Where The Devil Roams
USA | English
2023 | xx Minutes
Director: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser
Cast: John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser
I have long heard nothing but great things about the Adams family and that they are a treasure in indie American film making and as such, was quite looking forward to viewing Where The Devil Roams. Hellbender, the previous film from the Adams family received a whole lot of praise and although I haven’t seen anything this family troupe has done prior, I had great expectations for Where The Devil Roams. I was eagerly looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about.
Depression-era America. It’s a time of desperation in a climate steeped in superstition and distrust. And engulfed, for better or worse, in actual occult magic. The family’s creative collaborations bond them in special ways. As do their crimes, and the mounting bodies left in their wake.
See Also: Devils at Fantasia Festival 2023
Opening with morose poetry probably wasn’t what I had expected off the bat, and much of what was to follow was either. While there is little doubt that the Adams family are quite the talented bunch, going as far as to write and perform the musical score of the film as well as write it, direct it and do just about everything else imaginable in it – it still seemed flat and uninspired. I’m probably going to ruffle a few feathers by saying (not that I care) but that is the honest truth. I came away from Where The Devil Roams thinking that it could have been so, so much more.
The cinematography was gorgeous; especially the scenes that showed an old 1934 Ford bombing along foggy country roads. The ambience that created was something to behold – but the remaining set pieces – the killings and such, seemed so pointless and haphazard. Perhaps has the Adams gang spent more time fleshing out (see what I did there?) their characters so that the audience might actually care about them, it would have had a deeper impact or meaning. Instead, I felt like I was watching a group of misfits doing weird shit for an hour and a half.
I enjoyed the carnival setting, and found it brought back memories of a TV I once obsessed over – Carnivàle, which criminally only lasted two seasons before getting the axe, and felt a lot like another well-adored television show, The X-Files. An assortment of charismatic carnies, clowns, magicians, and artists that they connected with along previous journeys take to the roads of America, committing atrocities along the way to keep themselves alive, through new limbs and… some such shit.
Much of the film felt more like a Rob Zombie music video than an actual feature film, with a whole lot of scenes that seemed more hellbent on creeping people out than actually telling a story. A lot of it simply didn’t make sense, either. A mute girl that sings, for example. For a period piece, there seemed to be a whole of continuity issues as well – things shown that shouldn’t or wouldn’t have existed during the period in which the film was made. Maybe minor details for some, but incredibly annoying to me.
While I still sense that there is enough skill on display here to make the Adams family something to behold in the future – and while I do still have an interest in their past projects and probably their future endeavors too; I don’t think I have much praise to sing about Where The Devil Roams.
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In my more than twenty years attending the Fantasia Film Festival, I don’t think I have ever seen so many early exists from the cinema as I witnessed during Where The Devil Roams – and I admit that I considered following suit, but stayed in order to give as accurate a review of the film as I possibly could. Normally a film like this at a showing at Fantasia, is met with cheers, jeers and all manor of crowd participation and interaction yet the hall was deadly silent on this night. Not so much as a woo or a clap. I have never yet walked out on a movie and it was probably my own stubbornness that kept me from doing so here.
While I have been somewhat harsh on the film; I see it only fair to say that others around me did seem to be enjoying the film. Perhaps it simply wasn’t my cup of tea.
