Customer Reviews

The House of the Devil [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

"The House of the Devil" is an assured little film that fondly invokes horror films from the 1970s and 1980s. Many people are going to complain that this movie is slow and boring, but they are missing the joys of this type of film making completely. The best horror is a slow burn leading up to the proverbial poo hitting the whirling blades. You have time to begin to care about these characters, before something terrible happens to them and it cuts deep.

The plot: a college student is ready to move out of her dorm and into a nice rental home, but needs to make some quick cash to pay the first month's rent. Responding to a flyer requesting a babysitter, she will get much more than she bargained for.

The final twenty minutes, while rapid-paced and bloody, do not live up to the promising tension built up by the rest of the movie. However, if the end was a bit of a letdown, overall the movie was very well done. This is not the action-packed gore fest that some people might be expecting. Instead, it is a solid throwback to horror films that used setting, tone, atmosphere, character-building, and music to build up to the scary!

High praises to Director Ti West with this excellent attempt. House of the Devil avoids current pratfalls and absurd, over-the-top rubbish that placates most new horror flicks. Thumbs up for that. This is more of a subtle, intelligent suspense story that will challenge your wits.

However, it's far from perfect. This movie doesn't deliver anything very original with the premise. Another college student/babysitting type of setup. But the idea of a satanic cult touches on a sensitive nerve that is all too disturbing.

But the Devil never really gets his due. This movie has solid acting, good character development, and creepy sound effects. Unfortunately, not much of a payoff for your patience. The story tiptoes along, and finally reaches a frightening bloody climax. Too bad it ends so abruptly.

Overall, House of the Devil is a well told story that includes a little gore. Just not much else happening. 3.5 stars.

"The House of the Devil" is one of the most suspenseful movies I have seen in ages. It's somewhat slow moving but it really picks up momentum. And even though there isn't much gore or classic horror violence (besides a couple of scenes) that doesn't matter because the main character, Samantha, was very likeable and interesting to follow. For old-school horror with a new twist pick up this movie.

I'd like to go on record and say that if all of Ti West's films end up as The House of the Devil does he may very well become one of the best horror directors and writers of our generation. I can't help but stress at length how much I love this film. He was able to film this to make it feel like a late 70's to early 80's horror film. From the look of the film, clothing, dialogue, props, everything makes you feel like you are watching one of the horror films of days gone by. I do have to stress though that the first hour of this movie is build up and not much happens. If you are a gore or action hound you might be put off by the long introduction. In the style of the movie though it works and it does end in a bang.

The film opens as Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) has found a new building to live to avoid her roommate who is too into both partying and sex for her taste. Samantha just wants to have some peace and quiet while she's doing her studies and isn't able to in her current living arrangement. The problem? She is a little light on money to be able to make the initial rent. To cover this she looks for side work to help pad her wallet a little.

She is soon able to find a babysitting job that is supposed to pay well. An older couple, the Ulman's, need someone to watch the house and Mr. Ulman's mother for them. While Samantha originally believes she is going to be taking care of a child, enough money is thrown at her to ignore her qualms and take the job. Her friend that gave her a ride leaves and soon after the Ulman's do as well. After this happens the buildup slowly raises. While we quickly discover things aren't as they seem - Samantha has no idea anything is wrong until it's too late and the action kicks in. Once it does Samantha learns that she was setup from nearly the beginning.

Movies where the end are what make them can be hard to write about. I want to rant on where this goes but the journey and destination are equally enjoyable. The problem with really explaining where the movie is going though is ruining the surprise of it. It's so rare that such a perfectly done horror movie comes out that to ruin it would be doing it a disservice.

This is shot to match the style of 70's horror that has a huge build up of characters, suspense, and just setting the right mood for something to attempt to creep you out. What really stands out though is that this was both (for the most part) more believable than any movie similar to it done in the past. I was consistantly struck by how amazingly well this was put together and can't stress enough that if you enjoy build up, suspense, and a little throwback in your horror that you need to pick this up immediately. I am not a person to give a perfect review to a movie on a regular basis. This one has easily become one of my top 10 horror movie favorites.

You'd think a title like "The House of the Devil" would tell you everything you need to know. It does tell you a few things; this is, indeed, a story that involves evil people and hapless victims, who of course are young and female. But on the whole, this movie plays against everything you would probably expect, which in this case is a compliment. Instead of the usual gory camp fest, where idiotic teenagers are a dime a dozen, "The House of the Devil" is a quiet, slowly paced exercise in suspense, where apprehension comes not from bad things happening but from the idea of bad things happening. It's the kind of film where story plays second fiddle to style, the first hour spent on virtually nothing except establishing mood. This is good because, when there finally is a startling moment, we really do feel it.

