A Thomas Bess review of:
Directed By: Ti West
Starring: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, AJ Bowen, Greta Gerwig, Dee Wallace
Run Time: 95 minutes jam packed with enough 80’s to fill an entire week of VH1 nostalgia programming.
A few reviews back, (I believe it was for Fears of the Dark) I mentioned that my “must see” list of horror films had shrunk to almost nothing. After several months of being pretty much nonexistent, my beloved list is back with a vengeance and the first title checked off was Ti West’s The House of the Devil, which is not only a damned near perfect throwback to the horror films of the late seventies and early eighties, but I’d wager it will claim the distinction of being the most divisive genre film of 2010. Yeah, I know it’s only February, but it’s hard to picture another flick with enough potential to polarize its audience so completely. Fitting really, considering that the threat in this story is Satan himself, or at least a group of loyal followers looking to do…well, suffice to say it’s not good. The thing they’re doing that is, as I mentioned earlier, the movie itself is excellent. Anyhoo, we should move on before any more sentences get away from me.
Plot goes a little something like this: It’s the eighties (do a lot of coke and vote for Ronald Regan!) and college sophomore Samantha Hughes (Donahue) is about to move into an apartment that is a quite a bit nicer than her cruddy little dorm room. Only problem is, she needs to come up with the first month’s rent in a few days and her bank account is sorely lacking. Desperate for funds, she answers an ad requesting a baby sitter and soon finds herself heading out to the house of the Ulman family, a rather sinister and sprawling manse in the absolute middle of nowhere. Upon her arrival, a brief conversation with Mr. Ulman (an astoundingly creepy turn by Tom Noonan) reveals a bit of deception on her employer’s part and though Samantha is wary to take the job, the money offered is too good to resist. Once the Ulman’s depart for their viewing of a rare lunar eclipse, things go from mildly disconcerting to full blown terror and every possible stage in between. If it sounds like I’m being intentionally vague, I am, to know any more about the plot would derive the flick of much of its wallop and I’d hate to be guilty of so heinous a crime.
What’s good? Let’s make one thing clear: this is not an “homage” to horror movies from the early eighties, this IS a movie from the early eighties, or as close as one can be without the aid of a time machine. If it wasn’t for the credits and Dee Wallace’s cameo in the opening scene, I would’ve had no clue that this flick was made last year. Everything from the clothes and props (I DARE you not to mark out for the cups in the pizza parlor. I freakin’ DARE you) to the credits, to the look of the film stock itself, this is a period piece in the truest sense and I commend West for his dedication to detail. On the casting side of things, Jocelin Donahue is our heroine and in practically every single shot, if she’d been the least bit unbelievable or unpleasant it would’ve been a terrible blow to the proceedings but thankfully she’s up to the task and does an excellent job making the viewer care. Also worth mentioning is Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov as Mr. & Mrs. Ulman, a pair who manage to out-creep most recent villains with little more than furtive mannerisms and vague language. Seriously, just hearing Noonan’s voice on the phone was enough to send chills down my spine and they only got more pronounced when he showed up on screen. Finally, The House of the Devil is actually pretty light on the gore, at least in terms of quantity. But when the red stuff is spilled it’s done with in delightfully graphic fashion, so those who appreciate such things should not be disappointed.
So what’s not good? From my standpoint, the only real problems I had were middling to downright nitpicky (where was the little plastic dealy in the center of the pizza, the thing that kept the box from sagging down to touch the pie itself?) but there’s no two ways around it, this flick is going to bore certain folks to tears. The story is the slowest of the slow burns and aside from a startling act of violence around the thirty minute mark, things are relatively calm until the last act, right when the aforementioned lunar eclipse kicks in full strength. Those of you expecting jump scares, stingers and other fleeting, carnival spook house style scares are bound to be disappointed as the source of fright is, for the most part, odd noises and an ever building sense of wrongness about not only the house and its residents, but the night itself. I would not be surprised one bit to see charges of “boring” and “nothing happened” leveled against this movie, which, while not true at all, are understandable coming from folks who’d come in looking for a charnel house of bloody excitement. Other than that, the only point I would’ve liked to have seen clarified is just what the Ulman’s had planned and why they needed Samantha to make it happen. The what is fairly easy to discern but why they needed this particular lass remains a mystery. And if they didn’t need her, why go through all this elaborate chicanery when a simple kidnapping would’ve ultimately achieved the same results?
But should you see it? Answer this question. Do you constantly check your phone for texts, even during a movie? Do you need frantic edits and a ton of grue to keep your attention riveted to the screen? If you answered yes to either of those queries, you will want to avoid The House of the Devil like the plague. However, if you enjoy heaps of atmosphere and a story that takes time to get where it’s going, kill the lights and check it out. I think you’ll be very pleased with this diabolical domicile.
In closing, on a scale of New Moon being terrible (ed: HA!) and a Full Moon being perfect, I’d rate this flick as Waxing Gibbous, which is pretty damned good. And astronomy buffs, please forgive me for omitting Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter and Old Crescent from the scale, rest assured that myself and all the other Atomik Brain Canisters think very highly of them as lunar phases, just not as representations of cinematic merit.
Til next time, always remember that the calls are coming from inside the house.
Tom Bess recently shaved his legendary sideburns at a cost of two hours and five pounds. The end result is a slightly puffier, but much more aerodynamic movie-reviewing machine who is still patiently waiting for Allison Mack to return his calls. While he’s waiting, he’ll read copious amounts of Lovecraft and eat too many Peach Gummy Bears.
