House of the Devil
Perhaps the most hyped DVD currently on the market is the indie horror film The House of the Devil, which vanished from theaters in the fall of 2009. Sad to say, as well-made and as well-intentioned as it is, this devil house fails to generate the spooks and shivers it so desperately claims to have.
The hype surrounding the film is that it’s a return to ’70s & ’80s subtle horror films, ones that actually had suspense and not buckets of blood. That, it indeed has; but for an hour and 15 minutes, maddeningly nothing happens, which was always the case in those early horror flicks.
Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is a naïve college student in desperate need of cash. After promising to take her very first apartment, she sees an ad for a babysitting job and jumps at the chance. Though the film is set in the mid ’80s, Sam obviously hasn’t seen babysitter murder films such as Halloween or When a Stranger Calls. Otherwise, the ominous voice on the other end of the phone as she calls the babysitting employer would’ve made her run for the hills.
Her best friend (Greta Gerwig) advises Sam not to take the job, no matter how much it pays. When Sam shows up, not only is there no child to babysit, but the home owners (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov) are complete freaks. And we know with a movie title like The House of the Devil, our movie heroine will come face-to-face with some infernal goings-on.
Director/editor/writer Ti West is obviously a talented fan of the classic horror movie genre, as he explains in his two audio commentaries and in the behind the scenes special feature. But unfortunately, his horror tribute film is mostly a slight bore that only redeems itself in the last 20 minutes.
West is influenced by those devil movies from the ’70s and ’80s (Race with the Devil, The Amityville Horror) where not much occurs and the audience lays waiting for the big showdown with the devil. Those films had a kitsch factor in them; The House of the Devil takes itself a bit too seriously. The sprightly Donahue, in her interview segment, is enthusiastic enough that she warrants a bright future in films. Deleted scenes are also shown as a special feature.
Special Features include:
- Audio commentaries
- Featurettes
- Deleted scenes
