable in its own right.

Is it shot on a budget? Sure.

Is the acting oddly stilted? Absolutely.

But that is the charm. Like John Waters carefree guerilla cinema style. They're just making quirky horror in upstate NY with anachronistic scoring with no fear of taking things in odd directions. And that is what makes their movies interesting and different.

This one maintains that trend.

I really love the other titles this family has given us. My expectations for a film are rather particular and my tastes are a little exacting. Not many pictures particularly move me. When I heard Wonder Wheel had a new movie, I was genuinely excited. Trying to keep my hopes in check, I still knew they're not going to shy away from making a gripping movie that's unafraid of a supernatural concept. The creepy carnival gig is right up my proverbial street.

But there's so little plot. This isn't a movie so much as an art project and a showcase for their daughter's ability to sing a capella.

I respect what they were going for, I respect what they were trying to accomplish but it's not for me, as much as I really wanted it to be.

I can only see these guys getting better over time. For a small family run production company they cover most, if not all aspects of their productions, including most of their own music (H6LLB6ND6R is on bandcamp). Even the practical effects were really decent, all things considered. Sure there were some things i didn't really care for, but i think it's important for people like this to exist and be out there, making things they want to make. Great things can be created with little in the way of tools (and/or money), and they did a good job in that regard. I'll definitely need to check out their previous work, and of course looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.