Credo (film)
Encyclopedia
Credo, also known as The Devil's Curse, is a 2008 low-budget psychological horror
film directed and produced by Toni Harman and written by Alex Wakeford. It stars MyAnna Buring
, Clayton Watson
, and Nathalie Pownall
, Rhea Bailey
, and Mark Joseph as five British college students that find themselves trapped in an abandoned seminary with a demon. The film was given an American direct to DVD
release under the title The Devil's Curse through Lionsgate Home Entertainment
.
. After a silent reading of it, it cuts to a radio recording of two men discussing the nature of evil while close-ups of insects and occult writings play.
Alice (MyAnna Buring) is alone in a library studying. After the librarian (Chris Courtenay) notes she's always the last to go, she packs up her belongings and heads home to find a loud, raucous party already in progress. The party was a touch too rowdy and Alice, along with her four roommates Jock (Clayton Watson), Scott (Mark Joseph), Timmy (Nathalie Pownall), and Jazz (Rhea Bailey), find themselves evicted the next morning.
Jock comes through the next night with a place to stay. As they explore the building, it's revealed in a flashback with narration by Timmy that two students, Seth (Chris Jamba) and Bertha (Candace Grand Pre) obsessed with the nature and existence of evil, joined forces with four other students in an attempt to summon a demon called Belial
. At the last moment, Seth backed out, broke the pentagram
binding the demon, and released the demon into the world. All five were found the next day dead by their own hands.
The quintet settles in. Time passes and the power goes out; Alice hears growling and sounds of something being dragged along wood and ventures to one of the rooms they're sleeping in to find the other four are using a shot glass on a Ouija
board.
The next morning, the first killing happens: Timmy is found dead in her room hanging from the roof by a length of electrical cord. The rest of the group starts to get picked off one by one whenever they're alone, but the demon never lays a hand on them. Instead, it manifests as an illusion that convinces them to take their own life. Jock's mother appears to him, claustrophobic Jazz sees someone in a tunnel with her and brings the ceiling down on herself in a panic, Scott sees his Alice, and Alice, the final girl
, sees her father.
After Alice's father finishes his monologue, the film cuts back to Jock, Scott, Jazz, and Timmy on the Ouija board. They ask the board if there's a presence in the room with them: It answer Y. They ask it its name: Alice. They ask it where it is: Tower. It repeats 'tower' over and over until they release the shot glass. Everyone but Scott goes upstairs to the tower while Scott reviews his hidden cameras. Scott sees Alice throughout the house talking to herself and stabbing at the air. Upstairs, Jock finds Alice hanging from the rafters, dead. The movie ends with Scott watching a snippet of conversation Alice had earlier with 'Scott'.
meant distributors refused to buy short films anymore, they took the plunge and made Credo. It was filmed on location in London in a former foreign embassy and a Victorian fire station. The locations were chosen before the story was even written. However, they are forbidden to say exactly where shooting took place because the locations are slated to be developed into luxury apartments and the investors were worried the stories of the location being haunted could drive off buyers, but the writer did hint that they were a stone's throw from the Tyburn Tree.
The cast and crew were convinced the buildings were haunted. Throughout filming, cast and crew both reported hearing strange sounds and voices. On one occasions, production stopped so a search could be mounted for an unknown figure watching the crew - but none were ever found. The director used the casts' fear to her advantage, sending the cast down into the basement to get them scared for real before shooting scenes where they were supposed to be scared. In an effort to find evidence the locations were haunted, they got a hold of a bat box. A bat box is a device used to catch bats. Paranormal investigators
have repurposed them and use them to pick up sounds ghosts are supposed to make. The results of the bat box experiments varied; in the fire station itself, Alex picked up a moaning sound on the top floor. On another location they investigated but didn't film at, Toni felt the bat box definitely picked up the sounds of an entity responding to their questions while Alex didn't think they picked up anything supernatural, although he felt a 'presence' in the room with him.
The film's original title was Credo and some marketing work was done under that name; a trailer and a poster were both produced. As a part of the North American release, Lionsgate released it under the new title The Devil's Curse along with a new trailer and poster. Neither Alex nor Toni were informed of the new title or trailer before it was done, but both approve of it.
Psychological horror
Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that relies on character fears, guilt, beliefs, eerie sound effects, relevant music and emotional instability to build tension and further the plot...
film directed and produced by Toni Harman and written by Alex Wakeford. It stars MyAnna Buring
MyAnna Buring
MyAnna Buring is a Swedish actress best known for appearing in the 2005 horror film The Descent.- Early life :Buring was born in Sweden but grew up in the Middle East...
, Clayton Watson
Clayton Watson
Clayton Watson is an Australian producer, actor, writer, and director. He grew up in the Australian outback on a sheep station close to Morgan, a small town in South Australia...
, and Nathalie Pownall
Nathalie Pownall
Nathalie Pownall is a British actress. She grew up in Bristol and was a member of the Bristol Old Vic Youth Theatre before moving to London to train professionally. She has appeared as a guest lead in BBC series Casualty, Doctors and ITV's Doc Martin with Martin Clunes...
