William Bibbiani Reviews House of the Devil!
Okay, so 2009 has actually been a pretty good year for horror movies. My Bloody Valentine and Friday the 13th were entertaining romps (as remakes go), Drag Me to Hell doled out spinetingles by the truckload, and Paranormal Activity, for all its crudeness, preyed gruesomely on people’s fears of home invasion (and punished, perhaps a little harshly, every boyfriend who ever refused to call a professional for household repairs). October 30th now brings us House of the Devil, the new film from writer/director Ti West, which takes the “Let’s Kill the Babysitter” genre to new heights… of subtlety and pacing.
If subtlety and pacing scare you, then you’ll find House of the Devil to be one of the best movies of the year, worthy of comparison to the works of Nicholas Roeg and Roman Polanski. If the words “subtlety” and “pacing” scare you away, well then I hope for your sake that Saw VI is better than it looks. West’s new film is very lightly plotted, establishing strong motivations for his characters to make fatal mistakes, and then teasing the audience for most of the running time in order to build suspense for his startling, and satisfying, climax. Making the most of Eliot Rockett’s lush 16mm cinematography and West’s own editing, House of the Devil necessitates audience involvement to cast its spell, making it the film to see in theaters this Halloween weekend, and not on Video on Demand, where the overwhelming sense of impending doom can be easily interrupted by an Instant Messenger alert, or the sudden need to microwave a burrito.
House of the Devil stars Jocelin Donahue as Sam, a pretty but introverted college student who, in a desperate attempt to earn money for an apartment, takes a babysitting job with more red flags than a matador’s hamper. The film focuses on Sam’s point of view as she finds herself rummaging through a stranger’s house, not always liking what she finds, and gradually falling prey to a Satanic Cult. The film takes place in the 1980’s, a time when Satanic Cults were particularly urban legendary, and never feels jokey. Even the best 1980’s period pieces (American Psycho comes to mind) have a tendency to use the decade as a punchline when it’s convenient. Aside from a playful freeze-frame opening credits sequence (and a dance number which only strengthens Donahue’s performance, proving that her otherwise dour character is capable of joy, if only in private), Ti West never succumbs to irony. If House of the Devil really were made in the 80’s it would hold up exceptionally well today (and I’ve already described the film to several people who claimed to have seen it when they were kids!).
That lack of irony extends to the story as well, with none of the knowing winks to the audience that still, to one degree or another, gravely injure the horror genre to this day after the insidious and insufferable influence of Scream. Though not without a sense of humor, House of the Devil – like Paranormal Activity before it – actually begs to be taken seriously. This might seem like a lot to ask from people who just want to see someone murder a babysitter, and in that respect Ti West may inadvertently show a little contempt for his audience’s bloodthirst. Sam will suffer quite enough, he assures us episodically throughout the film, but she’s so adorable that he can be forgiven for making us watch her live for a while first.
House of the Devil is a rare beast indeed. Beholden to earlier works without sacrificing originality, in love with the art of filmmaking without incessantly attempting to impress us, it’s a better film than the concept deserves. (In fact, the concept itself doesn’t really hold up under close scrutiny, which Ti West himself comments on in our Geekscape Interview with the director and cast.) Actually, it’s probably a better film than audiences deserve. Ti West proves himself here to be one of the few young film directors with both talent and class, and in this small genre masterpiece he’s crafted a timeless film in a era where mindless remakes, 3D and other gimmicks are likely to age his competition prematurely. Suffice it to say, this House is a very, very, very fine House.
House of the Devil, a Magnet release, rated R, written & directed by Ti West, starring Jocelin Donahue, AJ Bowen, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov and Dee Wallace, opens in theaters October 30th. Currently available in Video on Demand.
