Review of Devil (2010) by Sailoraide — 08 Jan 2011

In the interest of full disclosure, let me say upfront that I am not a fan of M. Night Shyamalan and his prior films. My favorite of his work was probably Unbreakable with The Sixth Sense coming in second. As for the rest, I thought that they were utter garbage. That being said, I had to convince myself that Devil was even worth a rental. In hindsight, I can say that I'm quite glad I did.

The film takes place almost exclusively in the elevator of a Philadelphia office building. The premise is that when someone commits suicide the Devil comes to Earth and claims the souls of wrongdoers in the area, and as one character grimly points out "they all die" when this happens. I found it a little hard to believe, but considering some of Shyamalan's previous stories this was less of a stretch so I went with it.

I wouldn't classify Devil as a horror film. It was more of a thriller, really. Surprisingly, Shyamalan's direction works very well here and though the characters don't know what is going on and the audience does, it seems to create an atmosphere in which we care for these misfits. I did not find the acting to be anything special, but it also didn't distract from the film. There is enough suspense to keep you adequately anxious, but never crossed over to where I felt scared. Atmospherically the film is handled well, the cinematography and sound lend themselves to the dire situation these unlucky elevator riders face.

All in all, I thought this was one of Shyamalan's better films. And though that isn't saying much, it's worth the price of a rental. Christians should take note that Devil is in no way an endorsement of anything Satanic, but actually offers a moral and somewhat religious lesson in the end which is pro-Christianity. Overall the film was not bad, not great, but somewhere in the middle.