Devil's Diary (2007 film)

Devil's Diary
Directed by	Farhad Mann
Produced by	Tim Johnson, Kirk Shaw, Rob Lycar, & Lindsay MacAdam
Written by	John Benjamin Martin
Starring	Alexz Johnson Magda Apanowicz Brian Krause Miriam McDonald Deanna Casaluce Andrew Francis
Cinematography	Michael Balfry
Editing by	Steve Schmidt
Distributed by	Insight Film Studios/Ignite Entertainment
Release date(s)	September 22, 2007(Lifetime) January 30, 2009 (HBO Latin America)
Country	Canada
Language	English

Devil's Diary is a Canadian horror film made for television directed by Farhad Mann and starring Alexz Johnson, Magda Apanowicz, Deanna Casaluce, and Miriam McDonald.^[1]

Plot

One night, two friends named Dominique (Alexz Johnson) and Ursula (Magda Apanowicz) are shown wandering around a graveyard. Lightning strikes a headstone, and when the smoke clears, they find a book without a name at the base of it. Ursula opens it to find that the pages contain no writing, except for a message inside the book’s cover that reads: “Who shall ever freely give thy soul to these pages will be requited with a power beyond their worth. Thy written word is thy bond.” Ursula decides to take it home, believing that fate has meant for her to find it.

At school, Dominique, Ursula, and their friends Andy (Andrew Francis), Craig (Tyler Boissonnault) and Effi (Lisa Tucker) are bullied by the antagonistic cheerleaders Heather (Miriam McDonald), Georgia (Deanna Casaluce), and Lisa (Laura Konechny). Ursula wishes that Heather would fall on her head during a school pep rally, but Dominique says that she would be content if Heather just had both of her legs broken. After school, Ursula goes home and examines the book and its message again, and she writes, "I hate Heather and I wish she'd break both of her perfect legs."

Meanwhile, Dominique pays a visit to her father's grave and pours out her feelings to him. He had died a year earlier, and her mother Rene (Dana McLoughlin) is now married to Frank (Jason Calder), a man she considers to be a creep. He recently got laid off from his job, forcing Rene to take up work as a stripper, and now she hardly sees her due to the hours she works.

At school the next day, Dominique and Ursula witness Heather getting her legs crushed by two cars. Heather is taken to the hospital, and the principal decides to close the school for the day. The two girls go to Ursula's home, and upon arriving, Ursula admits that she is the one who broke Heather's legs because she wrote it in the book they found, and she doesn't feel any guilt over it. She tells Dominique that it happened because she believed in the book's power. Dominique mocks Ursula by asking her to write down that she wants bigger breasts, as well as give Heather's boyfriend, Kyle (Aleks Holtz), a wicked case of acne. Though Ursula knows she is teasing her, she agrees to, anyway, to prove the book's powers to her. However, she writes for Kyle to get bad blisters instead. Dominique goes home, but finds that her breasts haven't grown larger, causing her to dismiss Ursula's notions.

The next day, in Chemistry class, the class is doing an exam where they are handling corrosive liquids. As Kyle is heading towards his seat with some equipment needed for the exam, Joey (Moses Tang) shoots a spitball at his face. This disorients him and makes him fall, and he knocks over a test tube containing one of the liquids, which splashes all over his face and badly burns him.

The paramedics come and take him to the hospital, and Ursula laughs out loud over this, annoying Georgia and Joey. They confront her, but Ursula laughs at them, and Dominique tries to usher her away. Georgia throws an insult at Ursula, and she gets in Georgia's face and growls that she could cause her more pain than she could ever imagine. Dominique grabs Ursula and leaves. She takes her into a bathroom and comes down on her verbally for basically confessing to harming Kyle. Ursula takes the book out from her bag, where they notice that its cover now reads "Ephemeris Diaboli", and Ursula mentions that that name didn't appear there until she started writing in it. She then decides to write something for Joey, but Dominique tries to take the book away. Ursula holds it close and yells that she can't touch the book. Dominique then tells her that that book is having a negative effect on her, and shows her in the mirror that her skin has become pale and her eyes are now enveloped by black circles. Her true self comes through for a moment, reacting with shock at these changes, but when Dominique suggests that she get help, Ursula reverts back to her more sinister self and tells her that she won't give up the book. She then leaves, and Dominique takes off after her. Then, Lisa comes out of one of the stalls, having eavesdropped on the whole conversation.

At home, Dominique finds out through a web search that "Ephemeris Diaboli" is Latin for "Devil's Diary", and this book only lands in the hands of the ambitious. Meanwhile, Georgia and Lisa pay Heather a visit at the hospital and tell her about what happened to Kyle and also about Ursula's book and the power it apparently possesses. Heather realizes that Ursula must have used it on her, and she tells the two that they need to come up with a plan to get the book.

