Devil's Diary (2007) Reviews

• Decent Thriller

  g404c2007-09-22

  Alexz Johnson, Magda Apanowicz, and Deanna Casaluce head off a competent cast in Devil's Diary, which premiered on Lifetime Movie Network tonight. When two high school girls (Johnson and Apanowicz) inadvertently stumble upon an evil diary (in a cemetery no less!), one of them becomes increasingly obsessed with getting revenge on their nasty classmates once she learns the diary can make things happen...very bad things. I enjoyed this movie--it held my attention by and large, though I did grow tired of hearing, "the book" repeated over and over. Plus, there is one totally gross scene. Otherwise, it is pretty fun. Somewhat typical high school scenario with the "popular" kids putting down any one else they desire. All of the actors do a great job and the atmosphere and scenery dovetail with the story. Check it out. 7/10

• Surprisingly Good

  wsmith-262007-09-24

  I expected a cheesy Lifetime movie, and instead found myself fully engrossed in this unusually good horror movie. The acting was excellent, and the sets were outstanding. Combining the revenge motif with the supernatural book theme works here. The movie begins with an atmospheric graveyard scene where one girl is "punked" by her friend. A lightning strike leads them to a grave site and an empty book. One girl is drawn to the book, and takes it home. The inscription on the inside cover tells her that if she believes in the book, the things she writes in it will come true. She tries it, and it works. She then exacts revenge on the "cool" cheerleaders in school who mistreat her and her friends. The revenge scenes are unusual and compelling. The other girl seeks help from her priest which turns out to be a bad idea. At her priest's urging, another priest arrives who knows something about this book - it turns out he knows too much and craves the book. In the meantime, the cheerleader group has figured out that the book is involved and manages to steal it. Again, one of the group is drawn to the book and begins to use it for evil purposes. The ending is a bit sketchy, as there is the predictable graveyard priest showdown with the evil priest beseeching the pure girl to join him and the book in evil. Beyond that, this movie has a lot to recommend it. So, I would definitely recommend this movie to all horror fans. You won't be disappointed.

• A lot of fun with plenty of great points about it

  slayrrr6662008-07-18

  "Devil's Diary" is a lot more fun than what would be expected. **SPOILERS** Being picked on as outsiders, Ursula Wilson, (Magda Apanowicz) and Dominique, (Alexz Johnson) grow tired of fellow students Heather Grey, (Miriam McDonald) Lisa, (Laura Konechny) Georgia, (Deanna Casaluce) Kyle Henderson, (Aleks Holtz) and Joey Abama, (Moses Tang) thinking they are better than everyone else. When they start to realize that the group is succumbing to very weird accidents, she reveals that they're coming true after she wrote them in a magical book she found in a graveyard. Becoming consumed with it to the point of excluding everything else, some of them discover what's going on and steal the book to use on them. Determining the true Satanic power of the book, they all race to stop it before they succumb to it's power. The Good News: This is a lot better than expected and has a lot of good parts to it. The fact that it feels like it's always got something to do is great and really appreciative. It's got a lot of really good confrontations and accidents spread throughout the film due to the writings that go in the book. It's really nice to be able to count on it having a lot of them to keep the film from being boring. The opening one, where a series of weird accidents lead to a car crushing a student's legs, one of the better ones, the slow-build to the chemical blow-out is sheer genius and there's also the really nice fight at the pool-hall, which has the one victim knocking out their eyes with a pool-cue. It's quite fun for these points, but the real fun comes from it's body count scenes. They've all got great set-ups, from the tense with the one backstage of the auditorium to the freaky with the vomiting in the bathroom and the thrilling with the schoolyard confrontation and more in between the film's really great kills. There's a pair of scissors stabbed in the throat, a stage-light dropped onto a neck, being strangled with a long cord, a strangling and another set on fire, which are all really great as well as the other ones in here. The last part that works is the incredibly fun opening to this, with the cemetery opening being really great and plenty of fun. The setting is awesome, the action is good and there's even a cheap scare thrown in. These here work for the film. The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot really wrong with this one. The main thing with this one is that it throws in the morality angle into the film at the very end. It had been going along nicely with the story of a demonic diary and the race to stop it's destructive effects rather than anything involving the morality lesson, which really halts the story in it's tracks since it comes in with absolutely no warning or reason for the change. The other thing wrong is the really irritating tactic of switching to a shaking camera whenever something was happening, usually in the form of a shaking camera but a few other tricks were tried. By being there during all the good moments, it really ruins the film's best scenes. These here are the film's biggest flaws. The Final Verdict: A lot more enjoyable than it should be, this was a nicely surprising entry with a lot going for it and very little to stop it. Give it a shot if you're into this kind of genre, a fan of the creative cast or find this one interesting, while those who aren't that big on the style should heed caution. Rated R: Violence and Language

• Great Halloween Film

  whpratt12008-11-01

  This is a great film which will keep you glued to your chair and you will enjoy the story which deals with young sexy teenage gals who are in a class by themselves and the other teenage girls who do not have the looks and act like wall flowers at a dance. There is one girl who is always picked on by the other gals and she finds a very mysterious book which looks like a diary only with blank pages. This gal begins to write in this book about things she wants it to do for her against another gal and certain things do occur. There are other girls who obtain this so called diary and it starts to change their lives and causes many problems. This is a film you should not miss, it is very interesting and entertaining. Enjoy.

• The writers of Death Note and Final Destination walk into a bar..

  Parexus2014-07-03

  A film like this shouldn't be hidden away from the world, it needs to be shown everywhere in film classes, shown to ANYONE who watches movies or has any aspirations whatsoever to be involved with the process, and as an aspiring film maker this movie will help in every reason. This movie is pretty much a guide to film making, but rather showing you the do's and don'ts, it just shows you the don'ts. Taking away all the saturation, leaving ugly colours in order to show that the movie has a more serious tone to it, adding a god awful soundtrack along with HORRID writing, and ugly red transitions, this movie is what NOT to do and what NOT to like. You will appreciate films way more after viewing this movie, and although it may be a hard task despite its run time of ninety minutes, every minute of this soul breaking torture is worthwhile to aid you in the future. I would like to thank everybody involved with the making of this, for teaching me everything. Thank you. 10 out of 10.