Now that we’re years out from the pandemic, we can (mostly) look back and think of how difficult that time was for a lot of people, namely healthcare workers and those searching for a cure. As horror fans, we’re very familiar with biological bloodshed via rage viruses or all-too-realistic epidemics, and Terror Films Releasing is giving us a more subdued version of worldwide sickness in The Devil You Become.
Amid a super virus that ravages humanity, a microbiologist leads his peers through a rogue planned exposure to test potential treatments. But as he becomes increasingly isolated, the line between what’s real and what’s not begins to blur.
The Devil You Become, IMDB
Theo (Brian K. Millard) and a group of his scientist friends spend their days discussing a cure for the ever-spreading virus that has already killed billions of people. With each day getting more and more quiet, they witness their own group members succumbing to the virus, either through outside exposure or self-infliction (in an attempt to find a cure). Theo works hard, but finds himself fantasizing about human contact, so much so that he talks to a mannequin and ends up kidnapping one of his friends, forcefully inoculating him. Becoming more and more deranged by the day, Theo fights hallucinations and delusions of grandeur while trying to keep it together for the sake of humanity.
The Devil You Become differs itself from most other pandemic-related horror films by being a lower-budget psychological thriller. The unnamed sickness isn’t shown to grotesquely mutilate people’s bodies or turn them into sprinting psychopaths; instead, those who catch it have coughing fits similar to any other cold or flu. I really liked that change of pace because seeing something seemingly harmless actually go and kill most of humanity puts an edge to it that we don’t usually see — it’s a quiet, simple way to go. And that goes for the movie in general too. Lots of slow shots, quiet moments, and heavy dialog makes The Devil You Become something that sinks into your skin, scaring you from the inside out (as opposed to jumpscares going from the outside, in).
That said, The Devil You Become can come off as slow. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a slow burn, but more of a drama-induced thrill that preys on our frail immune systems. Rather than featuring how the virus kills and spreads, The Devil You Become plays on our psyches and how isolation, loneliness, and the pressure of finding a cure can alter our minds and make us do things we otherwise wouldn’t. It really isn’t about the pandemic at all — it’s about our states of mind.
One thing I really want to bring up is that The Devil You Become was actually in pre-production in March 2020. Being put on indefinite hold for obvious reasons, filmmakers Anthony Bushman (who plays Grant) and Brian K. Millard (Theo) switched gears and made use of their newfound isolation, an inspiration coming from directly outside their doors. The Devil You Become is literally based on real life. This is really cool, considering filmmakers during lockdown had to be ultra creative while still putting out films with very little resources available. For example, The Devil You Become takes place mainly in one house and over video calls and text, yet we still get the grand scope of what the world is like just beyond those doors. It turns out that it is just as sad and lost as it is inside of Theo’s home.
The Devil You Become is a quiet horror film that allows you to sit with your thoughts, bringing you back to a time when the world changed forever. Even though everyone was going through the same troubles — social distancing, stress from work, confinement, death of loved ones — our brains still found a way to retreat back into themselves and make up a solution to a growing problem. Psychological horror to a T, The Devil You Become is your body working against itself in more ways that one.
The Devil You Become is premiering across multiple platforms on November 6th, including Tubi, Chilling, The Roku Channel, Fandango at Home, and more. For more information, follow Terror Films on Instagram and web.
