DEVIL'S PREY

US, 2001, 87 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Bergen, Charlie O' Connell, Ashley Jones, Alina Lyons, Bryan Kirkwood, Jennifer Lyons.
Directed by Bradford May.

Devil's Prey is standard devil-worship in the Midwest fare. The film focuses on young people, their recklessness, their being caught up in a diabolical cult, the violence the experience, human sacrifice _

The film moves between the extroverted life of the young people to the church where the Satanists hold their sacrifices. There are heroics, betrayals, violent deaths. This is standard material of this kind of melodrama.

1. The appeal of this kind of story? Satanism and devil-worship? In the American Midwest? The credibility of this kind of behaviour, of the plot?

2. The title, the focus on Satan, the Devil? The ritual of devil-worship, the church, the inverted crucifixes, the altar, candles, human sacrifice? The renegade priest? The worshippers, their forming part of a cult, being brainwashed? The security in this kind of community? The aberrations, the violence?

3. The focus on the young group, together at the club, drug-dealing, work, good time? The invitation to the party? The drive, hitting Fawn? The party and their being caught up in the Satanist plots? The victims?

4. The priest, his seeming friendliness, evil, conducting of the rituals, his power of persuasion?

5. The characters in the group, typical of this kind of film - differentiated characters or not? Their behaviour, their fears, hiding, fleeing, the house, the Satanists pursuing them? Torture and death? Sacrifice?

6. The finale, the confrontation of good and evil, heroism, the defeat of evil and the prevailing of good?