Review of The House of the Devil (2009) by Dillinger P — 15 Jul 2014

In this ode to 80's horror, Ti West, attempts to pay homage to the films that clearly inspired him, while attempting to give the shlock horror a modern day make over. What we end up with, is a very basic and overly drawn out piece of unique but pointless fluff.

Its pretty fluff, but its fluff none the less. Sam is a sophomore, in need of a job to pay rent on her newly found house, she pounces on the opportunity of an advertised baby sitting job. However upon arrival at her new employers house, things continue to become more and more apparent that she is not there for a simple money making fact.

The story is so simple and minimal that it borders on pointless from the word go. The entire first twenty minutes and a vast amount of characters could be entirely chucked out, if for no more reason than the terrible acting, than their needlessness within the story.

The movie also tries to connect some form of satanic ritual over a lunar eclipse, however the whole premise to so secondry to the plot, you either completely forget about it or realise that it indeed adds nothing what so ever to the piece.

The script is fucking diabolical, dialogue is so clunky and forced, Ti tries desperately to add quirky parts in, only for them to stick out like a sore thumb. The acting is not much better. The lead of Sam is so one note and paper thin, that having next to no dialogue would have probably benefit the entire piece.

The Ullman family are equally silly and trying to hard to come across as bizarre, for them to be taken seriously. However where this film drops the ball on character development, dialogue and basic plot, it makes up for with an extremely well crafted and tense atmosphere.

The music is unbelievably good, mixing obscure and uncomforting drones and piano with 80's synth rock, that gives the film the feel its going for. Equally the camera work and look of the film is brilliant.

The camera movies as if operated by Dario Argento, obscure low down angles give a sense of unease and uselessness as an audience. Ti West also manages to turn up the tension as well, actually making you become very uncomfortable as to what seems like her impending fate, as the piece slowly trickles towards the end.

So the end, ah the end, so rushed and unexplained it also holds the movie back from just about any form of satisfying conclusion, that it almost renders the entire piece a tragedy. for all the hard work done, putting the cameras in the right place, slowly building tension, creating a nice haunting score, were eventually just thrust into potentially good territory, but it is handles so stupidly you cant help but feel cheated.

The problem is, there is not enough to the script and story to warrant its quick spin any weight. It comes off as completely confusing and so off kilter that you just dont care. This has some impressive technical moments and the occasional scare, mixing well with a director tampering with modern day expectations.

However the terrible acting, one dimensional characters and paper thin plot, make this outing a basic affair.