The Devil's Work

Arriving at a remote cottage, a couple's attempts at building their relationship in seclusion are upended by a revelation that one of their siblings' psychotic tendencies are coming to the forefront in an unexpected way when they follow the couple to the cottage and set about trying to ruin the night.

Overall, this was a pretty solid if troubling genre thriller. The main thing that works here is the solid starting point that offers not just a means of getting the couple to the house but plays well with the idea of mental insanity and isolation. The main point of the first half to set up the couple and their relationship together by showing them arrive at the location and go about getting into the mindset of their forgotten sister trailing them comes about quite nicely overall. Focusing on introducing it so subtly against the rest of the material featuring the marital quirks or general issues with each other slowly turns into a series of exposes on how the sister is so mentally challenged and unhinged that everything going on is quite built up quite well. Even the scenes later on showing the invasion and attempts at rectifying a perceived wrong come together well. With this setting the payoff of the trauma we've gotten until then makes this section of the film descends into a strikingly tense and thrilling series of setpieces that are even more impressive given the one-shot nature of how this plays out, everything here is rather fun. The fact that it's just immensely slow and not that interesting due to the excruciatingly slow pace and tempo of everything as there's so little energy or urgency to anything going on it just sucks the life out of the material. Regardless of how fun everything is and how it all comes together, the lethargic action just undoes everything positive to the point of draining this one completely for its detrimental factors.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

This it's not so much a review as a warning. The action in this movie could have been distilled into about 11 minutes. That 11 minutes would have been well done but you would have needed another 79 minutes to make a complete film. It must have been done for less than $2,000, and it was probably shot in less than a week. The camera work is very amateurish. It looks like it was shot with a cell phone. There are many lengthy and painful close-ups of characters doing nothing However, there is a quality to it that makes you stick with the film far longer than you should while you crave for some action that never comes. Don't bother with this.

I am stil actually watching this right now . ,apparently there's still about twenty minutes to go , probably five will be credits .

It started out fine .(why people bother locking doors if you leave keys under mats is a mystery to me . ) About twenty minutes in I was thinking this seems like one of those short films and had to double check that it wasn't , seemed like it was pretty obvious what would happen and should be over soon , here I am , feels like an hour later and apart from a lot of wandering around and slow walking I still feel the same . Some of the reviews talk about one shot take thing but so what , that's been done before , This should have been like thirty minutes ,tops .

Oh no , surprise ending ...nah . Not really. Finally over though.

It's not bad , but way too long and nothing exciting or new.

Saw The Devils Work by Ursula Dabrowski in Adelaide. It was my first time watching a Dabrowski film and after seeing this it left me wanting to see all of her work. I LOVED IT! I'm not much into to gore but love a suspenseful thriller and this film delivered. The balance was perfect and done in a way which made it feel authentic and believable, fully immersing me in the script. I thought the music was fantastic, heightening the suspense and the acting was excellent.

After the screening during the Q&A Ursula revealed that The Devils Work was shot in just four days, on a very low budget and in one location. Incredible talent to pull off such a feat. Highly recommend!

Fantastic how Ursula Dabrowsky's The Devil's Work is filmed entirely in one shot and uses suspense instead of gore to rack up the non-stop tension. Super, super effective.

I particularly liked the music score by Mick Taylor and sound design by Tom Wroblewski. They are both outstanding.

It's a slow burn start, but I understand why Ursula Dabrowsky paced it that way and the tension holds through the set up scenes.

The last act really pays off.

I was at the Monster Fest screening and during the Q&A after the screening, the director told the audience that the film was shot in four nights. Incredible outcome by the cast and crew, particularly Maxx Corkindale, Cinematographer, given the schedule.

Great performances by Cassandra Kane and Luca Sardelis, who play two sisters, Charlie and Lindy. They have been brought up by a mother with serious mental health issues, and the film explores how this upbringing affects the women and their own relationship with each other in horrible ways.

Lindy's tragic flaw is that she has internalised the brunt of trauma for so long, the only way she can channel it is through mind games, manipulation, and a narcissistic rage that turns violent.

But rather than being exploitative, the film shifts POV and also shows a sad, poignant side of Lindy, where she is seen as a victim of her tragic circumstances.

In the end, The Devil's Work is an extended metaphor wrapped in a psychological horror film about what needs to be done when you have toxic family members who are making your life hell.