Showmax has dropped a four episode South African True Crime documentary called Devilsdorp. The series jumps in to the murders that happened in Krugersdorp years ago. Financial advisors were getting picked off when attending meetings and news reports claimed a serial killer was on the loose. It soon became apparent that these murders were linked to a spate of unsolved cold cases from 2012 to 2016, all of which were dubbed Satanic Murders. As the various strings in the tapestry are pulled the entire strange story behind the Electus per Deus cult (that translates to Chosen by God) is unravelled in a gloriously shot and extremely well edited documentary series fit for international consumption.
It provides you with a host of weird and wonderful characters that had me drawing similarities to the original lock down cure, Tiger King, but the story is far darker. While the weirdness permeates throughout, there is a darkness to Devilsdorp that is almost fitting considering we’re a year and a half through lock down with a sunrise not in sight.
I have found a select few South African documentaries on Showmax that I’ve enjoyed. But Devilsdorp was able to take this to the next level and provide the quirky storyline we’ve tended to see only in internationally produced work in the same genre. The quality of the show is impressive: the camera work and B Roll footage is well shot and the incorporating art work to break scenes gives you a sense of creepy and truly captures the story. Director David Enright does a great job at telling the story at a good pace while throwing in some random subplots that either make you chuckle or roll your eyes. Enright’s ability to turn each player in the story into a character that you either love, hate or pity is fantastic and allows you to be drawn in to what is an extremely far-fetched and often hard to believe actual true story.
The premise of the story focuses around a group of devout Christians trying to help, what they think, is a former satanist escape the satanic church. What unfolds is the forming of a Christian cult that somehow convinces itself that murder in God’s name is okay. Each twist is more bizarre than the next and I don’t want to spoil them – if you never followed this story when it broke you’ll be in for a surprise each episode. Which each new piece making the puzzle even more confusing to look at. For me, the real star of this entire show is Senior Investigating Officer Captain Ben Booysen – who seems to step right off a movie script and truly embodies the fight for good.
Devilsdorp is creepy, unbelievable and has a glorious twist at the end that had me laughing out loud. It’s bloody brilliant and even more so being a South African story because if you’ve lived here, it feels even closer to home. More so for me, when an old work colleague popped up in the interviews and I nearly fell off my couch in shock!
Watch it. Watch it now. Tell your friends to watch it.
