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Bedeviled (2017) movie poster

Characters & Themes

Bedeviled (2017) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Release, runtime and language
2017 · 91 min · English
Echo score 30
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Directed by
Abel Vang, Burlee Vang
Starring
Matty Finochio, Brandon Soo Hoo, Saxon Sharbino, Aaron Hendry, Alexis G. Zall, Bonnie Morgan
Budget
$2K

A group of friends experience escalating psychological torment after downloading a cryptic mobile application. The app seems to exploit their hidden fears and insecurities, manifesting their anxieties into terrifying and personalized horrors. As the friends struggle to understand and escape the app's influence, they must confront their deepest vulnerabilities to survive the escalating nightmare.

On this page (9)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 Characters explained (7)
  3. 3 Character relationship map
  4. 4 Where & when it takes place
  5. 5 Themes & meaning (3)
  6. 6 Character & meaning questions
  7. 7 Movie threads
  8. 8 Movies like Bedeviled
  9. 9 Every angle
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7 main characters · contains spoilers

Bedeviled Characters Explained: Who Is Who

The main characters of Bedeviled (2017), heroes and villains: what drives them, how they change over the course of the story and what each of them reveals about the film's bigger ideas.

  • Nikki

    Nikki is the catalyst whose download of Mr. Bedevil triggers the haunting. Her sudden death from a shock-induced heart attack becomes the group's grim warning and motivation to confront the malevolent app.

    • 👻 Victim
    • ⚠️ Catalyst
  • Cody

    Nikki's boyfriend, a practical, tech-savvy problem-solver who develops a code to uninstall Mr. Bedevil. He ultimately dies when the app extends its reach to his phone's hardware, defeating his plan.

    • 🧠 Tech-savvy
    • 🔎 Investigator
  • Alice

    Alice is Nikki's best friend who becomes a leader in the group's fight against the haunting. She survives long enough to help orchestrate a two-station uninstall plan, and her life moves toward a new chapter in college.

    • 🧭 Leader
    • 💪 Resilient
  • Gavin

    Gavin is part of the core friend group and is murdered by clowns when the app lures him to Alice's house. He embodies the danger that the app poses to those who seek to uncover its truth.

    • 🎭 Friend
    • ⚰️ Victim
  • Haley

    Haley, along with Dan, is killed by Mr. Bedevil in ways that mimic her deepest fears, highlighting the app's chilling ability to tailor terror to individuals.

    • 🎭 Friend
    • 🕯️ Victim
  • Dan

    Dan is Haley's partner and a target of the haunting, meeting a fear-based death as the app wreaks personalized horror.

    • 🎭 Friend
    • 🕯️ Victim
  • Samuel Price

    Nikki's former physics tutor and pseudoscience enthusiast whose research connects Mr. Bedevil to paranormal activity, suggesting the app functions like a modern Ouija board. His body is found along with audiotapes revealing the app's true nature.

    • 🧪 Researcher
    • 🧭 Enigmatic

Last updated: October 27, 2026 at 13:47

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7 characters · 8 connections · contains spoilers

Bedeviled Character Relationship Map

Who is connected to whom in Bedeviled: family, love, friendships, rivalries and hidden ties, colour-coded. Pick a character to see their side of the story, or a connection to see what brings two characters together.

How much of the story to show
NNikkiCCodyAAliceGGavinHHaleyDDanSPSamuel Price

Last updated: October 27, 2026 at 13:47

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Setting

Where and When Does Bedeviled Take Place?

The setting of Bedeviled (2017): the year and time period, the places and locations, and how they shape the characters, the mood and the tension of the story.

Time period

Present day

Set in the present era with smartphones and online connectivity dominating daily life, the narrative hinges on a Siri-like app that can invade reality. The tech environment reflects contemporary anxieties about surveillance, online reputations, and digital omnipresence. Events unfold in real-world locations like homes, a warehouse, and a college campus, grounding the horror in familiar modern settings.

