Debnam-Carey amazes in ‘The Devil’s Hand’
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I can't believe I've been doing these Throwback Thursday columns for years and haven't managed to review a movie or TV series involving one of my favorite actresses of all time -- Alycia Debnam-Carey.
The Australian-born actress made her way into the mainstream with two roles in particular -- Commander Lexa on CW's "The 100" (don't ask me my feelings on her demise unless you're prepared for an impassioned speech) and Alicia Clark in AMC's "Fear the Walking Dead."
But prior to these, she starred in a handful of Indie films and Australian TV movies and shows. One of these is "The Devil's Hand" which premiered in 2014.
"The Devil's Hand" takes place in the small Amish community of New Bethlehem where six girls are born on the sixth day of the sixth month.
The community's Elder Beacon (Colm Meaney) warns of a prophecy that one of these girls will become the Devil's hand on their 18th birthday. He intends to kill the babies before they can potentially cause harm. However, he's stopped by one's fathers, Jacob (Rufus Sewell). Still, one of the mother's kills her infant and then herself to try and stop the prophecy.
Nearly 18 years later, the remaining five girls, Jacob's daughter Mary (Debnam-Carey), Ruth (Adelaide Kane), Sarah (Leah Pipes), Abby (Katie Garfield) and Hannah (Nicole Elliot) are living their lives unaware of the potential danger.
That's until they begin to disappear, are later found brutally murdered and Mary begins to experience seizures she hasn't dealt with since childhood.
We follow Mary and the other girls as they deal with the fear from the rest of New Bethlehem, Elder Beacon's creepy and perverted methods of keeping them in check and much more leading up to their 18th birthday.
"The Devil's Hand" has a relatively simple, but chilling storyline that often asks the question "is the devil real? Or are we ourselves the evil ones?" right up until the epic conclusions.
There's twists in the story, gore, an interesting amount of backstory and -- of course -- fantastic acting from Debnam-Carey who serves as the central part of this movie.
I'll be honest, I could have done without the side plot of Mary's romance with local teen Trevor (Thomas McDonell). But I understand that most movies can't go without a bit of that. And Trevor's character did serve to move the plot forward at times, given that his father is the local sheriff.
Again, though, I have to stress just how great Debnam-Carey was in this movie. Sure, I'm biased because I've always felt her acting skills are top notch, but this movie proves it much like all her other gigs. From big scenes, such as scolding her step-mother for attempting to shun her friend Ruth (the woman can project so well in angry scenes it's insane) to the fearful moment when Elder Beacon is "examining" her for signs of the devil and in between she gives it her all, that much is obvious.
And the ending? Absolutely stellar in my mind. I've honestly felt since the first time I watched that there could be the potential of a sequel. However, given that it's been almost 10 years I don't see that coming to be.
Regardless, "The Devil's Hand" proves to be a great 90 minute horror with a dash of the occult, blood, guts, gore and some chilling moments. And, just in case I didn't emphasize this enough, Debnam-Carey proves my point as to why I think she deserves more attention than she currently gets.
"The Devil's Hand" is rated PG-13 and may be viewed on Google Play, Apple TV, Vudu and YouTube.
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Laura Jameson is Managing Editor of The Express.