The Devil Conspiracy

The Devil Conspiracy is a 2022 science fiction horror film written and produced by Ed Alan and directed by Nathan Frankowski. It stars Alice Orr-Ewing, Joe Doyle, Eveline Hall, Peter Mensah, Joe Anderson, Spencer Wilding, Brian Caspe and James Faulkner.

The Devil Conspiracy
Theatrical release poster
Directed byNathan Frankowski
Written byEd Alan
Produced byEd Alan
Starring
CinematographyMilan Chadima
Edited byNathan Frankowski
Music byAnne-Kathrin Dern
Production
companies
  • Czech Anglo Productions
  • Film Mode Entertainment
  • MBM3 Films
Distributed by
Release dates
  • September 10, 2022 (2022-09-10) (Brussels)
  • January 13, 2023 (2023-01-13)
Running time
111 minutes
Countries
  • Czech Republic
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$964,518[1]

Filmed in the Czech Republic it was released at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on September 10, 2022, and in theaters on January 13, 2023. The film received generally negative reviews from critics.

Plot

A long time ago, Lucifer leads a rebellion of fallen angels against God. The war ends with Him casting down Lucifer and him falling into Hell. Michael, an archangel, travels to Hell to imprison his brother forever. Lucifer begs Michael to side with him, to which he denies before departing.

In modern times, the world witnesses the new display of the Shroud of Turin in an exhibit. Lauren Milton pursues writing a thesis based on her opinion of good and evil. Father Marconi, a friend of Lauren, gains her access to the Shroud's entrance, and details the battle of the angels with a statue of Michael defeating Lucifer. Lauren is skeptical but she stays to draw images of the art.

Meanwhile, Doctor Laurent showcases his biotech firm which researches in genetic engineering that they are able to resurrect past geniuses such as Michelangelo, da Vinci, and more. However, the company is secretly a cult which wishes to break Lucifer and his demons out of Hell to avenge the rebellion. The cult's leader, Liz, sneaks into the Shroud of Turin exhibit and kills a guard, using his head to deactivate the Shroud's security system. Marconi witnesses this and runs to stop her. Lauren hides in a confession booth and witnesses Liz stab Marconi through the chest while recovering the Shroud while her men find and take Lauren. Before Marconi dies, he asks Michael to use his body to stop them. Michael possesses Marconi's body and travels out of the city.

Michael uses information from his priests and finds Cardinal Vincini, who holds him at gunpoint before realizing he is an archangel. Vincini explains to Michael the prophecy of the wicked woman and a beast of the Earth are to bring a child into the world who will be Lucifer's vessel. Michael realizes this is why the cult stole the Shroud, as a normal human body would not suffice, but cloning the DNA of Jesus could bring the end of the world. Lucifer is shown when a tremor breaks the rock sealing him. He then breaks his chains and frees himself.

Lauren is brought to the cult's facility along with three other women: Sophia, Brenda and Mia. Brenda keeps panicking and the others try to calm her. Medical staff gather blood from each women before leaving. The women plan to escape by Mia pretending to be dead, but fail as more men arrive to subdue them. Lauren and Sophia are brought to the castle's square dressed in wedding gowns with the cult members watching. They are chained while the Beast of the Earth grabs both women to depart down a chasm that divides Earth and Hell. Demons grab both of them and the spirit of Lucifer enters Sophia and kills her due to her inadequacy, and possesses Lauren as she is a perfect match.

Michael enters the facility and sneakily kills the guards, breaking Lauren out to escape. They encounter the Beast and Lauren is captured by cult guards while Michael escapes through the portal to Hell. He encounters Mammon and three other fallen angels who explain that Michael is now trapped and that the cult will prevail by bringing Hell on Earth. They leave and Michael is approached by humans who were trapped as previous unsuccessful sacrifices. He asks them to find his sword which holds his Heavenly. Demons attack and chase them off while looking.

