Cleopatra Music and Films, with sales and distribution
support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, will be bringing both DVD and
Blu-ray editions of director Jared Cohn’s Devil’s Domain to market on July 11.
High school bullying issues might well be the cause du jour these days, but filmmakers
have found this subject to be a fertile ground for topics ranging from social
outcasts acting out (Rebel Without a Cause), tales about
victims of bullying driven to drastic measures (Before I Fall … out on
May 30 from Universal), comedies about getting revenge on tormentors (Mean
Girls) or horror tales about the same subject, revenge (filmmaker Brian
De Palma’s Carrie in 1976 is a great example).
In Devil’s Domain we are introduced to
Lisa Pomson (Madi Vodane in her film debut), a sad-sack of a high school teen
with self-esteem issues that manifest themselves in the form of bulimia and
self-mutilation (cutting). If that
wasn’t horrific enough, Lisa has also become fascinated with other girls (which
makes her a tad creepy) and her so-called “friend” has cyber-stalked her with
hidden cameras and posted the compromising videos online for all of her
classmates to ogle.
If there was a hole to crawl into it would have to be
pit-sized for her; cavernous … maybe drop out of school, leave town or kill
herself … these are the options she is facing as the torments come cascading
in. Her stepfather, played by Michael
Madsen, is sympathetic to her plight, observing that with cyber-bulling, “you
kids take cruelty to a whole ‘nother level.”
If only she could just turn it off.
In a moment of despair, Lisa unwittingly accepts an
invitation from an online stranger by the name of Destiny (Linda Bella — Dracula:
Reborn, Monsters in the Woods, etc.) to pay her a visit — she even
sends a car to fetch her — and “talk” about her problems. Destiny’s seduction of Lisa is quick and
ever so simple. She purrs that she can
make all of Lisa’s dreams come true, “just help me help you.” “Sure,” that’s all it takes to seal the deal!
You see this beauty, Destiny, is actually Satan in disguise
and her sudden transformation to Hideous to be sure … and one by one … by one
all of Lisa’s nasty tormentors die horrible deaths (ripped to shreds,
incinerated, flattened by a speeding truck … you name it, they die)! Welcome to hell, Lisa … another hell, that
is. Now find a way out!
the real deal is quite effective.
Writer/director Jared Cohn’s Devil’s Domain is an
effective horror tale in both a traditional sense (plenty of bloodletting) and
as a chilling tale about the day-to-day terror of being tormented and ridiculed
by your classmates. And then there is
Destiny … a devilish seductress who preys on Lisa’s weaknesses and desires
(that’s a horror show in and of itself).
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