Devil (2010)

10 Comments

1. 

   DICK STEEL from Singapore
   29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

   Maybe it's because M Night Shyamalan is finally coming to terms that heno longer is the toast of the town, that he has decided to focus hisenergies on producing and writing suspenseful thrillers for his projectknown as The Night Chronicles, with the first film Devil off theblocks, and others to come including his original story idea from hisplanned sequel to Unbreakable. We know how Shyamalan of late likes todirect and include himself as one amongst the cast, though this time itprobably took a lot of effort to vacate that director's chair and quashthat acting bug, to allow someone else to helm what is essentially afilm that's right up Shyamalan's own territory. It's almost likeputting a candy jar in front of a kid, but not allowing him access atall.

   Enter directors Drew and John Erick Dowdle, who I thought made a decenteffort in bringing to life Shyamalan's story set around the confines ofa claustrophobic lift, where five strangers happen to be at the wrongplace at the wrong time, each of them being trapped inside the lift andsharing some common traits that will be revealed as the story wore on.The film addresses the notion that nothing is ever coincidental,especially if powerful negative forces like the devil decide to walkthe earth and claim a few souls, while at the same time having funtoying with their prey. Weaving in a folk tale like what he did forLady in the Water, Shyamalan's tale here involves the full works of howthe devil operates, and comes with a method to defeat the supernaturalforces seen in the film.

   The directors managed to steer clear of the usual clichés for a frightfest, and rightly so as well because this is not that film. Grantedthat there are a few well crafted scenes to suggest that there arespiritual elements involved in how the victims – a mechanic (LoganMarshall- Green), an old woman (Jenny O'Hara), a young woman (BojanaNovakovic), a guard (Bokeem Woodbine) and a salesman (Geoffrey Arend) -the real draw is how visually arresting this film is in capturing fearfrom within close quarters. The opening sweeping shot of the city ofPhiladelphia upside down will bring about some disorientation, beforereducing that spatial distance down to within the lift, mirroring thatview through a CCTV camera back to the building's security controlroom, which to me is where some of the best instances of the filmshines through.

   I'd actually preferred what went on outside of that lift, since what'sgoing to happen within is more like a done deal, with one of the fivealready revealed through marketing that he/she is someone who doesn'tbelong. There's more fun in following Detective Bowden (Chris Messina),who has to make sense of what's going on, balancing his deductiveprowess against something that cannot be explained by logic, andwatching how his due diligence and process get blown to smithereenswhen at first he thinks this is a simple open and shut situation, untilhe realizes that he's up against something that's inexplicable. It'sone thing to swagger in with a plan, before fear sets in that one canbe so helpless when trying to save the lives of others.

   The strength of the film lies in Shyamalan's story, which isdeceptively simple, yet highly effective in weaving all the plotthreads together, and the linking up of the characters so crucial inproviding a satisfying finale. Fans of Shyamalan's stories will findthat he still has more than enough gas in the tank to come up withsuspenseful tales that others now have a chance to helm on the bigscreen, something like what Luc Besson does these days. My interest isnow piqued to see how the rest of the Chronicles will presentthemselves.

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2. 

   msanjelpie from Boise, ID
   29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

   I enjoyed the cinematography. Especially the opening scenes and thescenes inside the elevator shaft. The music was typical stringinstruments going back and forth… could have been more eerie andcomposed with more feeling.

   I was pretty shocked to be sitting in an empty theater on openingnight. Guess MNS has sort of blown his reputation.

   I didn't try to guess the ending, I decided to just enjoy the ride. Itdid end rather abruptly, as if it was a TV show that had to end by acertain time. They could have fleshed out certain scenes longer andmade a more comprehensive experience.

   I went to see this alone as nobody I knew was interested… I'm glad Iwent, it was enjoyable, more so than I expected it to be.

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3. 

   Craig McPherson from Montreal, Canada
   29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

   M. Night Shyamalan is one of those love him or hate him directors forwhom there's no middle ground, so it hasn't helped that he's given hisdetractors a lot to crow about with his recent downward spiral withsuccessively poor to abysmal movies ranging from The Lady in the Waterto 2010's biggest stinker, The Last Airbender. It's been a criticalpile-on for the one time golden boy who wowed audiences and criticsalike with The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.

   Things have gotten so bad that when the trailer for Devil hit theatreswith the on-screen tag line "From the Mind of M. Night Shyamalan",guffaws were reported from audiences and on-line gadflies like PerezHilton had a field day posting viral videos mocking the promos.

   All of which is too bad because not only is Devil a compelling,riveting bit of movie making, but Shyamalan's involvement was limitedto writing the story and co-producing, which, given his recent trackrecord, was probably for the best.

   Smartly directed by John Erick Dowdle, whose last effort wasQuarantine, the equally tight and faithful remake of the Spanish horrorREC, Devil marks the first instalment in a trilogy of films dubbed TheNight Chronicles, which revolve around the supernatural in modern urbansettings (the second film is tentatively titled Reincarnate, about thejurors of a murder trial who are haunted by a supernatural being, andUnbreakable 2 rumoured as the third instalment).

