Devil in the Flesh (1998)

Great Film overall

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Devil in the Flesh is set in Los Angeles & starts as a fire destroys teenager Debbie Strand's (Rose McGowan) house, to make matters worse her mother was inside at the time & she was killed. Social services places Debbie with her strict & religious Grandmother Fiona (Peg Shirley), Debbie is sent to a new school too where she meets hunky creative writing teacher Peter Rinaldi (Alex McArthur) & falls in love with him although Rinaldi does not have the same feelings for Debbie. Being a bit of a psycho Debbie decides to get rid of her mean old Gran & uses her body to try to seduce Rinaldi but when that doesn't work Debbie has to use more devious & ever more sinister methods to get her man...Also quite commonly known under the alternate title Dearly Devoted this Fatal Attraction (1987) style wannabe was directed by Steve Cohen & in my humble opinion is absolutely terrible under any name, to say I really hated Devil in the Flesh is an understatement. The basic plot about a teenage whacked out stalker chick having a crush on a much older guy was already done in the Alicia Silverstone flick The Crush (1993) & Poison Ivy (1992) & all the main clichés are recycled to little effect here. There's the dressing in as little clothing as possible, breaking into his house, trying to break the guy & his girlfriend up & various other schemes which turn increasingly violent. The scripting is a mess, various subplots are started but never really come to fruition like the basketball game Rinaldi & a slack student play, the two cops investigating the fire just end up disappearing, a child abuse angle goes nowhere as well as the rivalry between Debbie & blonde bimbo Meegan. I also hated the character of Debbie who just felt unlikable as she kills a dog for no reason & comes across as a selfish uncaring bitch with no redeeming features. Nothing that is set-up in Devil in the Flesh ever pays off & a really weak climax where basically nothing happens doesn't help either, at over 90 minutes it more than outstays it's welcome & I can honestly say I was bored out of my skull by it & was considering playing some Tetris on my mobile phone but I decided to endure it to the end so never let it be said I never gave it a chance.Apparently Devil in the Flesh premiered on an obscure cable telly channel & that's about it was good for to be honest, there's no excitement or violence or much in the way of tension. Also I actually felt a little uncomfortable watching this at times since it's stated several times that Debbie is a minor yet she hardly wears any clothes, I guess the paedophiles out there might enjoy the really boring sequences of Debbie walking down the street flicking her hair or trying to look sexy while dressed in next to nothing while some terrible music plays on the soundtrack but I didn't.This looks like the drab made for telly flick that it is with a soft natural yet boring look about it. The acting isn't up to much here, even though she was playing a minor here Rose McGowan was actually twenty five when she filmed this. The rest of the cast features no-one of any note as far as I am aware.Devil in the Flesh is a film which I hated, I really did & it was just about everything about it. I will be generous & give it two stars out of ten because some of the girls are pretty hot but otherwise this is a stinker of the highest order as far as I am concerned. Followed by a sequel called Teacher's Pet (2000).

" I was glad the directors made this film with a message that abused children are scorned the rest of their life and therefore the pattern showed how the attitude of revenge is taken out on everyone in society. " You're right. It just shows that it's OK to kill people. Just kidding.The movie is pure predictable cheese, though. I only watched it because i'm a charmed fan, and rose McGowan was in charmed.I can't believe this movie was actually two hours. It was so predictable, I was able to tell when she was getting ready to kill someone.This is a good movie if you like those 'femme fatale' movies in which everyone dies. But if you're looking for a 5-star movie, this isn't it.

You know I just really love these kinds of movies. It all is credited to the actors/actresses that play in them. Devil in the Flesh is no exception.Rose Mcgowan played her part so well that it was very believable. The whole fatal attraction idea blended with a spark of hatred and evil put forth by McGowan is just grand. The storyline is pretty basic in the same lines as Poison Ivy. Most people will say if you have seen one you have seen them all. Well I can relate to that line but you really have to give them a chance and watch them as individual films. At least see the work that the actors/actresses have put forth. You never can tell one may be better than the other and with this one it puts forth enough evilness to push it to the front of the line!!!

The Crush kept popping in my head when I watched this. Same ideas and everything, but overall, it was better. Although I didn't find it that thrilling. It seemed everything was predictable. Rose Mcgowan is one of the sexiest actresses I can think of. She did a better job in this movie than I would have expected. The part fits her perfectly (though Alicia Silverstone in The Crush was more believable as a psycho than Rose in this movie.) But she did kill a lot of people. I couldn't stop watching it. Rose is the reason why I watched this movie in the first place. I believe this movie is worth watching. It's creepy!