The House of the Devil is a new horror film from young writer/director Ti West that is not in theaters. It's not on DVD. In a sense, it doesn't even exist in our time, which is probably the best thing about it (but more on that later). At the moment, it can only be seen via a number of video-on-demand services, at least until it opens theatrically on October 30th. Why the pre-release? The unconventional nature of the film lends itself to the kind of nightmares that producers get more so than the movie-going public. There are no bankable stars or names connected to it. It's not ironic, or flashy. It could be characterized as slow-moving. In other words, it has the potential to be box-office poison. So why not take advantage of modern technology to bring it to those who are already curious about it, and start the all-important word of mouth that way? Why not, indeed. Let the word of mouth begin.
Adventures in Babysitting
The setup is simple. Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue) is a cash-strapped college sophomore in 1980's Connecticut who is desperate to move out of her dorm and away from her slob of a roommate. She answers a cryptic ad listing at school about babysitting, meets with the exceptionally creepy old couple who posted it (played by Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov), and the rest of the film details the night she spends in the titular mansion for the gig. It's a night that also happens to feature a total lunar eclipse. Things do not go well.
The Slow-Burn Scare
What makes the film so great is that it's actually shot as if it were from the '80s. There are feathered hairstyles, awkward freeze frames, low-tech title cards,and awesome synthesizer music, but those are primarily only in the first few minutes. There's a deeper philosophy at work here that's a leftover from that decade, and earlier ones. The dialogue is naturalistic, devoid of preview-worthy sound bites. The focus is not on cheap gotcha scares, or gore, or the modern torture porn trend that's culminated in the endless Saw movies. It's all about atmosphere. It's about putting the audience on Samantha's shoulder and really letting us simmer with her - getting briefly bored, then fidgety, then vastly uncomfortable. It's a much more cerebral type of scare, adding layers of tension until the horrifying climax. It works incredibly well.
Performances Are Key
West did a great job in picking his small cast. Tom Noonan (probably best remembered as Red Dragon in Michael Mann's original Manhunter) and Mary Woronov effortlessly convey an air of menace without actually doing or saying anything menacing. But the linchpin of the film is Jocelin Donahue, who underplays her role and earns every ounce of sympathy from the audience. With a lesser performance, the film would fall apart, and the last three chilling words of dialogue wouldn't have nearly as much impact.
Whether on a small screen at home under the covers, or with a group of similarly freaked-out strangers in a theater, The House of the Devil is an easy must-see for fans of old-school horror. Click here to see the trailer!
HOD can currently be rented as a digital download from services such as Amazon, Xbox Live, and various cable companies, and opens in theaters October 30th.
Dan Kaufman - Dan is an actor/writer/teacher with a passion for all kinds of geek interests. He has been cultivating this passion for over 30 years, to ...
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