Review of The House of the Devil (2009) by Joel S — 25 Dec 2010

While perhaps not the perfect movie to watch on Christmas eve, I nonetheless found House of the Devil to be subtle, fun, engaging and, more importantly, retro-cheese-tastic.

Ti West said he wanted to make an early 80's horror genre flick but in the vein of Rosemary's Baby. House of the Devil certainly fits the bill. But along the way, it engenders some genuinely creepy moments. My only compliant, I suppose, is that often, the movie gets so caught up in its own hyper-stylized 80's fare that it forgets to move the story along. Consequently, more than the first half of the movie is all atmosphere (with one shocking and noteworthy exception).

Good performances abound. Scariness permeates. And the last period where humans can't resort to ubiquitous connectedness to diffuse terror rules the day. The House of the Devil is good, lurky fun.