Review of The House of the Devil (2009) by Elizaveta P — 24 Jun 2011

Might contain a spoiler of some sort, though I never mention it directly.

The main two types of horror film fans are those who enjoy the gore, axe swinging and decapitating heads and those who prefer a careful, tense build up. Films such as the Saw franchise, lots of video nasties from the 80s and The Evil Dead franchise (however the latter seems to be enjoyed by both sets of horror fans) serve the needs of those looking for gore. Films such as Alien, Jaws and to choose a more recent example The Orphanage are experts in keeping an audience in suspense. I am a fan of the latter category.

Its back to basics for Ti West's simple but effective homage to 1970 and 80s horror. The House of the Devil's main plot is as simple as they come as it concerns a second year student; Samantha Hughes played by Jocelin Donahue agreeing to a babysitting job at a house in the middle of nowhere. What seems like an ordinary babysitting job turns out to be stranger then she first thought as the person she is looking after is slightly older than a child.

The House of the Devil is a surprising film, as I expected it to be a gore fest of blood, essentially being nothing more than brains exploding, limbs falling off and the slashing and swinging of knives and axes for around eighty minutes. However what we do get is a film that carefully, elegantly and perfectly builds up the tension to the final act. Granted it has gore, slit throats and someone being shot in the head but you will be surprised to how effectively Ti West builds up the sense of dread to the disappointing conclusion that does not match the tense, brilliant and sophisticated build up of the tremendous, yet uneventful, second act. Ti West, Hitchcock like, does a great job at keeping the mother off screen for a great duration of the movie but, at the same time, the fear of her is very much alive.

As Sam dances to a walkman with a cassette type in (what the blazers are they?), plays pool, watches TV totally unaware of the thing upstairs in the bedroom makes the viewer feels an ever increasing sense of dread that so few recent horror movies ever successfully achieve. The House of The Devil is a horror film for the horror film fans that do not have the patience of a five year old child. I accept that the first act is dreadfully slow, it only starts to get interesting when we meet those who are employing Sam as their babysitter, after that the tension slowly builds to what is rather disappointing final act that never pays off. The final act is hardly scary as it descends into predictable, gory mayhem but the expertly crafted tension in the second act does a sterling job keeping the viewer in fear and on edge.

The House of the Devil is an uneven movie, the first is quite dull and even the most patient of viewers may become inpatient waiting for something to finally happen and yet they are satisfied by nothing happening but by an increase in the tension and a creepy atmosphere. As the full truth of the babysitting job is made clear, the viewer feels instantly unnerved by the presence upstairs. The final act almost completely ruined what Ti West so brilliantly done in the second act, it feels as the final act was just made to please those who prefer the gore and the moment we see what was sitting in the room we no longer fear it, as unlike the monster from The Thing and The Exorcist it is hardly a creative monster, it just looks like a mutant from The Hills Have Eyes (perhaps this was the idea as the film is homage to horror movies of the 70s and 80s). The fact that we are no longer scared by the monster proves that the perfect way so scare an audience is to keep the very thing that they are scared of off screen, maintaining a sense of dread, unless your monster is hideously scary and creative that the sight of him also scares the viewer for example The Thing.

Like I said The House of the Devil is a throwback to the horror movies of the 1970s and 1980s, like stating that the film is based on true events, similar to Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror. It was also set in the 1980s using a very old sony walkman and it was also short in a style and using a camera that gave the film a 1980s retro look. Even the credits have a dated 1980s feel about them and the characters also have the fashion sense of the 80s. The performances are average, they are not bad but not remarkable, Jocelin Donahue is efficient in the lead role but Mary Woronov and Tom Noonan (from Manhunter, I knew I recognized him!) are not particularly sinister enough to provide the chills that their characters really should have achieved. The House of the Devil is one of the better horror films to come out in recent years as Ti West turns a rather simple and off putting premise into an occasionally scary and tense horror flick. Also the Fight Club style ending (sort of) leaves the viewers guessing though, I suspect, it might go all Rosemary's Baby on us.

Let down by the dull opening act and the wild final act which removes all the fear so stupendously achieved in the final act. The House the Devil is another example of a tense atmosphere top trumping over gore and violence. The House of the Devil is worth the watch.

3/5.