The Devil’s Bath Movie Review

The opening scene of The Devil’s Bath has a mother chucking her baby off a waterfall, and it only gets more depressing from there. 

Superbly written and directed by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, The Devil’s Bath is an exceptionally bleak and well constructed horror film set in 1700s Germany, though its slow burn may not work for everyone.

The Devil’s Bath does take a long time getting to its true descent into madness, but the journey is well worth it. From the first moments, Anja Plaschg captivates with an unsettlingly absorbing performance. It’s the kind of understated performance you don’t recognize as terrific until the film is over, but Plaschg navigates the complexity of the role well, giving us what will surely be one of the more underappreciated turns of the year.

Personally, it’s a movie I respect more than love. I have very little negative to say about it–it’s well directed, well written, and full of disturbing moments that, when pieces together, forms the immersive and unpredictable experience that The Devil’s Bath is. And yet it didn’t dig its claws into me the way I expected, in part because it doesn’t amount to as much as I was hoping for. That may not be a fair assessment, but to praise a movie that I surely will never watch again would be unfair to both myself and my readers.

The Devil’s Bath is a good movie and worthy of plenty of praise, but it lacks that extra something that would make the Devil’s Contract worth signing.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.