‘Bury the Devil’ (2026)

Following a hospice nurse over the course of an evening, Julia (Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez) settles into her new role as a full-time carer for Evelyn (Dawn Ford). Suffering from the advanced stages of dementia, Julia tries her best to accommodate Evelyn whilst simultaneously dealing with calls from her father, urging the woman to return home, presumably to support her father after the loss of her mother. Unknown to Julia, Evelyn’s past involves dealings with the occult, dooming them both to being exposed to an evil presence.

With the opening scene depicting a house engulfed in flames in a remote location followed shortly by a message throwing us back in time to 75 minutes prior, one may feel deflated by the knowledge of how the film will culminate. Curiosity may prevail however, as we’re drawn in by questions on how and why the secluded manor was set ablaze.

Trailing Julia as she helps Evelyn to bed, director Adam O'Brien presents the story through a mobile perspective, constantly tracking the action wherever it may go. Mainly following Julia as she wanders the dark and murky house, an unexpected guest, such as Evelyn’s estranged husband Randall (Bill Rowat) is also tracked once he gets roped into the action.

The gloomy and claustrophobic setting of a quiet and creepy house may not revolutionise the horror genre, but choosing to track the movement wherever the action is may prove to be sufficient in keeping the film moving at pace. Shaking and rotating when Julia is running or struggling to thwart an oncoming danger keeps the film exciting, slowing down when necessary and adding to the tension when showing a distorted Evelyn lurking in the background, capturing a range of emotions as the story is seemingly delivered through one uninterrupted shot.

What may be a little more frustrating however is deciphering whose perspective the camera is supposed to represent. Is it us, the viewer following Julia’s tragic evening or is it the entity stalking and taunting the woman as it forces her descent into madness? The uncertainty may make one question if the one-shot delivery is a stylistic choice that hinders rather than helps the story overall.

The strength of the film lies with its cast. Ford’s Evelyn functions beautifully as a dementia-stricken and more than grief possessed ageing woman. Slowly unravelling and showing Julia that there is more to her than neurocognitive disorder, as she eventually shows that a demonic entity has possessed her, as a result of her dabbling in the occult in her past that also resulted in the loss of her daughter.

With Ford displaying fragility, vulnerability and sensitivity, the actress conveys the tragic reality of suffering a neurological disorder that eventually erases a person. Contrasted by her hysterical cackle and chill-inducing screams as she becomes fully possessed, Ford executes the dual role wonderfully and flexes her capabilities as an actor. What may remain irksome however are the questions raised in the film regarding Evelyn’s past and her motivation. The film never really takes the time to explore how or why Evelyn chose to entangle herself in the dark arts, leaving the conclusion of the film a little hollow and unsatisfying.

Completing the other half of the main cast, Martinez’s performance as Julia delivers a strong 'fish out of water' performance as the character is exposed to a litany of unnerving happenings that would leave anyone shaken and unable to function as a normal human being. At one point breaking down completely as the dark entity toys with her emotions, Martinez’s Julia suffers such a barrage of emotional attacks that she is left crying and almost catatonic, curled up on the floor as the dark force imitates the voice of her recently deceased mother.

Acted beautifully and ending on a tragic note, Evelyn manages to transfer the dark force, attaching itself to Julia and with Evelyn choosing to sacrifice Julia’s life in order to rid herself of the dark presence.

The film explores degenerative brain disease in parallel with being possessed and dealing with an encroaching and all-consuming dark presence. With the main narrative focus of the feature not being a novel concept, as this has been explored numerous times before in film, ‘Bury the Devil’ still retains a handful of interesting additions to how it chooses to tell the story, keeping the narrative moving as the one-shot 75-minute adventure keeps the train rolling, descending rapidly into a horrifying hellscape with a gut-wrenching betrayal at its conclusion.

With familiar themes and perhaps not enough scares, the film possesses an eerie atmosphere that is perhaps eventually dispelled and devolves into a very familiar confrontation with an evil presence, failing to solidify itself as a worthwhile adventure, hitting too many familiar beats and faltering as its moral ethos is a little diluted by too many unanswered questions.

Score: 2/4