''Bedevil'', stylised as ''beDevil'', is a 1993 Australian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

directed by Tracey Moffatt, the first feature directed by an

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

woman.

Plot

The film is a trilogy of surreal ghost stories. Inspired by ghost stories she heard as a child from both her extended Aboriginal and

Irish Australian Irish Australians ( ga, Gael-Astrálaigh) are an ethnic group of Australian citizens of Irish descent, which include immigrants from and descendants whose ancestry originates from the island of Ireland. Irish Australians have played a consider ...

families, Moffatt created a trilogy in which characters are haunted by the past. All three stories are set in Moffatt's highly stylised, hyper-real, hyper-imaginary Australian landscape.

''Mr. Chuck''

''Mr. Chuck'' is the first of the three-part series featured in ''BeDevil''. It tells the story of a young

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...

boy haunted by the ghost of an American GI who drowned in the swamp around which much of this segment takes place. Various non-linear events of the boy's childhood are presented through the perspectives of two narrators: the boy as an older man reflecting on his youth and a white woman whose family took part in the colonisation of this area of Australia. The film follows the young boy as he observes and interacts with white settlers who are building a cinema on top of the swamp, while simultaneously holding a caretaker position to his two younger siblings, experiencing abuse at the hands of adults in his family, and having episodic interactions with the ghost of the American GI. These clips of memory are framed by the two narrators’ alternating recounting of them, presented in the style of a documentary interview.

''Choo Choo Choo Choo''

In the desolate plains of outback

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Ruby (played by Moffatt herself) and her family are haunted by invisible trains which run on a track beside their house. The ghost of a young girl killed by a train drives Ruby and her family away. After many years Ruby returns to experience the ghostly presence yet again.

''Lovin' the Spin I'm in''

Imelda's people are

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grou ...

s. When her son Bebe and his love, Minnie, leave their community to escape opposition to their marriage, Imelda follows them to a small town in north Queensland. Tragedy strikes - Bebe and Minnie die, but the doomed couple never find peace. The spirits of Minnie and Bebe dance on a condemned warehouse and refuse to leave.

Cast

Lex Marinos Alexander Francis Marinos (born 1 February 1949) is an Australian actor. Notable for his acting role as Bruno, the Italian son-in-law of Ted Bullpitt, on the 1980s Australian comedy television series '' Kingswood Country'' and as host of ''Lat ...

as Dimitri * Tracey Moffatt as Ruby Morphet * Riccardo Natoli as Spiro *

Dina Panozzo Dina Panozzo is an Australian-born actress of Italian descent best known for her regular roles in the television series '' Carla Cametti PD'' and ''Bed of Roses''. She has also appeared in a recurring role in '' Packed to the Rafters'' and guest ...

as Voula * Mawuyul Yanthalawuy as Maudie * Les Foxcroft * Banula Marika as Stompie Morphet *

Auriel Andrew Auriel Andrew (1947 – 2 January 2017) was an award-winning Arrernte country musician from the Northern Territory of Australia. Biography Andrew was born in Darwin, and grew up in Mparntwe, Northern Territory. She is Arrernte, the Traditio ...

as Older Ruby * Daphne Byers *

Jack Charles Jack Charles (5 September 1943 – 13 September 2022), also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous t ...

as Rick

Themes

Moffatt challenges

racial stereotype An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nation ...

s in Australian society. Storytelling is a central concern of ''beDevil''. Creating and sharing stories is a way to make sense of the world, and both encourages and reflects connections between the past and the present, and people and places. Through the process of telling us their stories, each of the narrators in ''beDevil'' recount shared tales, a sort of modern folklore. While this brings to mind the importance of storytelling to Indigenous traditions, Moffatt explicitly states that these stories “come from both sides of my background – my white relatives as well as my black relatives.” Yet she also insists that “I don’t think you can call the stories particularly white or Aboriginal”. The hybrid nature of Moffatt's work reflects the way that she perceives the multicultural make-up of Australian society, and she explains that “it is completely natural for me to represent that mixing of races”. ''beDevil'' is very much about ''her'' stories, weaving together “a personal mythology”, and presenting images that are “so personal that a lot of the time they embarrass me”.

Production

Tracey Moffatt approached Tony Buckley to produce as she was impressed by the films he had made, especially '' The Night, the Prowler'' (1978). ''Bedevil'' was filmed on location in Charleville and

Bribie Island Bribie Island is the smallest and most northerly of three major sand islands forming the coastline sheltering the northern part of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. The others are Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island. Bribie Island i ...

Release

''Bedevil'' was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films ...

section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, before general release on 28 October 1993.

Reception

Despite good reviews from critics, the film was a box office flop, grossing $27,300. Similarly, the soundtrack release flopped; however, it was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album in 1994.

Box office

''Bedevil'' grossed at the box office in Australia.

Soundtrack

This soundtrack features music composed and conducted by Carl Vine.

Track listing

Mr Chuck
1. Title Sequence
2. The Swamp
3. Young Danny Robs the Shop
4. Harmless Island Travelogue
5. Dangerous Island Travelogue
6. Young Danny Goes to the Cinema
7. Young Danny Wrecks the Cinema
8. The G.I. Revealed Choo Choo Choo Choo
9. The Spirits
10. Ghost Train
11. Haunted Kangaroo Hunt
12. Haunting Spirits
13. Train of Terror Lovin' the Spin I'm In
14. Imelda and Minnie's Stories
15. Spiro's Story
16. Minnie & Beba Appear
17. Imelda's Nightmare
18. Frieda's Story
19. Minnie & Beba Dance
20. The Nightmare Ends
21. End Titles

Credits

According to the soundtrack liner notes, the following people were involved in its production:Soundtrack album liner notes. * Conductor - Carl Vine * Engineer - Craig Preston * Soundtrack album mixing - Michael Stavrou * Soundtrack album producers - Carl Vine and Philip Powers * Mastering - Kathy Naunton * Studio - Albert Studios * Executive soundtrack producer - Philip Powers * Cover art - Zero Plus Design Co. * Art direction - Alex Cotton (Ready Set Design)

References

External links

*
''Bedevil''
at Oz Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedevil 1993 films Australian horror films 1993 horror films Horror anthology films Films directed by Tracey Moffatt 1990s English-language films Films about Aboriginal Australians