The mood is so thoroughly established that one can't help but be somewhat disappointed by the final ten minutes, when all is explained (as best as can be explained, anyway). That's the inherent flaw with suspense: What leads up to the ending is always more frightening than the actual ending. Fortunately, the last major scene is amped up with a final shot so unnervingly ambiguous, you may find yourself clutching onto your armrest waiting for something to happen.

In spite of its fresh approach, the story effectively makes use of familiar horror movie themes. Taking place sometime during the 1980s, it tells of Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue), a young college student trying to make it on her own but in desperate need of cash. Lo and behold, she spots on a bulletin board a want ad for a babysitter, and when she calls, she's immediately offered the job. As is always the case, the house she goes to is old, ornate, and located deep in the woods, far, far away from any other house. The occupants are Mr. and Mrs. Ulman (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov), an older couple who dress in attire that might have been in fashion fifty years earlier. They're soft spoken and accommodating, yet there's always an uncomfortable air of mystery surrounding them.

As they get ready to leave for the evening, Mr. Ulman confesses that he and the missus have no young children for Samantha to look after. Instead, he wants her to stay in the house just in case Mother needs any help. Mother, who lives somewhere upstairs, is quiet and should be no problem at all; in all likelihood, Samantha won't ever have to go up and check on her. Samantha agrees to the job if her pay is increased to $400 (if that sounds ridiculous, keep in mind that the original offer was $100). Mr. Ulman, in dire need of someone for the night, agrees. He and his wife then depart, leaving Samantha with a list of phone numbers, including a local pizza joint in case she gets hungry. We don't exactly know where the Ullmans are going, but we do know that there will be a lunar eclipse around midnight.

What follows is a carefully paced buildup of tension. At first, it seems like absolutely nothing will happen; Samantha goes up and downstairs checking out various rooms, and that's it. Uneventful? Yes, but at least we get the chance to take in the ambiance of the house, which gives one the feeling of having stepped back in time by at least seventy-five years. At a certain point, things start to get creepy. For one thing, she keeps calling her best friend, Megan (Greta Gerwig), but gets only the answering machine. She then orders a pizza, and the guy at the other end seems a little too friendly. She turns on the television, where "Night of the Living Dead" is being broadcast on the weekly horror show. When she has to use the bathroom, she takes a butcher's knife with her for protection. And what exactly is Mother doing upstairs? Is anyone even up there?

I suspect the vast majority of today's audiences will be bored out of their minds by "The House of the Devil," a film released at a time when the success of a horror movie is measured by masked killers and teens wandering off alone and getting naked before dying elaborate, bloody deaths. Writer/director/editor Ti West has the ambition to avoid such clichés and go for something much subtler, relying on dim hallways, eerie shadows, and phantom noises emanating from faucets. Even the final scenes, which aren't as strong as the scenes that came before them, don't follow the conventions of the typical horror movie; they explain certain things, yet they still leave much to the imagination. As we all know, what we see is never as scary as what we don't see.

When we leave the theater, we think not about the plot or the characters but about what has been experienced - the suspense a quiet room can generate, dangers that may or may not be hiding behind a closed bedroom door, terror brought on by what we can't actually see or hear. What evils lurk out of sight? Will they ever be seen? And if they are seen, what will they do? Even if "The House of the Devil" is founded on a premise that's all too familiar, it manages to be frightening because it exposes some of our most basic fears, none more powerful than being alone in a house. If you're tired of the typical teen slasher film, if you find slow and steady buildups more satisfying than back-to-back pop out scares, then I would recommend you go and see this film.