   In Devil's case, the plot could easily function as a textbook case offilm school 101, tasking a writer and director to fashion a smallstory, restricted in scope, set in the cramped environment of a stalledelevator. You can almost hear film school professors saying "if you canpull this off, you can do anything". Happily, Dowdle succeeds withflying colours.

   Devil is as compelling as the story is confined. It's smart frombeginning to end, almost like the hybrid elevator equivalent ofHitchcock's Lifeboat and Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. Adisparate group boards a Philadelphia office tower elevator, only tobecome trapped between floors and mortally victimized by someone amongthem who clearly possesses supernatural ability every time the lightsflicker and momentarily go out.

   Don't look for spoilers here as I won't be providing any. Suffice tosay that Devil is one of the most smartly written, acted, and directedfilms I've had the pleasure to enjoy this year.

   Who knows, maybe this is the beginning of Shyamalan's road back torespectability. If nothing else, it shows that he still has the chopsas a top notch story teller.

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4. 

   Oz-38 from United States
   29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

   This film had a lot of bad rep. Everyone kept saying it was going to behorrible. However, I still went to see it, as the story and the conceptinterested me.

   Now, in my opinion, the film is right up there with The Sixth Sense.It's engaging, keeps you guessing, and you leave feeling like you justsaw a darn good movie.

   The film doesn't rely on gore heavily. Instead, the film wants you toguess just who is the devil in that elevator. The story is fresh andmakes a clear connection between all characters.

   The bottom line is– sure, it's not the best film ever, but it is apretty darn good one. 8/10.

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5. 

   sravanth gajula from United States
   29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

   I say Night Syamalan is back with a bang. After watching 'The lastAirbender', I took a pledge that would be the last time I'm ever gonnapay to watch any movie, Night Syamalan is involved in. But today Ibroke my promise as I watched 'Devil'. And actually, I was not at alldisappointed. In fact, I liked it. All right, I would say it…I lovedthis movie.

   Night Syamalan has come up with a strong and interesting story. Theplot looks so simple at the beginning, but it moves on, suspenseunveils in a scary, yet logical fashion. The linking between allcharacters is portrayed in a very effective way. Nothing is ever acoincidence.

   Direction is good. Acting is decent. Cinematography is appreciable,especially the wide variety of camera angles and frames attempted toportray a simple elevator as some claustrophobic scary machine. Soundeffects are captivating.

   I'm already waiting for the next 'Night' chronicle!

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6. 

   Vikas Bhargava from India
   29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

   I know this was "from the mind of Manoj Night Shyamalan" and it wasriding on a wave of pretty bad press, but strangely enough, I found themovie to be pretty good.

   This movie delivered what it promised, a solid taut thriller which cankeep one on the edge of the seat for the optimum 1 hour and 20 minutesof running time. The acting was surprisingly consistent and goodthroughout by all the actors involved (tough for a low budgeter toachieve), the screenplay didn't indulge in unnecessary Boo moments topropel things forward, the script was solid and everything tied up wellat the end.

   I mean cmon critics, for once please give Shyamalan a break! Far betterreturn on my money than the steaming goo pile called the "Due Date".

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7. 

   Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois
   29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

   Ah, good ol' M. Night Shamalamadingdong, as I like to call him. I feelso bad for this guy, when he created The Sixth Sense, he made one ofthe best thrillers of all time with a twist ending that set the bar sohigh that others would always try to succeed it. Ever since then,Shamalamadingdong has been trying to outdo himself with a ton of twistendings and scripts that my Pomeranian could write. When I saw thetrailer for Devil, I got excited because it looked really creepy, thenI saw the director's name and just sighed, it's pretty much likely thatthe movie will flop and will be horrible. I just caught it on a moviechannel, actually I have to give Shamalamadingdong some credit, this isan improvement over his last films. However, it's still one of the mostridicules movies I have ever seen.

   Five strangers board an elevator, which becomes stuck between floorsjust shortly after starting up to the upper floors. The five don'tintroduce themselves right away, but when security finds them, theynotice that other than the CCTV and a radio which they can communicateinto the elevator. Lustig, the head of security, sends repairtechnician Dwight to investigate the elevators while Bowden tries toascertain the identities of the individuals. Things turn from strangeto frightening when there is a freak power outage in the elevator, andthe girl in the elevator is wounded with what appears to be a bite.Dwight attempts to rappel down the elevator shaft via a pulley to tryand fix the elevator, but security guard Ramirez says that the Devilwould stop any attempts to help his victims as more supernatural thingsoccur; this proves there is a demonic entity in the elevator hauntingthe passengers.

