Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The beginning of the film opens with a quick prophecy that isn't on the screen very long. It predicts the child of Satan will be a woman known as the "Drommelkind." After that the film opens in 6/6/1994 as six different women of the "New Bethlehem Community" all give birth to girls. Elder Beacon (Colm Meaney) wants to kill all of them. He is stopped.Five of the girls survive and become inseparable friends as they are under the watchful eye of the community which speak in whispers behind their backs. This is an Amish style community, separated from the world. As the girls approach their 18th birthday, killings and suicides crank up, although nothing supernatural.The film changes gears about 4 minutes from the end...so keep watching. Not much in the way of horror. While people are killed, the camera is shy.Parental Guide: No swearing. There is some minor male/female butt nudity. Girl forced to disrobe and is touched...discreet camera angels. Implied sex.

In an Amish-like community six girls are born on the sixth day of the sixth month and the local leader, Elder Beacon (Colm Meaney), reminds the townsfolk of the prophecy that before the girls turn 18; they will all disappear except the one remaining will be a strong soldier for the devil. Beacon makes no attempt to hide the fact that he wants the girls gone. When the girls near 18...they begin to vanish; fear of prophecy causes paranoia and civil unrest.Strange story line leads to an overpowering finale. Not the best acting in the world; but for sure, the Elder Beacon character seems to get farther and farther away from God.Other players: Alycia Debnam-Cary, Thomas McDonell, Ric Reitz, Leah Pipes, Adelaide Kane, Katie Garfield, Nicole Elliott, Rufus Sewell, Stacy Edwards, Jennifer Carpenter, Jim McKeny and Jon Stafford.

OK. It wasn't horrible. That's meant as a compliment because I was pretty much expecting it to be horrible. Now, I'm not saying it was wonderful, or good or anything like that. Let's not get crazy. It's a weak horror movie with a silly story. Six girls are born on the sixth day of the sixth month in some type of isolated religious community called New Bethlehem - a community led by (or lorded over by) Elder Beacon, played by Colm Meaney, who was certainly the most recognizable face in this. Beacon prophesies that one of them will turn out to be the devil incarnate, and which one it is will be the only one left by the time the girls turn 18. Sure enough, as their 18th birthday approaches, the girls begin to disappear. What's happening? Is the prophecy real? Is the devil really working through one of these girls? Or is Beacon the true evil one?It's watchable pretty much all the way through. But in the end, it disappoints. As long as you believe that Beacon is evil and responsible for everything, then you actually have not just a cheap sort of horror movie, but an actually believable (in an exaggerated sort of way) look at the potential dangers of these isolated religious communities whose lives revolve around the decisions of a single charismatic leader, whose hold on the community is so strong that he can do pretty much whatever he wants. Meaney was good in the role. He took it seriously and seemed to capture the inner workings of Beacon. This would have been OK - not great, but OK - if that had been the outcome of the movie: a community that eventually rebels against an evil demagogue. But, alas, that wasn't the decision. It had to end on a supernatural note. I won't go into much detail. I don't want to spoil the twist too much - but Beacon (evil, religious, charismatic demagogue though he was) really wasn't responsible. He actually turned out to be right! The devil was responsible - and he wasn't the one the devil was working through! That threw me. Disappointed me. Discombobulated me. Upset me. How else can I put it? The end took a movie that I had been prepared to promote to a few degrees above silly (because I thought it really had offered a decent look at the potential abuses in such a community) and it just became silly again. And that's the thought that lingers in my mind after watching this. Too bad. There was potential for better. (2/10)

"Six girls are born on the sixth day, of the six month, which is told to complete a prophecy in which one of them will cause the fall of the world. To protect her cursed child, a mother murders her and kills herself in the process. Now all grown up, the girls are being picked off one by one while one of them named 'Mary' begins to have horrifying visions. Is this the work of the devil or of the abusive elders that rule over the community?"The Devil's Hand is one of those films that I desperately try to enjoy but find myself so conflicted because it is ruined by one of the most frivolous endings of all time. The set-up is good and the film definitely has some great scares, but it is watered down in violence, masked by a ridiculous teen romance sub-plot, and has two VERY weak actors. I honestly really find myself deciphering how to feel because there are some scenes that are AMAZING and show social commentary on topics like religion, murder, and isolated communities. Then the ending comes around, and it lets all of that to rot and becomes full on supernatural. At the end, it turns out that Mary's mother who was shunned for belief that she practiced witchcraft, had personally desired her daughter to be "The Devil's Hand". Mary is soon overcome with the evil, killing her boyfriend and goes to New Bethelem, destroying everything in the process. Then, in a full on bloodbath, she brutally murders the elders. It's just so...silly. Especially her final line.Anyways, it's very upsetting that this was such a huge let down. I'm sure if they kept the ending out and changed it, it would have been great.