Welcome to The Attic, in the Devil’s Backbone.

Devil’s Backbone Texas is a movie I just discovered on Netflix, and fell in love with. It’s not only interesting and scary, but it also has a solid foundation in a segment that was featured on Unsolved Mysteries called Devil’s Backbone. I vividly remember watching that story as a kid. The horror genre seems to be filled with nothing but found footage, documentary style movies, and many fear it will never end. I am on the fence here. On one hand, I understand that we can grow bored if every movie is made to look real because we will all become numb to it, and it won’t add anything anymore. But on the other, when they’re done right, it adds a level of “realism” and simplicity that I think good horror movies require.

Back when the Blair Witch Project came out, it seemed the whole world was captivated by the movie that by all accounts (and thanks to marketing genius) appeared to be real. Cameras were found with horrifying footage and so many people fell for it. It hit audiences hard, but the jig was up soon enough. Now, over 15 years later, all we have are movies that claim to be “found” among a pile of dead bodies. So, what can they do to increase the fear level with another entry in the “true story” production line? You take a story that was told almost 20 years ago on Unsolved Mysteries and you add a more everyday, documentary approach. Then, once the viewer feels like they’re actually just watching an informative look at a man, his family, a historical property, and you throw them off by then scaring their pants off. And then confusing them. Repeatedly. This might not sound intriguing, but trust me, it’s brilliant.

The film starts with a quick explanation that it will tell the story of a man going back to the place his father loved and lived for many years, to scatter his ashes. He is taking friends along for the ride, as well as a camera to record the whole experience. The man, Jack, was raised believing that his father, Bert Wall, was insane.

Bert, an author of horror books, bought a large ranch in the Devil’s Backbone, and quickly became convinced that the area was haunted. After he moved in, he becomes consumed by the house and land, and turns into a recluse. He tells tales of a “white woman” who warns him not to listen to the spirits in the area, because they are demons. His goats were picked off one by one and he was convinced it was the spirits. In 1996, Bert and his story were covered in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. At the end of the segment, the man says that he will probably haunt the land long after he passes away…

Jake has always struggled with wondering if his father was actually insane, as the family believed, or if his tortured father was telling the truth. It’s a lose-lose situation, and it is clearly taking a toll on the grieving son. Photos were taken after his father was found dead of cardiac arrest, and the house is heavily damaged. Either Bert did this himself, or something more sinister was going on. Interviews with locals that knew Bert for years show that he had many people who cared about him and liked him.

Jake and his friends arrive at the property where they will be staying. The land now belongs to his step-mother. and his father’s old house still stands on the same land. The step-mother is missing when they arrive, and Jake finds out from his sister that the older woman is in the hospital with a collapsed lung. She said she felt like someone was choking her. The friends continue on alone and find his father’s old home. The place is in ruins, but it is the noises and screams they hear that truly has them disturbed. They are scared and alone and feel trapped. They are also stalked by an elusive truck on the property in the night, watching them. The friends begin to grow concerned of Jake and his increasingly odd behavior. Do we discover that Bert was, in fact, crazy or was there more going on here? The answer is both yes and no.

I really enjoyed this movie a lot. It is paced slowly enough to lull you into a false sense of “oh, this isn’t a horror movie” with its mundane family interviews and tales of the man’s affair when the children were young. They cover Bert’s lust for riches, and obsession to find the gold he believes is on the land. But it is the added touch of throwing in an excerpt from Unsolved Mysteries that got me on edge. Robert Stack’s voice could make the phone book sound terrifying. They take you from interestingly tragic to creepy to scary real quick, and some scenes had me on the edge of my seat. Definitely watch this whenever you have the time. It’s currently on Netflix, but I’ve also found it on YouTube… for now. The video is embedded below, but if that doesn’t load, follow the YouTube link. Enjoy!

Stay scared,
Dark Princess