At times, this slow-burning indie hillbilly thriller feels like a heavy pass through the genre. It is set in the Appalachian Mountains, where a tight-knit community of clans lives by its own rules; a lawless journey in which a lonely woman faces the humblest family on the mountain to protect her loved ones, with the banjos playing the score. Not exactly strong on originality or authenticity. But what The Devil to Pay has going for it is a performance of real emotional strength from Danielle Deadwyler.
Deadwyler plays Lemon Cassidy, a farmer eking out a living with her husband and her young son. Life is hard, and it gets even harder when Lemon's husband goes missing while he's up to his neck in trouble with the Runions, a terrifying local family headed by matriarch Tommy (Catherine Dyer). We meet Tommy in her kitchen, all the sweetness of apple pie and giving baking tips while threatening to kill Lemon's son. As a character, she's a little too gimmicky, or maybe Dyer is a little light on the threat; either way, Ma Runion never really feels scary.
Directors: Lane Skye, Ruckus Skye
Writers: Lane Skye, Ruckus Skye
Stars: Danielle Deadwyler, Catherine Dyer, Jayson Warner Smith
It seems a bit corny that husband and wife filmmaking team Lane and Ruckus Skye begin their feature film debut with an ominous quote from a 2010 census to underscore the dangerous nature of people living in the remote Appalachian region. . It feels unnecessary, sort of like the drunk in The Slaughtered Lamb telling Griffin Dunne to stay off the moors in An American Werewolf in London. He is over the top.
And then the end credits of The Devil to Pay roll and your first thought is, did that census taker make it out alive?
The film tells the story of a young woman and her son who live a miserable existence on a small tennant farm in the mountains while awaiting the return of the man of the house who the wife assumes has gone on a spree. One day, two creepy neighbors knock on her door to tell the woman that she has been summoned by the owner of her land. She must go alone; she will take care of her child until she returns. It is at this meeting that the wife gets her first real clue that her husband is not just getting drunk, that he is on the run after robbing the landlord, and that if she wants her and their son to stay alive, she needs to find him and pay him back. I take.
While it may not have the gore or high body count that many fans of the genre demand from their horror movies, The Devil to Pay makes up for any missing splatter spectacle by filling nearly every second of its running time with biting tension. . From the moment those guys show up on the porch with their message to the wife, the hook is set, deep, and the Skyes never give slack on the line. Even when the story seems to go off on a tangent, such as when the wife makes a stop at a truly bizarre religious commune to deliver a jar of vitriol (sulfuric acid) they need for their 'baptism' ceremony, the tension remains. to 11. (And the way the directors bring the story back to the cult towards the end is almost perfect.)
While the directors do a lot to understand the film, including everything from strong editing to a haunting score, it's the performances of the actors that effectively sell the story. Danielle Deadwyler (Watchmen miniseries) is amazingly good as her mother, Lemon Cassidy. There's a natural beauty to seeing her with her son in the opening scenes before the chills hit that goes beyond acting to make you feel like you're watching real life as it unfolds. Seeing the sheer joy this mother has for her child makes what happens to them terrifying and heartbreaking, leaving you on the edge of your seat hoping they survive.
The rest of the cast is made up mostly of bad guys. They don't spend as much screen time as Deadwyler, but each manages to leave a deep impression on our psyche as the story unfolds. Catherine Dyer (Stranger Things) redefines evil with her role as Tommy Runion, the mountain matriarch whose machinations set the story in motion. Watching her calmly issue murderous edicts from her kitchen, calling for bloodshed as she bakes cookies and cakes, is deeply unsettling.
Still, Lemon looks convincingly scared, her eyes wide with terror. And she's still scared as she searches for her husband and pays off her debt. It usually seems like overkill when ordinary people go badass in the movies, instantly acquiring icy killer instincts and deadly aim.
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