Independent cinema can be hit and miss, much like the majority of Hollywood productions. However, even when you're dealing with Indie films that suffer from monetary issues during production, or actors who aren't necessarily the most accomplished or experienced yet - there's still so much heart to be found that the experience is almost always rewarding. The Devil Lives in Hot Springs is a little like that. It's a film shot without a budget, but is still given a decent balance of style due to some interesting editing and post production work. Some of the performances are at times spotty, but not that it distracts from the overall film and the very structured script, which was what kept me so engaged in the film. We'll go over that in a second, but overall I have to say Devil Lives in Hot Springs turned out to be a very interesting little cinematic trip. The kidnap/rape/revenge/home invasion genre is one that I have always been lured into. No matter what the film may be, if someone is chained up or torture is to take place - I'm guaranteed to see it one way or another. Although not an all out rape/revenge film, it does eat up a good portion of screen time and carries some of the strongest acting and becomes the central focus of the film.

The Devil Lives in Hot Springs is a multiple part drama taking place in the homes of three different sets of people in the same neighborhood. First there's the husband who finds out his wife of over a decade has been cheating on him and is now obsessed with vengeance and destroying her. Then there's the drunken psychopath Danny who after being kicked out of a party decides to have a little fun with a hitchhiker on the side of the road. His accomplice doesn't want to have anything to do with it at first, but is soon revealed to be just as psychotic as his buddy only in a potentially less lethal way. Then there's Patricia, a young woman who takes her pills with religious fervor and consistently obsesses over her love life, which may or may not even exist. The structure of the film is that all three stories are interconnected by the characters being neighbors in your average American suburban community. This actually ends up working really well as the characters and their stories start to blend into one another. Although the performances are sometimes too subtle for their own good or too far over the top to balance it out, the script and the handling the plot are there to help keep things on track as I have to say it ends up being a very cool little film.

Running at a brisk 48 minutes, the film sort of brushes by you. It's too long to be a short film I suppose, so it's more of a short feature - but possibly could have been stretched out longer. I however am glad that it wasn't, as filmmakers often get a bit excessive in their adding of just about everything they thought to shoot on film days and including them in the final product. At the 48 minute mark, Devil Lives in Hot Springs remains a lean and dark character drama with a lot to say about what lies behind the closed doors of our friends and neighbors. The idea itself isn't particularly new, but it's done in an intriguing way and with a lot more thought than you might expect. In the end I have to say it was an experience, and I do recommend it for other Indie film fans or simply horror buffs like myself possibly looking for something new to check out that may hearken back to something like Last House on the Left, Scrapbook or House at the Edge of the Park. Although not as sinister or horror/exploitation focused as those films, Devil Lives in Hot Springs packs a pretty nice punch at times and deserves an audience. You can check out more on the film at their official site here.