DEVON (2023)

New streaming on Screambox from Cineverse!
Directen/Written by Jenni Farley.
Check out the trailer here!!

A group of influencers are promised a big cash reward if they spend the night in an abandoned asylum and find new evidence about a young girl named Devon who disappeared there years ago. As night goes on, the influencers find much more than clues in the dark and creepy halls.

Are the actors successfully acting like they aren’t acting?
Off and on, I guess. There is a whole lot of talking and emotion being lobbed about between this group of influencers. People get upset. People connect. People break down and cry. People flirt with one another. People flip their shit out. It’s kind of like watching the faux drama you see in every reality TV episode, where in the moment is where everyone is and it’s the most important thing in the world right at that time. It’s all vapid melodrama and tween chatter-speak. The actors really don’t sell much of the drama, especially the lead (played by Rotisha Geter) who flips her wig over and again yet doesn’t do so convincingly at all.

Does the footage found seem authentic and untouched by additional production (which means there is no omniscient editor making multiple edits between cameras or an invisible orchestra providing music)?
DEVON uses musical cues. They are subtle and I guess this is supposed to be some kind of produced documentary of sorts, as cameras are placed throughout the asylum. Still, there is no indication as to who might have edited all of this footage together, as those who survived the night are immediately being interviewed by the cops. So, this is just a compilation of random footage taken from multiple cameras. In order to be convincing found footage, the story should unfold within the camera. Authenticity is something all found footagers should strive for. If it’s not a goal, then just film the damn thing theatrically and be done with it. Using cheats like multiple angles and musical cues only shows laziness and lack of creativity.

Why don’t they just drop the camera and get the hell out of there?
Well, sometimes they do. Then other times, the security cameras capture the action. Because the story is inexplicably edited, they don’t really have a reason to keep filming, but somehow, they keep capturing the footage anyway. See the previous answer.

Is there an up-nose BLAIR WITCH confessional or a REC-drag away from the camera?
There are two up nose confessionals, which is two too many in my book. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was 25 years ago. Can we please stop looking up the nostrils of people while they sob out their final Oscar moment to anyone who finds the camera? It was old in the oughts’. Ancient in the 20-teens. And now that we are in the 20-twenties, it should be downright illegal to film this creatively decrepit scene. Even ironically, it doesn’t work anymore, so just quit it.

Does anything actually happen? Is the lead in too long and the payoff too short?
There is a lot of sitting and talking and getting to know you time in the front end of DEVON. Then there are some spooky exploring the asylum moments, but then, inexplicably, the group sits down again and have another heart to heart, basically just to pad out the runtime. Things happen. People are attacked by what looks like specters that haunt the asylum and some of these scenes even work. But there is a lot of down time and because the final moments are played at the beginning of the film, you already know how it’s all going to end up and who will survive, so the climax is kind of lackluster as well.

Does the film add anything to the subgenre and is it worth watching?
If you haven’t noticed, I didn’t really like DEVON. I will give it to the film. The asylum is very creepy, though by this point, it is hardly anything new as films like GRAVE ENCOUNTERS and GONJIAM HAUNTED ASYLUM have done the setting perfectly. But while the setting is moody and atmospheric, DEVON feels like a lazy, low effort found footager stuck in the past rather than anything that pushes the genre forward.