On the one hand, The Devil Conspiracy is as bad as a January horror release gets. On the other hand, it’s wildly entertaining in its weird combo of self-seriousness and in-on-the-joke-i-ness. It’s a tough one to review… and I’m giving it 3 stars, not because it’s good, but because – if you go in mind devilishly open for this kind of high camp – you might just dig it.

If nothing else, the movie fully commits from the first scene. I went in expecting a run-of-the-mill possession story and got Lucifer literally falling form heaven and getting locked up in hell by the archangel Michael. They aren’t going for half-measures in this flick.

But what it is actually about? Tell me if you’ve heard this one before… Satanic soldiers and scientists steal the Shroud of Turin in order to extract Jesus’ DNA from the blood on the material. They then plan to clone Jesus Christ because Jesus is the only human form that Lucifer can possess without killing the body. And the archangel Michael is back in a leather duster and armed with a shotgun to accompany his raid on the IVF hospital (which is located, of course, on the mouth of hell).

This movie is very self-serious except when Michael shows up to the tune of Devil Inside by INXS. Or when Lucifer says his whole plan is a big FU to daddy. Or the over-the-top, borderline campy acting that everyone fully commits to. I had a lot of fun laughing hysterically at this movie… and they probably meant it that way. Sometimes.

You might think this is a godawful terrible movie and I wouldn’t argue with you. Maybe with the right mindset and the right willingness to enjoy a movie that goes this nuts, you might enjoy it. I did… I thought I was going to have a genuine pile of January garbage and I wound up admiring the flick’s go-for-broke attitude.

Score: 75