Mikes Film Talk

Writer/Director Harley Wallen gives us the 2023 horror; The Devil’s Left Hand. Its message? Stop playing with evil. Wallen does a brilliant job in the horror genre. He also does a great job in the non-horror field: Finding Nicole, for example. This offering feels like a riff off of the old Flip Wilson gag, “The Devil made me do it.” It also makes me think of a book about seances and Ouija boards gone wrong. I’ll explain later.

The Story

In The Devil’s Left Hand a young couple have a housewarming party. A part of the scheduled entertainment, a medium holds a seance. Unfortunately, a demonic entity joins the party. It starts killing all the participants, and a few non-participants.

The fight is on.

The Devil’s Left Hand Cast

Laurene Landon is Mother Stann.

Yan Birch is Father Stann.

Kaiti Wallen is Cassie.

Kris Reilly is Richie.

Harley Wallen is Zebula.

Aphrodite Nikolovski is Miss Vesna.

Calhoun Koenig is Agramon.

Shelby Bradley as Nurse Martha.

Jennifer Jelsema is Detective Simmons.

Troy Randall-Kilpatrick is Detective Blackwell.

Let’s Talk The Devil’s Left Hand

This one hits all the right targets and a few unintentional ones. At the start of the film, the medium is going through her paces of contacting spirits of the dead. On the counter, or shelf, behind her head is a plethora of liquor bottles. Clearly, as this is a house warming, other spirits have been imbibed. This is something we are told not to do, when working seances or the Ouija board.

A “bad” spirit, or demon, enters the group and this entity works to destroy them all. *And this is why we do not embrace “spiritualism” et al. You are not speaking with your expired loved ones at all, but with demonic spirits. Okay, off the soapbox for now.*

The film reminds me of a “true story” I read in the late 70’s. A house party in either Long Island or Rhode Island, resulted in a Ouija board reading. Each member of that party were, in turn, possessed. The entity, allegedly, followed them into the real world. One member of the party had his car taken over and it crashed. He survived.

Years later, the late actor Richard Chamberlain, told Dick Frost on television that he had been at that seance.

*Good luck trying to find the book or the information that Chamberlain attended it. I’ve tried. I remember this vividly after my own “disturbing” moment with the old Ouija board. This also occurred in the late 1970’s. Despite Chrome AI insisting that this is most likely a Mandela memory, it is not.*

Demons Aren’t Fun

Wallen points out here that demons are not fun. His spiritual warrior fights them and attempts to expel them. He carries scars from these battles. *On a side note here. His accent (Polish perhaps?) and Miss Vesna’s Cajun tone are a delight. The Cajun accent brings back childhood memories of my own.* The film shows the intense battles that can take place when demons are inadvertently invited in.

Kudos, by the way, for having Agramon represented via a white faced visage. Similar to The Grudge franchise, all iterations bar the last, this is an instant win. From Toshio to this aggressive demon, that white face works brilliantly.

It is key to the film that we remember this activity happens because of the participants. Mother Stann says it, “It’s You. You are him and he is you.” This is essential to the plot and the storyline. In this instance, the main motivator is Richie and to a lesser degree, his mum.

Cast is King and Queen

The cast here is spot on. Yan Birch, once again, manages almost effortlessly to be disturbing and scary. Kaiti Wallen gives us a splendid truth here, standing by her man but being terrified during the process.

Harley Wallen as the grizzled demonic warrior gives, as usual, good value for the money.

Nikolovski works wonder with the role of the medium. She is down to earth, matter of fact and downright convincing. There is no histrionic chewing of the scenery. Just a certain truth.

Reilly does an admirable job throughout as the victim who constantly fights back.

*Award of best on-screen scream goes to Shelby Bradley. She belted to the fences here.*

The entire cast perform well and help to sell this “cautionary tale.”

The Verdict

There is no budget information available, but one can presume it is on the lower scale. Regardless of the money spent, The Devil’s Left Hand looks good. It works very well and looks impressive. The film has a number of personal favorites in it and they all deliver, as per usual.

The film earns a solid 4.5 stars. It is streaming on Tubi right now. Head on over and check it out. It is a “good un.”

The Trailer