   There's this line that nearly killed me with laughter, the religiousnut Ramirez says that everything goes wrong when the devil is near, hethrows a piece of pizza and it lands on the cheese side and says thatthe jelly side always lands up, oh, my God, seriously?! So all thosetimes I was cooking in the kitchen when my chicken burned, it was thedevil! All those times I fell down, it was the work of the devil! Howcould you ever take that line seriously? I also was watching the moviewith my friends and once again we took the classic bet 10 dollars forwho would guess the devil, I won, again! My opinion is, a lot of oldpeople are the devil, they cling onto the god skirt later in lifeclaiming that it's because they are about to die and they need to getinto heaven, no! They are covering something else! I digress, anyways,when the devil reveals herself, the guy that she's after confesses tohis sin and she's like "damn, I really wanted you"….really? You wentthrough all this trouble and all he has to do is say his sin out loudand all is forgiven? Also the whole religious factor was silly in myopinion, why not just make it a demon entity in the elevator? It's hardto believe that the devil doesn't have better things to do than haunt acouple of dead beats.

   However, my review isn't all complaints. Shamalamadingdong actuallydoes a decent job with atmosphere and the story. Even though the scriptneeds some major work without the clichés, there was some incrediblepotential for a great story, even an excellent franchise that we needsince the Saw series came to an end last year. I like the whole idea ofa demon haunting those who have done wrong in life waiting to confessand get the punishment they truly deserve. The characters wereinteresting, except for Ramirez who can easily get on a lot of people'snerves, and the effects were actually pretty good. I would say this isdefinitely an improvement over Shamalamadingdong's previous works. He'scome a long way and hopefully he just chooses better scripts or learnshow to edit, we need the tension still, he knows he can do it, webelieve in you Shamalmadingdong!

   4/10

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8. 

   dawsoncat2000-875-275384
   29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

   I thought this was a really good movie, it definitely kept you guessinguntil the end.

   Should have been longer though, it ended very suddenly. Would have beenan excellent movie if it would have lengthened a bit. Although it hadthe drawback of being more like a short story it was definitely a movieworth watching. The special effects were really good and the story linewas great. I would recommend everyone give it a chance.

   This was definitely one of the better movies he has directed. The musiccould have been a little more eerie though.

   After going to watch the last exorcism, I started to give up on thehorror movies. I'm glad I went and seen this one. It was notdisappointing.

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9. 

   rivertam26 from United States
   29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

   Let me first start off by saying that I am in no shape, way or form afan of M. Night Shylaman. From the get go with sixth sense I calledthat twist ending in the film;s first ten minutes and what remained forme was highly over rated. He followed that up the unintentionallylaughable Unbreakable, and than with signs which was overly generic butexecuted well. Than came the questionable attempt lady in the water,the mega let down but nicely executed village and finally the big kickin the face the happening. Without a doubt one of the worst films evermade. But he should not be a deciding factor when it comes to this filmbecause he's only come up with the story outline and he produced underhis new production company. The main people responsible for this filmare Brian Nelson who write the brilliant Hard Candy and John ErickDowdle of The Poughkeepsie Tapes and Quarantine. So with that combo Ihad some expectations going in and the stylish and effective trailerand TV spots had spiked my interest to say the least. And here's what Ithought. It just blew me away. This tightly executed psychologicalhorror thriller left me speechless. From the opening credits whichfeature a reverse Philadelphia and an astounding classic thriller scoreI was intrigued. And as the film introduced it's story line andcharacters I became completely engaged. And as the film moved into it'smain agenda I was on the edge of my seat with ample anticipation. Andthe finale well I'll just keep my mouth shut. But here's what I have tosay with solid performances, suspenseful pacing, a clever and originalstory line and really good direction Devil is without a doubt one ofthe most effective genre pieces to come out in some time. Like it'scharacters you are held captive for it's entire running time. It's oneof those classic suspense thrillers thats character based and justkeeps working its angles and keeps you guessing until the very end.Sadly the movie is not without flaws but you should know to truly enjoyit you must succumb to the goofiness of its plot and some of the scenesthat need to be inserted to move the film along. That being said whatremains is a nifty, clever, sweaty palm inducing, intelligent exercisein fear and hysteria well worth the price of admission.

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10. 

    beatleblack from London, England
    29 Mar 2012, 10:02 pm

    Maybe 7 out of 10 is generous but I mark it highly perhaps because Ihad such low expectations which were thankfully unnecessary.

    This film's credits open with the title The Night Chronicles 1 whichsuggests to me his fan-boy homage to Spielberg has stretched toemulating the guru's Amazing Stories phase. This film does feel ratherlike one of those episodes rather than a full-blown movie: no stars,little location etc.

    However, as a story, it's rather good (suspension of disbelief takenfor granted).

    And, it's rather well handled directorially. For instance, theupside-down sklyline speaks volumes without costing any extra.

    The film is ultimately a whodunnit. Maybe I'm stupid but come bettingslip time, I didn't get it. If you do, you may hate it. I didn't so Idon't. Besides, I haven't seen this Christian propaganda in a while &it made me kinda nostalgic for those Omen days.

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