Liz tells Lauren of Lucifer's folly and why he was justified in turning against God and that her sacrifice will be the most glorious to humankind, which Lucifer agrees to have led. It is revealed that Lauren a child at birth and is angry at Liz tormenting her. Lucifer tempts Lauren into killing Liz and joining him. She agrees and storms out with Lucifer's possession. After stomping a guard's head in anger, Lauren breaks free of Lucifer's control and tries killing the foetus with bleach. Liz and Laurent arrive with Lucifer possessing Lauren to stop her from doing this. Meanwhile, the children find Michael's sword and before Mammon and his fallen angels arrive to stop them, Michael gains his powers and kills one of the fallen before they retreat. He promises to later return to save the children and flies back to Earth.

Michael repossesses Marconi's body and heads back to the facility. He tries to help Lauren but she is still possessed by Lucifer who stabs him in the neck. Lucifer exhibits his plan of using humanity to destroy the world but Michael details that this was God's plan all along and that the child was to destroy Lucifer. Lucifer ragingly runs away and begs Liz to kill the child out of fear, but Liz denies and goes with the plan. Lauren later gives birth to a healthy baby boy, and Liz takes him away to the square, having the Beast of Earth dispose of Lauren in the chasm to Hell. Liz walks into the square with all the cult members bowing before the baby. Liz states that instead of baptising him in holy water, he must be baptised in blood. Then, the beast kills all of the cult members to cover up the truth. Laurent holds and kisses the baby before Liz orders the beast to kill him as well.

Michael saves Lauren and the two attack Liz saving the child, to which Michael tells Liz the truth. She denies it and Lauren drives away with the baby with Michael going to the portal to close it. Many fallen angels and demons make for the portal while Michael closes it, but is attacked by the Beast, who re-opens it. Michael then destroys the portal using unused explosives meant to get rid of evidence of Hell, killing the Beast and destroying the facility. Vincini notices this and rejoices.

Lauren and Vincini bring the child to the Vatican who display the Shroud and announce the prophecy. Michael returns to Hell and frees the children as promised. He then narrates that the world is saved and asks God to protect the now grown-up child. Liz later sees him in the forest and whispers "Lucifer" to which Lucifer's mist escapes his nose, but the child absorbs it.

Cast

Production

Principal photography took place in Prague and other Czech Republic locations from March to April 2019, under the tile, dEvil.[2][3]

Release and box office

The Devil Conspiracy was released at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on September 10, 2022.[3] It was released theatrically on January 13, 2023, in the United States and Canada.[4] It grossed $765,218 in the United States and Canada and $199,300 in Russia for a worldwide total of $964,518.[1]

Critical reception

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 26% based on 23 reviews.[5]

Dennis Harvey writing for Variety said "If they're game for CGI-laden eye candy that treats Biblical prophesies with about as much respectful seriousness as the National Treasure franchise did American history, they’ll be rewarded with a lively if overstuffed popcorn diversion". Describing it as a mashup of The Da Vinci Code and Rosemary's Baby, he praised Frankowski's "colorful stylistic" direction but called Alan's script "jumbled".[6] Matt Donato from IGN gave the film a score of six out of ten, saying The Devil Conspiracy is a high-concept religious action flick with horror influences that sells its ambitions short but still entertains despite itself".[7]

References
  1. "The Devil Conspiracy". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  2. "The Devil Conspiracy (dEvil)". Czech Film Commission. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  3. Pirodsky, Jason (August 31, 2022). "Prague-shot The Devil Conspiracy (dEvil) gets debut trailer ahead of world premiere". The Prague Reporter. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  4. Hamman, Cody (November 22, 2022). "The Devil Conspiracy trailer: Satanists plan to clone Jesus in January theatrical release". JoBlo. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  5. "The Devil Conspiracy". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  6. Harvey, Dennis (January 12, 2023). "The Devil Conspiracy Review: Sci-Fi Horror Action Meets Quasi-Religious Superheroics". Variety. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  7. Donato, Matt (January 12, 2023). "The Devil Conspiracy Review". IGN. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.