The
evil one has a real grudge match going with fifteen-year-old Alex Duran. He
sent his minions or whatever hard after Duran about a decade ago, but the boy
basically wriggled out of it by repressing his memories. Subsequently, he decided
to become a Catholic priest, so he would totally count as a double word
score. Duran’s life and faith are very definitely on the line in Adam Ripp’s Devil’s Whisper (trailer here), which releases today on DVD.
Duran’s
family is reasonably well off and he is relatively popular, despite obviously
being a bit of a naïf. Unfortunately, everything changes when they receive a
shipment of his recently deceased grandmother’s furniture. Duran finds the
crucifix his grandfather used to wear hidden in a mysteriously sealed wooden
box tucked away in a secret compartment of her armoire. That would be the same
grandfather whose sexual abuse Duran repressed. As soon as he puts it on he
becomes a lightning rod for demons (or what have you), mumbling discouraging
comments about God and the Church.
By
deceiving Duran’s eyes, the evilness tricks him into acting like a real jerk
around his friends, especially including Lia, the platonic pal he wants to
start seeing romantically, even though he is seriously considering those vows
of celibacy. His parents assume he needs a head-shrinking tune-up, but Father
Cutler recognize the work of the Devil, especially when his minions induce a
mild stroke in the priest.
Ripp
and co-screenwriters Oliver Robins and Paul Todisco are as serious as a heart
attack when it comes to questions of good and evil. Like every really effective
demonic horror film, Whisper is
profoundly Catholic, but it is hamstrung by a weak lead. Frankly, the most
compellingly watchable character is Father Cutler, played with steeliness and
compassion by TV veteran Rick Ravanello. Clearly, Ripp conceived Whisper as an inclusively diverse horror
movie, which is all very good, but the Robert Conrad-looking Ravanello is the
best thing going for it.
