Devil

Devil (2010)

This movie came out last September. I really wanted to go see it then but that didn't work out. It was on Cinemax last night so I got some chips, mini-donuts, and blue gummi sharks and put all my pillows on the loveseat.

You might not want to keep reading- I'm giving away everything here.

The movie starts with helicoper shots of a city (NYC, I guess. It's probably made very clear in the movie but I don't pay attention to that kind of thing), and it's creepy cause the images are all up-side-down.

The movie is narrated with a voice over from one of the characters, Ramirez, one of the security officers at the office building where the story takes place. The incidents are based on a fable that Ramirez's mother told him as a child and the whole movie has a fable-like feel to it. The movie was produced and co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and I guess that's kind of his thing, especially in movies like The Village and The Lady In The Water, neither of which I saw. I've only seen The Sixth Sense and Signs, but I really want to see The Happening.

Anyway, five people are trapped in an elevator and one of them is the devil. I love this kind of story: people stuck somewhere- there's a blzard or the bridge is washed out and one of the people is a murderer. This movie is a tribute to Agatha Cristie and especially her And Then There Were None.

Devil does two things very well: keeping the viewer guessing, and making the characters scary. And Ben Larson, the new temp security guard is fucking terrifying. Sometimes, Tony the mechanic is too. It goes back and forth and you don't know who really is killing the other passengers.

If there's one weak element to the whole film it's when the Devil is finally revealed. It isn't as scary as it should be and I'm not sure why. Probably because at that point you get the idea of how it's going to end. You somehow know that Tony isn't going to die. He's safe, won't even get a scratch. And while Ben and Tony take turns being scary, they're just using facial expressions and getting the job done. The old lady can't pull it off. At one point her eyes turn completely dark; I get the feeling that effect was added in post production when the filmmakers saw that she just wasn't scary enough.

Also, just a thought- does M. Night Shyamalan have some experience with drunk driving or hit-and-run drivers. Like Signs, this movie hinges on beloved family members killed by another driver.

Anyway, Devil is very good movie. I was surprised that it was PG-13, but after seeing it I guess it falls into that catagory. It's just weird cause this type of movie is almost always rated R.