"Bedeviled," the feature debut by brothers Abel and Burlee Vang, shows that even a predictable horror film can boast diabolical energy, creative confidence, awesome production values and solid structure. Impeccably well-made, with excellent noir-esque cinematography in stately Los Angeles interiors, it sets high expectations right from the opening, and it executes the plan to near-perfection.
The classic teen-horror elements are familiar. After the unexpected death of their friend, a half-dozen high school chums _ the blonde, class clown, tech nerd, girlfriend, etc. _ find that Mr. Bedevil, the new personal assistant app for smartphones, has migrated into theirs from their deceased friend's. With insults and a wicked cackle, Mr. Bedevil starts giving them commands, exploiting their deepest fears and eliminating them one by one, akin to a surreal HAL 9000.
The Vangs, who won the Motion Picture Academy's prestigious 2011 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting, are sticklers for tight plotting, the sort of attention to detail that raises this bone-chiller to a well-created genre gem. Viewers, especially those with unease about evil clowns or especially unsettling endings, will find it a very shivery, very giddy 90-minute thrill ride.