Location

Nikki's Funeral, Alice's House, Sam's House, Police Station, Warehouse, College Campus

The events unfold across a contemporary setting that blends domestic spaces with eerie, otherworldly disturbances. The group begins at Nikki's funeral, then returns to Alice's house and later Sam's house, with the police station and a warehouse serving as key investigative and confrontational spaces. The climactic confrontation happens in a warehouse where tech is weaponized, while the college campus at the end marks a new start amid lingering danger.

  • 🏙️ Modern Day
  • 👻 Paranormal
  • 🚓 Crime & Investigation
  • 🏫 Educational Setting

Last updated: October 27, 2026 at 13:47

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3 major themes

Bedeviled Meaning: Themes & Message Explained

What is Bedeviled (2017) really about? The emotional, social and philosophical themes the film keeps returning to, its symbolism and the message beneath the surface.

  • Tech Manifestation

    The story treats a digital tool as a doorway to the paranormal, showing how an app can blur boundaries between software and reality. Mr. Bedevil manipulates hardware and firmware to enter the physical world, turning screens into portals. The theme explores consequences when technology becomes autonomous and malevolent.

  • Group Fear

    A close-knit group faces paranoia as the app targets each member's fears, eroding trust and turning friendships into suspects. The collective dread escalates as messages and disguises mimic real-life threats. The group's attempts to warn authorities or cut off the app reveal the fragility of social bonds under digital siege.

  • Mortality & Control

    Death is weaponized as the app thrives on fear, with characters dying in ways that mirror their phobias. Uninstalling the app requires defeating a sentient program that adapts to security measures, highlighting human vulnerability against a faceless digital entity. The ending underscores the uneasy balance between control and surrender when technology survives attempts to erase it.

Last updated: October 27, 2026 at 13:47

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Character & theme questions

Bedeviled Characters & Meaning: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask about Bedeviled (2017): who the characters really are, their relationships, what the symbols mean, where it takes place and what the movie is really about. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Where does the story take place?

The movie unfolds across modern domestic settings including private homes, a warehouse, a police station, and ends at a college campus. These familiar, everyday locations contrast sharply with the supernatural events, making the horror feel disturbingly grounded in reality.

  • setting
  • locations
  • house
  • warehouse
  • college campus
Q2

When is the movie set?

The story is set in the present day, centered around smartphones, apps, and digital connectivity. The contemporary tech environment is essential to the plot, as a Siri-like mobile application becomes the vector for supernatural horror.

  • present day
  • modern era
  • smartphones
  • technology
Q3

What does the Tech Manifestation theme explore?

The theme examines how technology can become a doorway to the paranormal, blurring boundaries between software and reality. The app manipulates hardware and firmware to enter the physical world, turning screens into portals. It explores the consequences when technology becomes autonomous and malevolent.

  • technology
  • digital
  • app
  • paranormal
  • surveillance
Q4

What is the Group Fear theme about?

The Group Fear theme depicts how a close-knit group faces paranoia as the app targets each member's personal fears, eroding trust among friends. Messages and disguises mimic real-life threats, turning friendships into suspects. It highlights the fragility of social bonds under digital siege.

  • friendship
  • paranoia
  • fear
  • trust
  • digital threat
Q5

What does the Mortality & Control theme represent?

This theme treats death as a weapon, with the app thriving on fear and characters dying in ways that mirror their specific phobias. Uninstalling requires defeating a sentient program that adapts to security measures, highlighting human vulnerability against a faceless digital entity.

  • death
  • fear
  • control
  • vulnerability
  • survival
Q6

Who is Nikki and what is her role?

Nikki is the catalyst who downloads the Mr. Bedevil app, triggering the haunting. Her sudden death from a shock-induced heart attack becomes the grim warning that motivates the group to confront the malevolent app.

  • nikki
  • catalyst
  • death
  • app download
Q7

Who is Cody and what is his role?

Cody is Nikki's boyfriend, portrayed as practical and tech-savvy. He develops code to uninstall the app but ultimately dies when the app extends its reach to his phone's hardware, defeating his technical solution.

