[Film Review] Bury the Devil (2026)

An isolated old house, full of mysterious relics and spine-rattling creaks. Two people, practically strangers, spending a dark and stormy night together – while the omnipresent gloom of impending death hangs over them. While many horror films may feature a similar set-up, few pack the emotional punch of Adam O’Brien’s new film Bury the Devil, which premiered March 6 at FrightFest Glasgow.

Bury the Devil, which was conceived by O’Brien and written by Brad Hodson and Philip Kalin-Hajdu, takes place in real time, with the film almost entirely contained in a long, single shot. The camera is a silent witness to the horrors that occur inside the beautiful house on the water. Everything is bathed in a blue light, as if it could be dusk or dawn – the end of something… or the beginning of something else.

The film follows Julia (Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez), a young hospice worker who recently lost her mother. Her newest patient is Evelyn (Dawn Ford), an elderly woman with dementia who drifts in and out of awareness. On their first night together, Julia gently prepares Evelyn for bed, showing an immense amount of compassion.

But Evelyn isn’t settling down. She gets out of bed and recites a bastardised version of the traditional bedtime prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep":

Now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray for all the souls I keep.

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the souls another body would take.

While Julia seems shaken by the unusual prayer, she isn’t truly alarmed – until Evelyn’s ex-husband Randall (Bill Rowat) shows up, demanding Evelyn tell him about a mysterious occult object she has hidden in her house. He also tells Julia that he and Evelyn had a daughter named Sarah who passed away. Even after Julia kicks Randall out, he doesn’t give up, returning with a menacing gang of men who are intent on getting what they want from Evelyn.

As Julia, Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez is the heart of Bury the Devil. Her character does the challenging work of hospice care because she believes that no one should be alone when they die. It’s also clear that Julia harbors guilt about avoiding her own mother before she passed away. This makes her an uncannily fitting foil for Evelyn, who feels immense guilt about her daughter’s early death.

As Evelyn’s behavior becomes more frightening and erratic, Randall becomes more intent on getting the mysterious occult object that Evelyn is holding. Julia, who is caught in the middle and trying to look out for her patient’s best interests, is fiercely protective of Evelyn – even when it comes at her own expense. 

Lussier Martinez’s role is grueling; her acting range is impressive as she goes from the eternally patient hospice nurse to someone who is terrified and trapped in an unfamiliar setting. Her loyalty and commitment to Evelyn (whom she’s only known for a day) are what helps give this film its tension.

Cinematographer Benoit Beaulieu does an amazing job of showing the juxtaposition of innocence and evil in the film. The camera lingers on bright, cheerful paintings of flowers that hang next to disturbing black and maroon paintings of menacing creatures, painted by Julia herself. The cutesy hearts-and-flowers décor in many of the rooms contrasts with a deer’s head that hangs on the mantle, surrounded by blazing votive candles.

There is also a juxtaposition of who Evelyn is at her core, before past trauma and dementia shook loose some of her important qualities, versus who she is by the time her path crosses with Julia’s. Julia represents innocence; Evelyn represents the end of innocence. While the film begins with Julia ready to care for Evelyn as she prepares to shuffle off her mortal coil, the hospice nurse becomes painfully aware that there are some things more lasting than death.

The uniqueness of having a hospice worker – someone more comfortable with death than most – as the protagonist of a horror film works well in Bury the Devil. Despite Julia’s professional experience with death, the terror she must face as she fights to protect Evelyn goes beyond anything she could’ve expected. In this devastating horror film, Julia must learn the hard way that nothing stays buried forever.  

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