Devil's Diary

DEVIL'S DIARY (TV MOVIE 2007)

BASIC PLOT: On a strange night, in an abandoned cemetery, two teenage girls, Dominique (Alexz Johnson) and Ursula (Magda Apanowicz), see a grave get hit by lightening. When they approach it, they see it's a minister's grave, and on top of it, still smoking, is a strange book. It appears unharmed by the lightening strike, and is full of blank pages. Dominique is unfazed by this odd occurrence, but Ursula is intrigued. There's an inscription inside the book's cover. It reads, "Who shall ever freely give thy soul in these pages, shall be requited with a power. The word is thy bond." Ursula feels a strange pull coming from the book, and when she returns home, she begins pouring out every negative and hateful feeling she has ever had, onto it's pages. Most of her thoughts are on the "popular bullies," the cheerleaders, the jocks, all of which have made her life a living hell. The next day, the head cheerleader, Heather (Miriam McDonald), has her legs crushed in a freak accident. The day after, Heather's boyfriend is burned in chemistry class. Ursula's behavior is becoming increasingly bizarre. Dominique knows she has to get help, and soon. A strange title appeared on the cover of the book, after Ursula began writing in it. When translated from Latin, it reads, "Devil's Diary." Dominique's only hope is Father Mulligan (Brian Krause). Can the two of them discover what's happening in time to save Ursula's immortal soul?

WHAT WORKS: *This is a great atmospheric! The location management team (Jamie Lake -location manager and Kimberly Lozinski -location scout) deserve real accolades for finding these creepy locations. The cemetery, the old church, even Dominique's house, all give this film a disturbing vibe.

*John Benjamin Martin does a great job writing believable characters. Anyone who's ever been to high school will recognize these people. It's a much better effort than his later work, I'd recommend you avoid Secrets of the Summer House (2008), one of the worst movies I've ever seen. But here he shines, giving a dark interpretation of a supernatural teen scream.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *Why doesn't Father Mulligan (Brian Krause) come to Dominique's aid at the end of the movie? He would be able to help her formulate a story, so she wouldn't be trapped in the nut hut. His character in general, is not needed, and never materializes to anything.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of supernatural teen screams. It is a bit dark, but a worthwhile effort, especially for a made-for-tv movie.

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a Made-For-TV movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews. Hope I helped you out.

maybe I'm a lightweight anyway these days since I am not interested in some really extreme horror these days but this film in spite of I would say not great acting and the story having some really weak points and going in directions that made no sense at all sometimes, with some situations just getting sorted out way too easily and in spite of the dialog not being too good still it was plotted in a way that made it lots of fun and it was very nerve wracking to wait for these bad things to happen. one thing that was odd was that the evil stepfather was really so good looking that, if you have to have a bad stepfather, it could be a lot worse than with that guy...and he gives mountain climbing tours in Vancouver I see go-ogling him. quite the fox.

I didn't have real high hopes for this movie, even though it had some pretty high ratings, I never go buy these couch critics ratings because they're usually so far off I can't even believe they wrote them!

The acting was superb in this movie, The actress that played Dominique is a brilliant young actress, and I have a feeling we're going to see much more of her in the future... This movie was evil incarnate, not huge on a effects, just pure Evil! GREAT Premise! And GOOD Acting! Everything Evil the bearer writes in the book comes true, and some of these little teenage girls have got some very evil Imaginations running around in their little heads LOL so give this movie a try I think you'll like it! I enjoyed the hell out of it (Pun intended)

So two high school girls find an evil demonic book in a graveyard while performing rituals in the graveyard like normal high school girls do. Much hilarity ensues.

And really, it did not exactly go how I figured it would. I wish it would have had some TA or some great lines, but overall watching it certainly didn't make me miserable. 6/10

Two outcast teen girls find a mysterious book with blank pages. As one of them (Magda Apanowicz) uses the 'diary' to get revenge on adversaries at school, the other (Alexz Johnson) starts to see negative changes in her friend. As they say, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

"Devil's Diary" (2007) is high school horror in the mold of "Christine" in which a persecuted misfit gains an advantage from some dubious source and proceeds to wreak vengeance on his or her harassers. "The Rage: Carrie 2" and "The Unhealer" are other examples of this subgenre.

While this one isn't as good as those three films, it thankfully breaks from formula 40 minutes in, which places it in the ballpark of TV occult horror flicks like "Bay Coven" and "Satan's School for Girls" (2000). Although it's not as good as the former, it's superior to the latter (the 1973 version as well). As a television production, there's a simplicity and comic book air to the proceedings. Don't look for cinematic artistry.

So, whereas the set-up is too brisk and by-the-numbers prosaic, "Devil's Diary" should be respected for trying something different and adding to the hackneyed recipe. In addition, Deanna Casaluce is a highlight on the feminine front (Georgia) while statuesque Laura Carswell is worth a mention (Lisa).

If you liked "Bad Girls From Valley High" or "Disturbing Behavior" you'll probably appreciate this one, although it's a notch or two lower on the production level.

The film runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia.

GRADE: B-