Please let one thing be clear: I absolutely love horror films, especially ones that have to do with the supernatural - evil spirits, black magic and all this other nonsense. I find it enjoyable to turn my brain off every now and again and watch something completely illogical and fun. And every now and again, a film like Occulus or The Witch comes along that manages to tingle my spine and sweep me away to the realms of joy and darkness.
Now before I go into my opinion on this, I have seen some rather low-budget horror flicks that were utterly effective (as well as high-budget ones that were utter crap), such as the aforementioned Witch, The Blair Witch Project and The Last Exorcism among others, and I have thoroughly enjoyed these films, so a low budget, to me, is no excuse for a bad film.
And Devil's Tree is a bad film. Supposedly based on actual events, It deals with two rather stupid journalism students investigating some tree in a park that had some murders happen next to it. The clichés waste no time coming, and one character's obvious susceptibility to the Evils That Be are so poorly-acted and overly-dramatized that the film loses any semblance of atmosphere, tension or horror. I always thought that good horror is subtle, and this just isn't. Fifteen minutes in I forgot their names, and the two exchange such ridiculous, cookie-cutter lines that you end up not caring if they meet their untimely demise.
However the writing IS responsible for the film's best moment. I wouldn't say it's a good thing, just that is might be a problem when a horror flick's most memorable moment is a line that actually has the phrase "Simon says" in it, and is actually in context. Achievement Unlocked.
As for the cinematography - there's rarely a moment of creative camera work and the drama is never accentuated by the visuals. I'd bet the filmmakers played the hell out of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, because there's a scene of self-mutilation that really seems to try to capture the visuals of that game. It loses its "charm" about two seconds in and is worthier of a sigh of boredom than a gasp of relief.
There's only so much that can be achieved with black eyes, gore shots and religious symbols, these need to look good and they need the company of a thick atmosphere so they can disturb the watcher and be effective. Well there's no atmosphere, there's no interesting use of camera angles and the exaggerated FOV shots are jarring at best. Just look at Rubber.It's a dumb film about a murderous tire but it manages to be visually striking because it features masterful camera work. That it was made on a much lower budget only amplifies Devil's Tree's failure.
I did, however, enjoy the musical score. It may be your run-of-the-mill horror score featuring all kinds of strings, but I found it effective. If there's one thing that could help you look past the bad writing, bad acting and boring presentation, it's the score.
Overall, Devil's Tree, to me, is a film that serves one purpose - for aspiring horror filmmakers to view so they can see how not to make a film. It's an atmosphere-free, poorly-written, poorly visualized bore which has no redeeming qualities aside from the soundtrack. What really saddens me is that this film seems to really try. I can't judge the filmmakers for good intentions, and you can tell by the seriousness of the tone that this is an honest attempt at creating a legitimate horror film. I just truly hope they learn from this so their next endeavors produce better results.
As for now, Simon says don't waste your time on this.
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