Review: Face of the Devil

 Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Face of the Devil (aka La Cara del Diablo)
Directed by Frank Perez Garland
Star Films; La Soga Producciones; Jinga Films; Danse Macabre; MVD Visual
87 minutes, 2014 / 2021
www.facebook.com/caradeldiablo/ 
www.Jingafilms.com
www.MVDVisual.com

Usually, when a story claims to be “Inspired by true events,” you know it’s going to be either a slasher film or dealing with the supernatural, be it ghost or demon/devil. And since this film is from the Northern Peru city and jungle surroundings of Tarapoto (the characters travel the 600 miles from Lima), it is no surprise that it is leaning towards the latter. Peru is generally a religious country, and religion tends to lead to belief in the evil end of the supernatural spectrum, as well as the holy. As you may guess, the film is in Spanish, with English subtitles.

Vania Accinelli

In this version of a cabin in the woods, it’s a wooden, multi-room hotel in the middle of the jungle with no internet or phone service (natch). Actually, it looks like a cool vacation spot, even though there are no roads leading in or out (just walking trails), so I wonder how it is self-supported. But I digress… The only way to get there is by boat. On that small craft are seven attractive young friends who are undergrad age, including the main couple, virginal Lucero (Vania Accinelli, in her first role) and Gabriel (Sergio Gjurinovic), another couple, Mateo (Nicolás Galindo) and Fabiola (Maria Fernanda Valera), and three others friends, Paola (Carla Arriola), Camila (Alexa Centurion), and diminutive incel Pablo (Guillermo Castaneda), who has a thing for Paola. 

The creep factor starts early on with the odd and unsmiling “host” of the place (Ismael Contreras), as he passes out the keys to the giggling gaggle of youths. Needless to say, he fills the iconic role of the older man who warns the group to be careful, because no matter where you are in the world, if a bunch of young people onscreen get together to go somewhere secluded, there must be this character, be it the guy who runs the gas station, just walking along, or in this case, runs the hotel.

After some exploring and topless bathing by a beautiful waterfall, the group settle into a hot tub to tell the equivalent of scary campfire stories in order to bring up the main topic and threat of the film, the shape-shifting, whistling Tunche, or demonic spirit (thank you, Google).

Before you can say ceviche – okay, about 20 minutes in – a mysterious woman starts popping in and out just beyond the windows to start the second act, and the motor starts revving, slowly at first and building. There is also quite a bit of wind and rustling of foliage. It sounds weird, but it was a bit unsettling, as the director used it well: not over- nor underdoing it.

Despite following a few of the group-in-the-woods paradigms, one of the aspects I really liked about the film is that the kids in question are not slasher cliches. For example, there is no jock who mistreats women or his friends, no over sexualized woman who backstabs, no goths, no know-it-all intellectual who seems to prenatally be aware of everything about the supernatural, no prankster… you get the picture. One thing I will say, though, is that – and I can only go by the English translation captions – the word “moron” is used a lot. These are more genuine-feeling people, despite some natural bickering here and there, which is actually better because there is no one to root for to get killed (you know, that satisfaction when the jock invariably gets it, for example). They all have their own personalities, and come across as decent people, generally. This helps the kills be more emotional, which I believe makes for a better picture overall.

How does the Tunche arrive at this faraway location to pick off our crew one by one? Its origin becomes obvious, in part, pretty early on, thanks to some nice flashbacks, but the film does not lose any of its umph because of that

Despite the nice sized body count, there is actually very little blood for quite a while, and minimal gore. As for the physical end, there are some naked breasts and a male tush, and a theme of almost-sex, but this is watchable for both the horror hound and the novice (who is okay with the nudity).

The acting is better than usual, which is hardly surprising considering the work many of the cast has done, mostly in shorts and especially playing recurring characters on television series.

Although there are fewer living bodies by the third acts, there are still moments of tension, and a nicely done reveal, as it should be in a genre film. And as a movie in this category, it quite lives up to it. It is appropriately eerie, and manages to keep it up pretty consistently, when the group isn’t emersed in water somewhere. Through the love and squabbles, and lots of bikinis, it successfully pokes at you more with mood and tension than with jump scares. I found this enjoyable, even with the subtitles, which were easy to read, and did not pop in-and-out too fast, as is often the case. A worthy view.

Extras are a few really interesting trailers (including for this film), most of them in foreign languages with captions, as well as the standard stereo options and chapters.