A religious action horror movie feels like something of an oxymoron. Religious films tend to be niche affairs that sell tickets to church crowds, while action horror cinema attracts boycotts from the same audience. However, the two genres frequently find unlikely common ground. Bible thumpers want to make their stodgy old scripture look cool and edgy cinema needs to be a bit transgressive.The Devil Conspiracydemonstrates how to fail at both.
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What isThe Devil Conspiracyabout?
Long before the birth of humanity,Lucifer fell from God’s grace. Along with an army of fellow fallen angels, the light-bringer wages war against his creator. Lucifer loses almost immediately. His punishment is being trapped forever in Hell. The archangel Michael does the deed, prompting Lucifer to swear vengeance against his former brother. Thousands of years later, a prominent biotech firm demonstrates the ability to resurrect long-dead figures. The company is a multi-billion dollar cover for an ancient cult intending to free Lucifer from Hell. To that end, cult leader Liz steals the Shroud of Turin, giving the company access to the DNA of Jesus Christ. On the way out, Liz murders a priest. With his dying breath, the preacher calls Michael to possess his body. Michael arrives, takes his new Earthly vessel, and fights to stop the cult from bringing the devil to Earth.
Do religious action films ever work?
The Devil Conspiracydoesn’t work on any level. The special effects aren’t terrible, but the film’s lighting is so consistently dark that they’re impossible to see. The characters are broad archetypes who lack any real depth. The film makes victims out of every woman in the cast, even the one supposed to be the main villain. It delves into biblical lore, but neither hardcore theologists nor complete newcomers will get anything out of its tortured Apocrypha. The acting is terrible across the board. The action set pieces lack impact, and the scares lack teeth. It’s far more fun as a “so bad it’s good” offering.Its hilarious “butt rock” soundtrackinspires chuckles in almost every scene. Every character is overdesigned to the point of comedy. Every ostensibly shocking turn of the narrative will leave audiences confused. All in all, it should have come out around 15 years earlier.
Nine years ago, Ridley Scott tried to make an action epic out of Moses and Ramses and ended up withExodus: Gods and Kings. Three years earlier,Scott Stewart directedPriest, an extremely loose adaptation of a Korean manhwa in which a man of God uses crosses to fight vampires.Priestwas Stewart’s second attempt at religious action cinema. His 2010 offering,Legion, saw the archangel Michael fighting fallen angels to save humanity. These are the films thatThe Devil Conspiracyshould share shelf space with. Films borrowing scripture the way modern filmmakers use comic books. Scott was adapting The Old Testament. Stewart andDevil Conspiracydirector Nathan Frankowski use it asready-made heroes and villains. However, these films share a widely negative critical and cultural response. There’s always something off about this kind of movie.
How doesThe Devil Conspiracyend?
The evil biotech cult’s plan to bring Lucifer back is to impregnate a woman with the DNA of Jesus as gathered by the Shroud of Turin. Their target is a woman named Laura. They kidnap her and impregnate her. She spends most of the movie trying to terminate her evil pregnancy, only to befully possessed by Lucifer. Michael is trapped in Hell, but a group of children set him free by finding his magic sword. Michael discovers that Lauren is under Lucifer’s control, but he also finds that the entire plot is God’s plan. Lucifer’s kid won’t be evil, nor will he serve as an Earthly vessel for the devil. Lucifer’s son is destined to defeat him. Lucifer panics, Liz refuses to kill the baby, and Laura gives birth. Michael destroys the portal to Hell and the biotech firm. Michael then returns to Hell and rescues the kids that helped him. Liz survives and tracks down Laura and her kid.The cult leader triesto address the kid as Lucifer. Some evil mist escapes the boy, but he sucks it back in and walks away.
The Devil Conspiracyis hilarious for all the wrong reasons. It’s a disastrous action horror movie that doesn’t know what it wants to be and refuses to try anything new. Fans oflaughing at goofy schlockor mild sacrilege will loveThe Devil Conspiracy. If it kicks off a religious action revival, fans could be laughing all the way to the multiplex for the next few years.