, Rhea Bailey
Rhea Bailey
Rhea Bailey is an English actress. She is the younger sister of singer Corinne Bailey Rae. Her father is Black-Kittitian and her mother is White English....
, and Mark Joseph as five British college students that find themselves trapped in an abandoned seminary with a demon. The film was given an American direct to DVD
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
release under the title The Devil's Curse through Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Lionsgate Home Entertainment is the home video and DVD distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment and most former Artisan Entertainment releases. Its library of more than 8000 films owes some of its size to output deals with other studios...
.
Plot
Credo opens with white text on a black background explaining the origin of the real CredoCredo
A credo |Latin]] for "I Believe") is a statement of belief, commonly used for religious belief, such as the Apostles' Creed. The term especially refers to the use of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in the Mass, either as text, Gregorian chant, or other musical settings of the...
. After a silent reading of it, it cuts to a radio recording of two men discussing the nature of evil while close-ups of insects and occult writings play.
Alice (MyAnna Buring) is alone in a library studying. After the librarian (Chris Courtenay) notes she's always the last to go, she packs up her belongings and heads home to find a loud, raucous party already in progress. The party was a touch too rowdy and Alice, along with her four roommates Jock (Clayton Watson), Scott (Mark Joseph), Timmy (Nathalie Pownall), and Jazz (Rhea Bailey), find themselves evicted the next morning.
Jock comes through the next night with a place to stay. As they explore the building, it's revealed in a flashback with narration by Timmy that two students, Seth (Chris Jamba) and Bertha (Candace Grand Pre) obsessed with the nature and existence of evil, joined forces with four other students in an attempt to summon a demon called Belial
Belial
Belial is one of the four crown princes of Hell and a demon in the Bible, Jewish apocrypha and Christian apocrypha...
. At the last moment, Seth backed out, broke the pentagram
Pentagram
A pentagram is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes...
binding the demon, and released the demon into the world. All five were found the next day dead by their own hands.
The quintet settles in. Time passes and the power goes out; Alice hears growling and sounds of something being dragged along wood and ventures to one of the rooms they're sleeping in to find the other four are using a shot glass on a Ouija
Ouija
The Ouija board also known as a spirit/fire key board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, the words "yes", "no", "hello" and "goodbye", and other symbols and words are sometimes also added to help personalize the board...
board.
The next morning, the first killing happens: Timmy is found dead in her room hanging from the roof by a length of electrical cord. The rest of the group starts to get picked off one by one whenever they're alone, but the demon never lays a hand on them. Instead, it manifests as an illusion that convinces them to take their own life. Jock's mother appears to him, claustrophobic Jazz sees someone in a tunnel with her and brings the ceiling down on herself in a panic, Scott sees his Alice, and Alice, the final girl
Final girl
The final girl is a trope in thriller and horror films that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story...
, sees her father.
After Alice's father finishes his monologue, the film cuts back to Jock, Scott, Jazz, and Timmy on the Ouija board. They ask the board if there's a presence in the room with them: It answer Y. They ask it its name: Alice. They ask it where it is: Tower. It repeats 'tower' over and over until they release the shot glass. Everyone but Scott goes upstairs to the tower while Scott reviews his hidden cameras. Scott sees Alice throughout the house talking to herself and stabbing at the air. Upstairs, Jock finds Alice hanging from the rafters, dead. The movie ends with Scott watching a snippet of conversation Alice had earlier with 'Scott'.
Production
Alex Wakeford(writer/cinematographer) and Toni Harman (director/producer) met while both were still in film school and made a living making short films. The rise of YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
meant distributors refused to buy short films anymore, they took the plunge and made Credo. It was filmed on location in London in a former foreign embassy and a Victorian fire station. The locations were chosen before the story was even written. However, they are forbidden to say exactly where shooting took place because the locations are slated to be developed into luxury apartments and the investors were worried the stories of the location being haunted could drive off buyers, but the writer did hint that they were a stone's throw from the Tyburn Tree.
The cast and crew were convinced the buildings were haunted. Throughout filming, cast and crew both reported hearing strange sounds and voices. On one occasions, production stopped so a search could be mounted for an unknown figure watching the crew - but none were ever found. The director used the casts' fear to her advantage, sending the cast down into the basement to get them scared for real before shooting scenes where they were supposed to be scared. In an effort to find evidence the locations were haunted, they got a hold of a bat box. A bat box is a device used to catch bats. Paranormal investigators
Paranormal Investigators
Paranormal Investigators could refer to one of several things:* Paranormal Investigators, a television series broadcast by C31 Melbourne, Australia* Paranormal Investigators, a 2010 horror filmSee also:...
have repurposed them and use them to pick up sounds ghosts are supposed to make. The results of the bat box experiments varied; in the fire station itself, Alex picked up a moaning sound on the top floor. On another location they investigated but didn't film at, Toni felt the bat box definitely picked up the sounds of an entity responding to their questions while Alex didn't think they picked up anything supernatural, although he felt a 'presence' in the room with him.
The film's original title was Credo and some marketing work was done under that name; a trailer and a poster were both produced. As a part of the North American release, Lionsgate released it under the new title The Devil's Curse along with a new trailer and poster. Neither Alex nor Toni were informed of the new title or trailer before it was done, but both approve of it.