Face of the Devil

Seven lively backpackers travel to the Peruvian Amazon, where they learn about the Tunche - a primeval spirit whose shrill whistle is an omen of impending death. The lush, exotic idyll becomes oppressive after sundown, and the doomed delinquents begin to wonder whether the Tunche is more than a creepy campfire yarn. Is there something nasty in the jungle - and if so, did sweet-natured Lucero and her rowdy friends bring it with them? Screenwriter Vanessa Saba cameos as Lucero's tragic mother, whose own story unfolds as the film descends further into a Mario Bava style bloodbath. Director Frank Perez-Garland brings something new to the teens-in-peril genre, nodding to the classics while keeping us wondering whether the evil has come from within.