A Thomas Bess review of:
Directed By: John Erick Dowdle
Starring: Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O’Hara, Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbind, Geoffrey Arend, Jacob Vargas, Matt Craven
Running Time: 80 minutes spent hoping the twist doesn’t ruin the whole movie.
Ya know something friends and neighbors? If I was John Erick Dowdle right now, I’d be kinda pissed off. “Why’s that?” you may ask. Well, Mr. Dowdle directed this movie called Devil and while it’s not perfect, it’s pretty entertaining in an extended episode of The Twilight Zone sort of way and he deserves to be recognized for his involvement. Yet have you heard his name mentioned in any of the trailers, television spots or promotional material? Not a peep. What you have seen is “From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan” and lemme tell ya something, the first time I saw a trailer for Devil in the theater and that little phrase popped on screen, the crowd (which had been digging it up to that point) broke into a mixture of groans and derisive laughter. So yeah, despite the fact that he’s just a producer on this one, Shyamalan will be getting the lion’s share of attention for its success or failure, which is a shame, because if anyone deserves to see their stock rise in the wake of this outing, it’s Dowdle and not the dude who brought us killer pollen and the most poorly-planned alien invasion in the history of cinema.
The Plot
Have you seen the trailer? Then you know the plot. Let’s move on. (Atomik Brain Canisters clear their throats, such as they are) What? I can’t just move on? All right, here goes. It’s a rainy, unpleasant day in, I wanna say Philadelphia when some poor schmuck jumps from a high rise and splatters himself all over the pavement. Shortly thereafter, a group of five strangers head into an elevator in that same high rise. You’ve got your scruffy mechanic (Marshall-Green) a rough around the edges security guard (Woodbine) a nagging old lady (O’Hara) a well to do trophy wife (Novakovic) and a sleazy salesman (Arend). They’re all on their way to different appointments but then the elevator malfunctions and things go from inconvenient to weird to downright malevolent in very short order. Under the watchful eyes of a pair of security guards, (Craven and Vargas) and the detective (Messina) called into investigate the suicide, the group unravels and is eventually forced to admit that one of their number might be Ol’ Scratch himself. There’s a bit more to it than that, but I’ll refrain from more details as this is definitely a case where the less you know going in, the better.
The Good
So what’s good? Considering that most of the action is confined to an elevator, strength of casting was pretty important and Devil does well enough. Interestingly enough, none of the trapped riders struck me as the main character, that honor goes to the investigating detective (Messina) and the religious security guard (Vargas) who’re trying to figure out just what the hell is going on. You may have noticed I didn’t mention any character names when it comes to the elevator dwellers — it’s not because no one’s memorable, as I thought O’Hara and Arend were quite good, but all five of them are presented more as “types” than individuals. It’s the sort of story that you could work with any small group, which I suppose adds to the “It could happen to you” factor, provided that you’ve ever spent time worrying about sharing an elevator with Satan. The story is another strong point, nothing that’d be considered groundbreaking or shocking, but it’s handled well for the most part and the ultimate revelation of the Devil’s identity doesn’t feel like a cheat, as I’d feared it might. And for those of you wondering, yes there is a twist, but it has nothing to do with the “who”, it’s more about the “why”. The best thing to do would be to not try and figure it out yourself in the first twenty minutes. To do so would be to miss out on clues and neat bits of character building.
The Not So Good
What’s not good? Ya know how in some horror flicks where the obstinate sheriff won’t accept the fact that there’s a zombie massacre in progress until the undead are chewing on his feet? The only thing I find more obnoxious is having characters that are TOO credulous, someone who’ll accept a frankly unlikely premise on the slimmest of evidence. In this case, it’s Jacob Vargas’ uber-religious security guard. He plays the role fine, but the dude’s basically clutching his rosary and shivering in terror after little more than some flickering lights in an elevator. Along similar lines, blaming any and all unfortunate coincidence on the presence of the Devil is just silly. If that’s the case I’ve got 27 years worth of stubbed toes, spilled milk and late pizza deliveries to lay at the doorstep of the Prince of Darkness. Also, for a movie that’s supposed to be focused on people trapped in close quarters with the Devil, this flick spends a decent amount of time outside the elevator and every time the camera cuts away it really diminishes the feeling of claustrophobia. Finally, those of you hoping for special effects / imagery of The Exorcist“>The Exorcist variety are bound to be disappointed as this incarnation of the Devil keeps things pretty low key, settling more for stabbings, slashings and stranglings rather than anything overtly demonic. Oh and there’s a surprising lack of brimstone here. I can’t explain why that bothered me, but it did.
Should You See It?
Should you see it? If you can get around the fact of Shyamalan’s name plastered all over everything, I think you’ll enjoy yourself. It’s not intense enough to send you shrieking from the theater, but it’ll put a few chills up your spine and more importantly, it’ll have you taking the stairs more often, which is always a good thing.
The Verdict
If the basement is terrible and the penthouse is perfect, then Devil is a stop on the thirteenth floor — brief and not too terrible, but good for some moments of vague disquiet.
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.
