Musty TV's Maniacal Movie Countdown - Day 18: Where the Devil Roams (2023)

I've included movies from the Adams family in three previous countdowns. I love their story and their whole deal, which you can read more about here. This year's entry is Where the Devil Roams, and I have to say, while aesthetically this one is right up my alley, with its depression era sideshow setting, of the four Adams family movies I have seen, I liked this one the least.

And I should caveat that with, while I did like a lot of the film's aesthetics, there were also things about the aesthetics that did not work at all. For one thing, a lot of the sideshow "freaks" are just too modern looking. They would not be out of place at a modern goth dance club. For another, the switch from scratchy black and white to color within the film doesn't always make sense thematically. Also, while I like the metal-ish music the family also creates together, I didn't like its use in this movie. It kept ripping me out of the era.

Finally, the story is just a mess. Ostensibly about a mother, father, and daughter (all played by real like family, John Adams, Toby Poser, and Zelda Adams, who also wrote and directed it together) who develop a gruesome sideshow act with terrible consequences, but the storytelling is chaotic. Too often its obvious they are going for "arty" over coherence.

And again, some of the visuals are really stunning. There are moments I will definitely never forget. But I just came away from it really frustrated. Like, all the pieces were there for them to make their greatest feature yet, and they just couldn't get them to fit together.

This is their first film produced for Tubi, and not available on Shudder. I watched it commercial free on Prime.