It's worth observing that this seems to be the first venture into film-making of Lincoln Casimir, who as far as I can tell writes, directs, and edits for the first time. I think it's only reasonable to grant some allowances on that basis; few are those filmmakers who can come right out of the gate with a big hit. So if the writing, direction, and editing feel amateurish, and the acting in turn, well, that's literally true - with such emphatic inexperience, what can we really expect? Even with that spirit of generosity well in mind, however, I find myself completely unable to offer the slightest measure of praise. I wish the best of luck to all involved in their future endeavors; may they develop their skills, and find success. 'Devil's prey,' however, is excruciating, and it's so poorly made in every regard that it's hard to watch.
The pacing is terribly rushed, squashing any possibility that the root ideas of any scene might bear fruit, and accentuating the inauthenticity at every turn. The direction is flat, altogether unpracticed, and heavy-handed; every now and again something is so ill-fitting in its execution that it seems like it belongs in an entirely different feature. The dialogue, scene writing, characterizations, and narrative are direly, hopelessly blunt, club-footed, and gawky, not to mention tiresomely forced, tactless, and bumbling. I recognize in occasional fleeting moments that one actor or another is earnestly trying to truly embody their character, and the spirit of the scene - though on the other hand, in some instances the acting is so astoundingly awful that one can readily see the performer breaking in front of the camera, unable to keep a straight face. In between these two opposite ends of the spectrum, by far the acting is largely so desperately untrained, labored, and insincere as to be genuinely cringe-worthy.
The fundamental image is tawdrily bare-faced, almost painful for our eyes; the sound design is unreliable, imbalanced, and sometimes just tinny. The sequencing is dubious, and even setting aside how it contributes to the awful pacing, the editing overall is sloppy and raises a skeptical eyebrow. Sometimes it almost seems like the audio isn't even synced with the video footage, or as if dialogue was dubbed in post-production. Any digital effects that are employed are glaring, and immediately betray the contrivance; I question even the cinematography in light of how plainly unprofessional, artless, and unskilled it is. Though it could easily be debated I think there are workable story ideas on hand; then again, even the best potential here requires major revision, and some thoughts put into the screenplay are simply rubbish. Plot development is sidelong and flimsy.
There are paths that 'Devil's prey,' as a concept, might have taken and found success. Any of these, however, would have required skill that no one here demonstrates at this point in their careers, and wit and intelligence exceeding what the screenplay seems to indicate. I can see that everyone who participated in the movie's creation was making an effort, but either those efforts were wildly insufficient, or they outright lacked the abilities that would allow those efforts to count for anything. Once more, I wish the best of luck for all involved, but if I said that this 2020 title were anything remotely worthwhile, anything but total refuse, I'd be lying. Not only can I not recommend this, but I strongly suggest actively avoiding it. There is no capacity in which 'Devil's prey' even begins to pass muster, and I wish I had not made the choice to watch it.