When I saw this film I could not believe my eyes, ears or train of thought! I felt like I was transported to 1982 or 83, glorious! The film lacks on gore and blood but builds like a devilish mystery with a "Friday the 13th part 3', feel without the 3D. It has been intimated, "Babysitter Wanted", not a bad film in itself but this movie is superior! The Actresses Not only look like they are in the 80's but act like it and astonishingly recapture it! The innocence is there, the naivety, the fun loving spirit put in peril without expecting it! Rob Zombie, may have as well as a few others resurrected the horror genre with, "House of a thousand corpses", and other films before touched on like, "The silence of the Lambs", witch inspired all of horror film making today, but Those films derived form Tobe Hooper's, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre",unlike that film, inspired by the 70's (Witch are now making a comeback, Big Time!) This the only little independent film so far that has come close to ever recapturing the lost and Big 80's! Form a building start to a not so good finish the film still delivers the scares, it features the guy who played Dracula in the 'Monster Squad", but this is No Monster Squad my friends more like Halloween 1) Meets, "Rosemary's Baby"! The girls in the film especially the main actress looks terrified like, Amy Steel in Friday the 13th part 2! I don't know how the director did this if if it can ever be done again but, I have to say Cheers! You recreated a lost but hopefully not forgotten decade to the tee! The movie is OK a little on the slow side but acting makes up for that, No real lead male Characters the subject that's jinxing the New Line team's casting of the new Friday the 13th Remakes! The women are outstanding young actresses leading the way to another timeline in this little gem! Highly Recommended!

"The House of the Devil" is one of the better horror movies I've seen in quite sometime. It was nice to see a horror film that showed a attention to detail and a eye for suspenseful cinematography, and of course, one that was really creepy. "The House of the Devil" is a tale of a desperate Co-ed named Sam, who is strapped for cash. She replies to a "Babysitting" gig to make a quick $100 but there is something strange and desperate about the man offering her the job. After some deliberation her and her friend drive out to the back woods house where she meets with the man and his wife, an odd couple dressed in all black. Soon, the husband confesses that this isn't a babysitting gig, he wants her to stay in the house and respond in case his "bedridden mother upstairs" has any problems. Sam is ready to forget the whole thing but he offers her a whopping $400 for four hours of work. Something any cash strapped co-ed would have trouble refusing. Sam agrees to the terms but as the night progresses she will soon be fighting for her life. I can understand how some will find "House of the Devil" a tad slow and boring but as a fan of suspense rather than gore I found the movie to be an excellent exercise in building tension and the production of a beautifully shot horror movie. The simple shots of the house in the dark surround by the sinister and ominous woodlands was enough to send a chill down my spine. It reminded me a little of "Susperia" which automatically won its favor with me. Aside from the technical aspects, everyone contributed solid performances. Jocelin Donahue is perfect as the polite but naive Sam and Tom Noonan plays the creepy "tall man dressed in black holding a cane satanist" to a T. "House of the Devil" is a solid horror flick with flashes of brilliance and a refreshing alternative to all the carbon copy slasher flicks that come out every year. Most importantly I think it functions as a great cautionary tale to all the aspiring babysitters out there. If they seem like satanists then they probably are.

if you like the horror films which were made circa 1970's, then this horror film is a 'throw-back' homage to that era.

I will not cover the plot here. All I wanted to comment on is the style of the film. Even though it is a recently made film (2010), it is filmed as though it takes place in the 70's (no cell phones, station wagon cars, 70's hairstyles etc, bell bottom jeans, etc.) I thought this was really an artistic and clever touch of filmmaking.

So it 'looks' like a 70's horror film, and the style of filming is the same as well. The plot is a little slow at the beginning, as the suspense slowly builds, and the layers get peeled back one by one.

*recommended for old-school horror fans*

The House of the Devil is a seriously good film. Although I'd argue that the film is less horror than it is suspense, I think the horror works better because of the slow and creepy build-up before any blood is spilled. It's really the atmosphere of dread that kept me hooked. The movie doesn't feel tricky or gimmicky, everything felt genuinely creepy and there wasn't a moment when I wasn't wondering where the film was going to take me next.

This is not to say the movie is perfect. The third act felt really short and underwhelming compared to the strong first half. The final act, while still interesting, doesn't payoff on the promise of the earlier scenes. At least not in terms of milking tension as effectively. The final "reveal" is a great concept in an awesomely ambiguous way but the rushed final act leading up to that point should have been more dramatically protracted.

I still recommend this movie whole-heartedly because the atmosphere and mood is some of the best I've seen in a long while. The reviewers here on Amazon who give this film one star must be either be joking or only into horror films for shock and gore alone because this is really fun stuff. Don't listen to the one-star reviews, give this one a try!

The actors are really pretty good in this low budget feature. But it is very slow paced, and there are many loose ends that never get tied up.
Spoilers coming...








How did the bearded guy come up with a pizza to deliver? Did he knock off the delivery guy or just happen to have a pizza ready when the girl called? Why didn't she notice the stench of bloody bodies in one of the rooms? How is this story based on unexplained events? There should have been a blurb at the end in regard to that.

Not as good as it could have been.