Tagline: Talk on the Phone. Finish Your Homework. Watch TV. Die.
Curiosity: The retro trailer (below) caught my attention. Also, it stars Tom Noonan (Last Action Hero, Monster Squad). That guy knows how to act creepy.
Plot: Set in the ’80s, college student Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) needs cash to pay for her new apartment. She replies to a babysitting flier posted by Mr. Ulman (Noonan), but things seem a little off. Ulman rubs Samantha’s friend, Megan (Greta Gerwig), the wrong way, but Samantha chooses to take the babysitting gig anyway when she gets offered $400 for a night’s work. Except Ulman lied; Samantha has to look after an elderly woman, not a kid. Also, Ulman is a Satanist looking to exploit a lunar eclipse for evil (EVIL!!). Then shit gets real.
Thoughts: I really, really liked The House of the Devil. Director Ti West’s cinematography is incredible. Though he shot it on a tight budget, the film gets so much out of its locations and angles that it never looks cheap. The primaries are all incredible. Donahue’s growing suspicions throughout the film come off as gradual and logical, and her chemistry with Gerwig feels equally real. Noonan, of course, rules. Mary Waranov (Rock 'n' Roll High School, The Devil's Rejects) nearly out-Noonans Noonan with probably a third of the dialogue as Mrs. Ulman. See, The House of the Devil is a slow film that builds to an insane finish. The first hour or so consists of people behaving awkwardly towards each other – in other words, people have to actually act, and Noonan and Waranov are stellar both as creepsters and as a couple. AJ Bowen brings a more primal level of terror to the film as their son, Victor. All three meet the challenge of appearing disturbing yet still reasonably likeable.
The film looks as if it was made in the ’80s, from the music to the credits to the cinematography, but there’s nothing kitschy about it. It’s just a well-made movie that also looks retro. There are all manner of shots to ratchet up the tension – false alarm scares are complimented by what may or may not be point-of-view stalker shots, and West favors lengthy zooms and extreme close-ups to create mystery. You don’t see what’s coming next any better than Samantha and Megan do. These are further enhanced by composer Jeff Grace, whose score consistently increases the tension without using cheap tricks like the quiet-loud scare.
The movie is more about the tension building up to scares than anything else. It’s not that gory overall, and the actual number of frights is few. But it’s the waiting and the atmosphere that carries the picture, not to mention the, again, stellar acting. West, who also wrote the script, emphasizes character development that far exceeds the usual slasher flick. Some might say it slows the film down, but that’s kind of the point. He gets to a grand WTF finale, but everything from the Dee Wallace cameo (E.T., The Howling) to Samantha’s dance scene to The Fixx is relevant. While the final scene felt a little unnecessary, I left The House of the Devil wanting to see more work from all involved, especially from West, Grace, and Donahue.
Reflection: West thanks Goatse and Tubgirl in the credits, which is perhaps the scariest part of the whole movie. Also, I thought it was kinda meta watching Samantha watch Night of the Living Dead, another movie about a spacey girl trapped in a scary house, on TV.
Curiosity: The retro trailer (below) caught my attention. Also, it stars Tom Noonan (Last Action Hero, Monster Squad). That guy knows how to act creepy.
Plot: Set in the ’80s, college student Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) needs cash to pay for her new apartment. She replies to a babysitting flier posted by Mr. Ulman (Noonan), but things seem a little off. Ulman rubs Samantha’s friend, Megan (Greta Gerwig), the wrong way, but Samantha chooses to take the babysitting gig anyway when she gets offered $400 for a night’s work. Except Ulman lied; Samantha has to look after an elderly woman, not a kid. Also, Ulman is a Satanist looking to exploit a lunar eclipse for evil (EVIL!!). Then shit gets real.
Thoughts: I really, really liked The House of the Devil. Director Ti West’s cinematography is incredible. Though he shot it on a tight budget, the film gets so much out of its locations and angles that it never looks cheap. The primaries are all incredible. Donahue’s growing suspicions throughout the film come off as gradual and logical, and her chemistry with Gerwig feels equally real. Noonan, of course, rules. Mary Waranov (Rock 'n' Roll High School, The Devil's Rejects) nearly out-Noonans Noonan with probably a third of the dialogue as Mrs. Ulman. See, The House of the Devil is a slow film that builds to an insane finish. The first hour or so consists of people behaving awkwardly towards each other – in other words, people have to actually act, and Noonan and Waranov are stellar both as creepsters and as a couple. AJ Bowen brings a more primal level of terror to the film as their son, Victor. All three meet the challenge of appearing disturbing yet still reasonably likeable.
The film looks as if it was made in the ’80s, from the music to the credits to the cinematography, but there’s nothing kitschy about it. It’s just a well-made movie that also looks retro. There are all manner of shots to ratchet up the tension – false alarm scares are complimented by what may or may not be point-of-view stalker shots, and West favors lengthy zooms and extreme close-ups to create mystery. You don’t see what’s coming next any better than Samantha and Megan do. These are further enhanced by composer Jeff Grace, whose score consistently increases the tension without using cheap tricks like the quiet-loud scare.The movie is more about the tension building up to scares than anything else. It’s not that gory overall, and the actual number of frights is few. But it’s the waiting and the atmosphere that carries the picture, not to mention the, again, stellar acting. West, who also wrote the script, emphasizes character development that far exceeds the usual slasher flick. Some might say it slows the film down, but that’s kind of the point. He gets to a grand WTF finale, but everything from the Dee Wallace cameo (E.T., The Howling) to Samantha’s dance scene to The Fixx is relevant. While the final scene felt a little unnecessary, I left The House of the Devil wanting to see more work from all involved, especially from West, Grace, and Donahue.
Reflection: West thanks Goatse and Tubgirl in the credits, which is perhaps the scariest part of the whole movie. Also, I thought it was kinda meta watching Samantha watch Night of the Living Dead, another movie about a spacey girl trapped in a scary house, on TV.
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