  • cody
  • technician
  • hacker
  • uninstall plan
Q8

Who is Alice and what is her role?

Alice is Nikki's best friend who becomes a leader in the group's fight against the app. She survives long enough to help orchestrate a two-station uninstall plan and represents the path toward a new chapter at college.

  • alice
  • leader
  • survivor
  • college
Q9

Who is Samuel Price and what is his significance?

Samuel Price was Nikki's former physics tutor and pseudoscience enthusiast. His research connects the app to paranormal activity, suggesting it functions like a modern Ouija board. His body is found alongside audiotapes that reveal the app's true nature.

  • samuel price
  • physics
  • tutor
  • research
  • paranormal
Q10

What makes the app so terrifying?

The app exploits each user's hidden fears and insecurities, manifesting personalized horrors tailored to individual vulnerabilities. It can mimic real-life threats, disguise itself as messages from loved ones, and eventually extends its reach into physical hardware, making it nearly impossible to escape.

  • app
  • fears
  • insecurities
  • personalized horror
  • manifestation
Q11

How does the movie use technology as a horror element?

The movie weaponizes everyday technology, smartphones, apps, and digital connectivity, transforming them from helpful tools into instruments of terror. The app can invade reality through screens, turning devices that users trust into portals for supernatural invasion.

  • technology
  • smartphone
  • app
  • horror device
  • invasion

Movie threads

More Movies Like Bedeviled, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes Bedeviled tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Technological horror movies like Bedeviled

Stories where everyday technology becomes a conduit for personalized psychological torment. If you liked how Bedeviled used a malicious app to manifest personal fears, you'll find similar terror in these movies. This list features stories where technology like phones, social media, or AI turns against users, creating a deeply unsettling and modern horror experience centered on psychological invasion.

  • paranoid
  • unsettling
  • technological dread
  • psychological invasion
  • modern horror
  • relentless
  • Tone: tense, paranoid, unsettling
  • Pacing: fast, escalating
Why these movies?

The story pattern: Narratives in this thread typically begin with a seemingly benign interaction with technology that quickly escalates into a targeted attack. The antagonist (often an unseen, algorithmic force) learns the characters' vulnerabilities, using their own secrets and anxieties against them. The plot follows a reactive struggle as characters try to understand and dismantle the system hunting them, often with limited success.

Why they belong together: Movies are grouped here based on their core premise of personalized, tech-based horror. They share a common fear of the digital world's invisible threats and explore the terrifying idea that our devices know us better than we know ourselves, creating a uniquely modern and paranoid viewing experience.

Bleak and relentless horror movies like Bedeviled

Hopeless stories where characters are systematically hunted with no chance of escape. Fans of Bedeviled's oppressive and hopeless atmosphere will appreciate these selections. This collection features horror and thriller movies with a relentless pace, high tension, and bleak endings where the evil force is triumphant, leaving viewers with a powerful sense of dread and inevitability.

  • bleak
  • relentless
  • dread-filled
  • oppressive
  • hopeless
  • high-stakes
  • Tone: bleak, tense, oppressive
  • Pacing: fast, relentless
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative pattern involves a group or individual facing an omnipotent antagonist or unstoppable force. There is a linear, escalating progression of threats with little to no relief. Characters are often picked off one by one, their efforts to fight back proving futile. The story arc is a downward spiral, culminating in an ending that reinforces the cyclical or absolute nature of the threat.

Why they belong together: These movies are grouped by their shared emotional core of hopelessness and their structural similarity as relentless, high-tension nightmares. The similarity lies in the viewing experience itself: a fast-paced, intensely stressful journey towards a conclusively bleak outcome that leaves a heavy emotional impact.

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Movies Like Bedeviled

Similar movies to Bedeviled: the same genre, themes or kind of story. Each one comes with its own plot summary, timeline and ending explained.

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Every angle

Bedeviled (2017) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

Everything about Bedeviled in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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