The House of the Devil (2009)

September 1, 2018

Directed by: Ti West

Written by: Ti West

Starring: Jocelin Donahue,  Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov

Budget: $900,000

Quote: "During the 1980s over 70% of American adults believed in the existence of abusive Satanic Cults... Another 30% rationalized the lack of evidence due to government cover ups... The following is based on true unexplained events..."

Trivia: Deliberately shot in the same kind of style and using similar techniques as the splatter films of the 70s and the 80s which it emulates.



The House of the Devil is a beautifully shot film that was carefully crafted to make it look like it came from the early 1980s. Filmed on 16mm film and set in 1983, the film really does look and feel like an eighties slasher film. While watching it, I had to double check on IMDB to make sure that it was in fact from 2009 and not 1979. The soundtrack also features an eighties classic by The Fixx played through a cassette walkman. Those of us in our thirties and older will recognize it. Finally, the film also borrows film techniques popular in the eighties slashers such as a zoom in on characters, the opening credits in yellow font, and a freeze frame at the end with a still image of the closing credits. While the movie itself is an occult film and not a slasher, it has the feel of the eighties slashers.

The movie theme revolves around the 1980s Satanic Panic where parents were worried that Satanic cults were coming after their children and Devil Worshipers were sacrificing animals and children. Samantha is your average girl next door character who is a college student strapped for cash and decides to take a babysitting job. Joined by her friend Megan, the girls find out that the babysitting job is actually for a married couple's mother. The husband is an exceedingly creepy guy who seems like he has to search for the correct word to use whenever he speaks. Something is clearly not right but when he offers her a deal she cannot refuse--$400--she reluctantly takes the job. The filmmakers then spend the next 45 minutes building suspense with building the creepy atmosphere of the house. Samantha even finds a portrait of a different family in a closet next to the car that is parked outside. Eventually she passes out after eating drugged pizza.

When Samantha awakens she is bound and gagged in the middle of a pentagram in a Satanic Ritual. The husband, wife, and their son are robbed and perform a blood ritual on Samantha before she is able to escape. Samantha manages to escape and kills the son and wife as the husband chases her into a nearby graveyard where he confesses that she has been chosen and gives himself up to her to kill if she's like. She immediately starts having visions and physical symptoms that make it appear that there was something to the ritual after all. Is she possessed? Is it something else? Instead, she shoots herself in the head. Unfortunately, the next scene has her in the hospital in a coma where the doctor exclaims, "She'll be alright. Her and her baby." Very Rosemary's Baby.

One of the films strengths, aside from the visual elements I mentioned earlier, is that the filmmakers do a great job of building Samantha as a character that we deeply care for. She has the perfect girl next door look that is vulnerable and likable. While it made the film drag a bit, the time spent on developing her character make it well worth it when the film finally reaches its climax. Also, Tom Noonan (he played Cain in Robocop 2... remember that one with the drug Nuke and that kid gang leader?) does a great job as the creepy husband. Everything about his performance screams "run away Samantha!"

Many of the complains people had about the film was that it is way too slow. I'm going to have to at least partially agree with this. The final fifteen minutes are great, but that leaves the first seventy five minutes of waiting for something to happen. This movie is an especially slow burn similar to the films of Alfred Hitchcock. I think I came into this film expecting a horror film and instead I got a suspense film which was a mistake on my part. Don't get me wrong, the last 15 minutes are horrific, but it takes a long time to get there.

Slow burn? Sure. But those last fifteen minutes. When Samantha wakes up, she's wearing a large white shirt that by the end of it all is completely red from all the blood and gore. If you can be patient, this is a great film. She know what you're getting into.