Horror Off-Season: The House of the Devil

The House of the Devil is a 2009 thriller written and directed by Ti West, starring Jocelin Donahue and Tom Noonan.  The story is set in the early 80's, and feels like it could easily have been filmed then.  Ti uses a lot of 80's techniques, and even shoots on 16mm film.  This sort of dedication really makes the movie.  When I first started watching it, I told people it was really good at being set in the 80s.  A Haunting In Connecticutt is one of my favorite movies, but it's terrible at being set in the 80s.  It felt so modern I just didn't get that it was supposed to be set in a different decade.

Between this movie, The Innkeepers(2011), and being on the horror anthology v/h/s Ti West has really been making a name for himself that is surprisingly unmarred by having directed Cabin Fever 2.  And he deserves it, man makes a mighty fine movie.  And this is his IMDB picture.

Where do I sign up to have Buckaroo Bonzai direct my movie?

The House of the Devil's premise is a pretty uninteresting throw back to the haunted house/slasher movies it's trying to emulate.  Our main character is Samantha, a "nice" college girl who's trying to find her own apartment because her roommate gets too much late-night nookie.  To pay for her new apartment she takes a babysitting job being advertised by flyer on campus.  The call is decidedly shady, but she takes the job any way.  Even after meeting the person placing the ad and having him explain in the creepiest way possible that everything he said about the job until now was a lie.

The house is creepy, all the characters except Samantha and her roommate are pretty creepy.  It's a little cheesy, almost, but still very creepy.

The movie builds nicely and then goes totally sideways with a great Satanic twist.  There's nothing really remarkable about the ending, but it is gripping to watch.  There's a lot that reminds me of Rosemary's Baby and When a Stranger Calls.  The ending would be completely ineffective, and downright silly, without the great buildup and characterization from the rest of the movie.

It definitely moves slow, which lends to some of the early atmosphere building feeling like it's laid on too thick, but it pays off because it involves you in the story.  This was a really nice throw back to early 80s movies, but with better quality and more interesting pacing.  I thought this was a great movie, but it could definitely come off as too slow or too dull or too weird to some audiances.

If you like the old school, or really appreciate a good creepy slow burn without a lot of jump scares or gore, this is worth checking out.

--PXA