Dominique visits the local church headed by Father Mark Mulligan (Brian Krause) to seek his help. She shows him a picture she printed off of the Internet of the Ephemeris Diaboli and asks if he's seen it. He says no, but his eyes clearly say something else. She tells him about how she learned that Satan had crafted the book and given it to the Pharaoh when Moses led his people out of Egypt, and whatever evil is written in it manifests itself in the real world. She points out that Ursula found it in the graveyard nearby, but Mulligan doesn't believe it, because if it were the real Ephemeris Diaboli, it would be thousands of years old now. Dominique insists that it is the same book, and Ursula has already written things in it and it was changing her for the worse. All Mulligan can tell her is to stop her from writing in the book, and even get it away from her if possible, and gives her some comfort by saying that he will call for someone in the church who would know more about this. Around the same time, Ursula, once again, writes inside the Ephemeris Diaboli, wishing for Joey to lose his eyes. At a pool hall, Joey is playing with some friends, and a friend accidentally stabs him in the eyes with a broken cue.

The next day, Dominique goes to school, where her friend Effi tells her about what happened to Joey. Ursula, meanwhile, is at home, and she targets Steve Kowalski next, writing for him to burn in Hell. Dominique meets with Effi, Andy, and Craig at lunchtime and fills them in on the Ephemeris Diaboli. They find it hard to believe, but then a fire alarm sounds, and they all soon find out that Steve had suddenly burst into flames while welding and ended up being burned alive. Andy, Craig, and Effi now believe Dominique and ask her to fill them in again on the book. Later on, Father Mulligan greets arriving priest Father Sanchez (Pablo Coffey), an expert on the Ephemeris Diaboli, and fills him in on the situation. Father Sanchez warns that the book has started spreading its evil and will soon move into the hands of one with more ambition.

Georgia, Lisa, and their friend Nate (Jake LeDoux) drive up to Ursula's home, where the girls plan to distract her while Nate sneaks into her bedroom and snatches the book. Despite a really close call, they succeed. They head back to school, where Lisa points out that the pages are mysteriously all blank. She and Georgia later head to the hospital to visit Heather, but Georgia stops outside her room and says to Lisa that maybe they should keep it and tell Heather that they never found it. Lisa refuses to go along with it, and Georgia reluctantly presents the book to Heather. Heather gives the book back to Georgia and tells her to write down that Ursula deserves to lose all of her teeth and hair and choke on her own vomit.

At that moment, Dominique stops by Ursula's house to check on her, and she finds Ursula crying, holding her teeth and locks of her hair in her hands. She tells Dominique that "they" wrote in it, and then starts violently vomiting. Dominique rushes Ursula to the bathroom, and then Andy, Craig, and Effi show up. Dominique has Effi call an ambulance, and tells Andy and Craig that Heather or Georgia must have the book now. Just then, the bathroom door shuts and locks by itself, and no matter how hard Dominique and her friends try, they can't get in to help Ursula, who starts violently convulsing and screaming. When the door finally opens, Ursula is found dead on the floor. Dominique heads back to the church that night to speak with Fathers Mulligan and Sanchez, and the latter explains that when Ursula started writing in the book, she sold her soul to Satan, and the same fate will befall anyone else who writes on its pages. She asks how the book can be destroyed, but Sanchez replies that it can't be destroyed any more than man can destroy evil itself. He tells her that she must bring the book to the church.

Meanwhile, Georgia examines the book at her house, and initially ignores all calls from Heather, until she gets irritated and answers one. She tells Georgia that Lisa and Nate told her that Ursula died in the exact way it was written down in the book. Convinced of the book's power, Georgia hangs up on her, and after looking at Heather in a cheerleading photo, she writes for Heather to have a "tragic accident." Later on, the cord from Heather's call button acts on its own, wrapping itself around the sleeping Heather's neck and strangling her to death. After feeling it happen, Georgia writes down that she wants a body to kill for and for every guy who sees her to want her desperately.

The next day at school, Georgia - looking noticeably darker in appearance - has all of the guys fawning over her as she passes them, and they are so smitten with her that they start fighting each other over her. Lisa notices this right away, and goes up to Georgia and demands to know if she wrote for all of this to happen. Georgia just angrily replies that she is just jealous of her, and makes it clear to her that she doesn't care about the fighting taking place. Lisa tells her that she needs to put a stop to all of it, but Georgia refuses to listen, warning her that she needs to get on board with this or else lose her head. Scared, Lisa turns to Dominique and her friends, informing them that Georgia has been writing in the book and has to be stopped.

Outside, the group sees Georgia flirting with several students, and Dominique tells her that she knows that she used the book to kill Ursula. Georgia sarcastically offers her condolences and tells Dominique that she'll make it up to her by making her a desirable woman like herself. Dominique refuses, and as Georgia walks off for somewhere, Andy and Craig clearly show that they have fallen under Georgia's spell like all of the other guys.

Knowing where Georgia has walked off to, Lisa leads the group (minus Dominique, who - for reasons unexplained - is not with them) to an entrance to a set of stairs heading for a secret make-up room where she, Georgia, and Heather would frequently hang out. Lisa tells Andy, Craig, and Effi to wait at the entrance to stop Georgia in case if she gets by her, but Effi volunteers to come with her out of loyalty to Dominique.

