Mark Reviews Movies: THE DEVIL CONSPIRACY

The Devil Conspiracy, Samuel Goldwyn Films

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | January 12, 2023

The Devil Conspiracy is so bonkers—and so close to being self-aware of that fact—that the movie almost defies judgment of it being merely good or bad. This is definitely not a good movie, to be sure, in regards to any of the elements we might consider, such as characters, plot, style, visual effects, narrative and tonal consistency, and all of those other little things. It's also difficult, though, to outright say that this is a bad movie.

It is, of course, if only because those aforementioned shortcomings. However, the filmmakers take so many intentional or accidental risks in telling this inherently ludicrous story that it's tempting to care less about such matters and simply allow the silliness to envelop you.

If it were clearer that director Nathan Frankowski and everyone else were in on the joke or that there actually is a joke in the first place, temptation might have triumphed. Instead, the whole affair is trapped in some limbo between wanting to be a deliberately over-the-top piece of nonsense and just existing as an over-the-top piece of nonsense.

The prologue takes us all the way back to the war between Lucifer (Joe Anderson) and Heaven, with the Archangel Michael (Peter Mensah) defeating the fallen angel and banishing him to Hell, where the archangel's sword keeps the devil chained to a rock for all eternity ("Is this really necessary," the ill angel asks, in an obvious post-production recording session). In theory, that is. Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, or whatever one wants to call the embodiment of all evil wants out of Hell, a means to come to the mortal realm, and the power to defeat Heaven and rule over humanity—or something like that.

In the present day, the Shroud of Turin is about to displayed to the public on a rare occasion. Ignore for a moment that Ed Alan's screenplay treats this thoroughly debunked relic as the real deal, and note how the movie introduces the stretch of cloth, as a TV news reporter announces, "The DNA of Jesus of Nazareth will be on display." It makes no sense to introduce the alleged relic in that way—unless, obviously, the plot happens to revolve around some kind of genetic gimmick.

Conveniently, it does. Dr. Laurent (Brian Caspe) has found a way to clone humans and has made it his life's mission to resurrect the greatest minds, talents, and influencers in history (He funds his experiments, by the way, by putting up babies and children for auction, with a fresh version of Michelangelo going for tens of millions of dollars when we first see the operation at work).

Yes, the supposed fact that Jesus' DNA is on that shroud is important, because Lucifer's minions—a wicked woman (played by Eveline Hall), the Beast of the Ground (Spencer Wilding), and a whole group of worshipers living in a cathedral built around the mouth of the "Hellhole" where the Devil fell—want to clone him. Apparently, his is the only physical body that Lucifer could possess—or some nonsense like that, which increasingly seems as if it's being made up on the spot as the plot progresses.

The rest of the story has Father Marconi (Joe Doyle), killed by the Satanic woman and then possessed by the Archangel Michael, and Laura (Alice Orr-Ewing), a religiously skeptical American art student who's kidnapped by the cult and forcibly implanted with the cloned Jesus embryo, trying to stop Lucifer's return. There's an admirable degree of ambition in how much is happening here—even if most of it doesn't make a lick of sense.

Despite the elaborately mystical and bizarre workings of the narrative here, a lot of the plotting is unfortunately pedestrian. Marconi/Michael is left to infiltrate various lairs and compounds and facilities to put a stop to Lucifer's plan. Laura becomes possessed by the smoky snake of a devil inside her. An elderly mentor offering advice figures into the things, as well as an unground resistance movement in Hell, and the few fights feel strangely grounded for all of the supernatural powers on display.

Some of this, though, is so utterly strange or demented that it's clear the filmmakers have some amount of imagination, as well as a bit of humor, about the proceedings. That beast looks like a hulking executioner with fire in its lungs. The trip to hell via an elevator-like cage is somewhat eerie, and the climax involves a baptism of blood that's gruesome enough for us not to laugh too hard about the naïveté of a group of Satan worshipers who seem genuinely surprised by the consequences of getting what they want. Frankowski's vision for this conspiracy-laden world of an eternal religious struggle is let down by some dreary cinematography and lackluster effects (A demon fetus on a sonogram screen is especially cheap), but the very fact one could call this a "vision" of any kind says something about the effort.

There's no denying that The Devil Conspiracy is a mess. The movie is so patently, somewhat-knowingly ridiculous, though, that it's difficult to ignore, hate, or not be a little admiring of the chaos.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products