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Madison at the Movies: Hipster horror flick ‘Devil’ lacks depth

By Madison Mathews
Press Staff Writer
mmathews@johnsoncitypress.com

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Ti West is a filmmaker I really wasn’t aware of until I began reading as the online community talked about his latest film, “The House of the Devil.”

Over the past few months, word of mouth has touted the film as being one of the best horror films of the decade. It isn’t.

Paramount’s “Paranormal Activity,” another, albeit smaller, horror film has also slowly been gaining a special place in the pantheon of horror due to great word of mouth and a smart ad campaign backed by the studio.

I was surprised by “Paranormal Activity.” It was a film that both lived up to the hype and quickly became a horror film I can’t wait to experience again.

It’s just too bad “The House of the Devil” doesn’t offer anything substantial to the horror genre, aside from successfully creating a film that looks like a lost “classic” from the 1980s.

But that’s the problem with “House of the Devil.” It’s too focused on looking the part instead of telling a good story. West and cinematographer Eliot Rockett have created a beautifully shot film, filled with long takes that are supposed to build up a sense of dread all leading to a shocking climax. Many have called the film a slow burn, but it fizzles out long before anything interesting happens.

Based on the “Satanic Panic” craze of the early 1980s, “The House of the Devil” follows a pretty college sophomore named Samantha, played by newcomer Jocelin Donahue, as she looks for a way to make some money so she can move out of the dorm room she shares with a sloppy roommate. Samantha takes a babysitting gig just outside the town during the night of a lunar eclipse. Once Samantha arrives at the home of the couple she’s supposed to babysit for, she discovers she’s been duped into caring for an old woman. She agrees to stay and ultimately winds up at the center of a satanic ritual.

While that might sound like an interesting premise for a horror romp, the film takes itself too seriously in creating an arty horror film for hipster snobs. There’s no story and no sense of fear, and it brings absolutely nothing new to the table.

If a horror movie isn’t telling a good story, it’s at least supposed to lead to a payoff that makes viewing worthwhile. “The House of the Devil” does neither. I dug the slow, deliberate pace of the first half of the film. Even the first major shock had me sit up and begin to really pay attention. But the film doesn’t really go anywhere from there.

Instead we get scene after scene where the camera follows Samantha as she searches through the creepy house, waiting to hear the next floorboard creak or see something strange outside. Once the “shocking” climax hit, I was just ready for the credits to roll.

The climactic scene, which is what the entire film is built around, holds no context whatsoever. This is the one sequence in an otherwise well-shot film that is shot so poorly it just comes off as being amateurish. It’s edited so fast, the horrific scene ends up becoming a parody of a bad heavy metal music video.

I’m not saying the film needs to up the gore or violence, à la “Saw” or “Hostel,” but it does need something to hold my attention.

Horror films are built around the art of making bad decisions. Hear a noise upstairs? Grab a knife and check it out. See something move outside? Open the door and walk out into the darkness. And when the baddie is giving chase? Run into a closet or bathroom and lock the door. It won’t ever be able to get you in there.

But the decision Samantha makes at the end of the film doesn’t make any sense given what little she or the audience knows about what has happened in the house. While I’m sure it’s meant to be somewhat ambiguous, West would’ve been better off if he took more time developing the screenplay, so we actually care about what happens to Samantha.

West adds a coda to a film that’s supposed to make you cry out with horror. Instead, it comes off as a cheap attempt to wink at the audience and say, “Gee, bet you didn’t think that was coming. Ain’t I clever?” It’s a twist ending that would make even M. Night Shyamalan say, “Dude, show some restraint.”

If you want to see an original horror movie that both delivers the scares and tells a good story, I highly suggest going to see “Paranormal Activity” instead of trying to track down a theater playing “The House of the Devil.”

Watching “The House of the Devil” is kind of like being in high school and finally getting a chance to go on a date with the head cheerleader, only to discover that she’s a vapid, uninteresting, black hole of a person. Aside from the looks, there’s no real depth.

“The House of the Devil” just didn’t do it for me. In fact, it’s kind of lame.

Madison Mathews is a Press staff writer. Contact him at mmathews@johnsoncitypress.com.