When they arrive at the make-up room, Lisa goes in first, and she finds Georgia writing in the book. Georgia tells her that she now views Lisa as a threat and can't trust her to keep her head. Lisa shoves her to the floor and gets hold of the book, but Georgia beats her down. She manages to get the book to Effi, who escapes down the corridor. Georgia goes after her, but Lisa catches up with Georgia and tries to tell her that the book is evil. Georgia shoves her down and then forces a stagelight to wobble and drop onto her, electrocuting her. Effi screams in terror, which enables Georgia to find her and start strangling her. She manages to slide the book towards an arriving Dominique, who runs off with it. As she passes Andy and Craig, she tells them to stop Georgia, but Georgia easily gets past them by using her powers to make them kiss each other, saying that that turns her on.

Georgia chases Dominique through the empty school until she traps her inside the cafeteria courtyard. Andy and Craig catch up to them, but Georgia takes over their minds again, and commands them to kill Dominique and get the book back for her. As the guys close in on her, she starts ripping pages out of the book, causing Georgia to experience pains in her abdomen. Out of desperation, Dominique throws the book away from Andy and Craig, where it smacks against a nearby wall. Strangely, at the same time this occurs, Georgia goes flying as well, and she smacks her head against a nearby wall and dies instantly. Dominique can only react with horror.

Dominique goes back home with the Ephemeris Diaboli and examines it in her room, but soon discovers Frank has been watching her. He then notices the book, and he takes it from her and starts looking at it. Frank then tries to rape her, and Dominique pretends to play along with it, and then hits him when his guard is down and gets the book back. Dominique then locks him out of her room, and as he tries to force the door open, she opens the book and writes that she wants Frank to die. Frank grabs a pair of scissors and picks the lock open, but soon after he gets in, the book’s power makes him stab himself in the neck with the scissors, killing him. Dominique looks inside the book afterwards and finds that her message has disappeared, and begins crying, knowing that she has given in to its power.

Dominique goes back to Father Mulligan with the book in hand. She begs for him to take the book, saying that the book is talking to her and telling her things she thinks about. He refuses, but tells her to wait outside while he fetched Father Sanchez. While he tells him that Dominique has come with the book, Dominique heads to her father's headstone in the graveyard. Mulligan and Sanchez find her there, where she is repeatedly begging her deceased father to help her because she doesn't want to give them the book. Mulligan tells her that Sanchez knows how to get rid of it and must give it to him, but Dominique frightfully refuses, saying that he wants it. Not believing her, Mulligan and Sanchez wrench the book from her grip, and Sanchez leaves with it. Dominique tells Mulligan that Sanchez truly does want the book because she could feel it when he took it, and the book has chosen him because he is more ambitious than Georgia was. Mulligan tells her to go straight home and wait for him, and then he leaves to confront Sanchez.

When he catches up with him outside the church, Sanchez uses the book's powers to hurt him internally, and then impales his palms against a church wall with iron spikes from the cemetery’s gate. Dominique shows up and tries to help Mulligan, but Sanchez telekinetically pushes her against the wall. He tries to convince her to give her soul to the book and become immortal with him. She agrees, but only if the dying Mulligan is set free. Sanchez does so, and Dominique takes one of the spikes from Mulligan's palms. Sanchez tells her that he can feel her hate, and telekinetically forces her to raise the spike up high. He then commands her to stab him with all of the hatred in her heart to consummate their union. Dominique drives the spike through the book instead, and Sanchez becomes engulfed in the flames of Hell and killed.

The epilogue takes place 6 weeks later. Dominique is now in a mental hospital since she wouldn't stop talking about the Ephemeris Diaboli. Her mother visits her, telling her that she quit stripping and got a job in retail, and then tearfully tells her that if she was ever going to get her out of this place, she needed to stop talking about the book. Dominique rambles about the book again and shows her mother some pictures she drew that were influenced by the book, causing her to get upset and ask Dominique if she wants to spend the rest of her life in here. Then, Dominique has a frightening vision of two boys going through the graveyard at that very moment, and one of them finds the Ephemeris Diaboli buried in the ground and takes it. Dominique says to the camera, "It's alive again", and the scene cuts to black with a scream.

Cast

• Alexz Johnson as Dominique Davies
• Magda Apanowicz as Ursula Wilson
• Brian Krause as Father Mark Mulligan
• Miriam McDonald as Heather
• Aleks Holtz as Kyle
• Deanna Casaluce as Georgia
• Andrew Francis as Andy
• Laura Konechny as Lisa
• Jason Calder as Frank
• Lisa Tucker as Effi
• Tyler Boissonnault as Craig
• Moses Tang as Joey Iberra
• Jake LeDoux as Nate

Release

The film was released as the MOW during Fall 2007 on Lifetime (US) and SunTV (Canada).

iTunes

On November 24, 2009 Devils Diary was added to iTunes.^[2]

References

1. ^ Devil's Diary - LMN.tv: Movie Details
2. ^ I missed Alexz Johnson in the LMD show The Devil's Diary

External links

• Devil's Diary (2007 film) at the Internet Movie Database