kylebbridston This movie is extremely true to the eighties. Although I didn't live in that time, I have seen many of the movies from then and the editing is incredible. It is slow at the beggining, but the director and writer uses this to develop fear as the girl hears strange noises.

thelastblogontheleft The House of the Devil is one of director Ti West's first feature films (he had two under his belt before this one), and it's a brilliant one. West is already carefully watched within the horror genre, and he's swayed me over to his side with this film. Previously, I was split — he directed one of my least favorite shorts in The ABCs of Death (I called it "the laziest of the bunch"), but my favorite short in V/H/S. The House of the Devil was released in 2009 but takes place in 1983 and, man, if you didn't know better, you'd swear it was filmed then, too.It follows Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), a college student who is trying to do whatever she can to get some extra cash and move into her own place, away from her obnoxious dorm roommate. Her best friend, Megan (Greta Gerwig), drives her out to a babysitting gig off-campus which seems too good to be true, and, well, it turns out it is.** SPOILERS! **What impressed me most about this movie is just how much West nailed the 80s vibe. From the opening credits to the music (a mix of a perfectly atmospheric score almost reminiscent of John Carpenter with some perfectly placed 80s rock hits, plus the theme song which is freakily close to "Moving in Stereo") to the use of 16mm film to give it an accurate aesthetic… it was just perfect. It had that spot on 1980s slasher vibe without taking it into the realm of being almost a spoof, which can be a tough balance to strike.I mean, really, it's hard to describe exactly why, but the shots are just perfect, both in their accuracy to classic 80s "scream queen" films and just being pleasant to watch. Nothing felt out of place, nothing seemed to drag on too long, the shots were creative without becoming over-the-top, and it was meticulous without becoming too stiff. The shot of Megan looking out the windows as the camera pans back… the entire sequence of her dancing around the house… her creeping up the stairs with the shadow of her, knife in hand, moving along the wall behind her. All fantastic.The jump scares were efficient AND sparse, which is something that is becoming all too rare nowadays. The hand appearing out of the darkness to light Megan's cigarette made me physically jump, and the doorbell ringing as Samantha is nervously searching the house was perfect. For that matter, the mysterious man with the lighter (who we later find out is the couple's son) shooting Megan COMPLETELY blew me away (pun kind of intended).Tom Noonan as the mysterious Mr. Ulman was fantastic (as he always is), and Mary Woronov as his wife was also great. Both of them conveyed the perfect level of creepiness without being overly dramatic… just enough weirdness to give you a healthy amount of suspicion without actually making their intentions known.It was one of the few movies I've seen where it took over an hour for any action to happen (literally… maybe an hour and 10 minutes), but the suspense was palpable. I was just enjoying the mystery, the build-up, watching every corner and shadow to see what might be lurking.Honestly, the movie was almost perfect until the crescendo… when we finally find out that Mr. and Mrs. Ulman are part of a Satanic cult and Samantha is the centerpiece for a bloody ritual in the attic. I don't know if it was because it was all crammed into the last 15 minutes or just how unbelievable it all became (Mother being a grotesque, deformed creature who forces Samantha to drink her blood, Samantha conveniently escaping from ALL of the ropes tying her down, waving the knife haphazardly in defense and managing to slice the son's neck PERFECTLY open), but it kind of took me out of it. Though I thought her suicide in the cemetery was pretty awesome, and the ending was just uncomfortable enough.Even though it seemed like some direction was lost in the last moments, this was still an incredibly solid film, and recommended for sure.

kldberry Spoiler alerts ahead, READ AT OWN DISCRETION! House of the Devil leaves the audience terrified and interested. While watching, one could predict when something would happen, even if it was uncertain of what would happen. The doorbell for the pizza delivery is meant to be unexpected, but to those paying attention to timing it was not. When Samantha knocked on the door and on the other side there were dead bodies, it was clear that the mother was not behind the door, but something else more sinister was. What made this movie so great was that even though predictions could be made that something would happen, the audience is still left completely petrified. The suspenseful aspect of the movie is how TI West kept everyone on the edge of their seats. During the pentagram scene while the physical act of rape was not done, it was very apparent that the ram's head on her stomach and the blood dripping down onto her was meant to impregnate her. The whole idea of the pentagram and the summoning of the devil is something that terrifies me to the core. The parallels of being raped in real life by a man and the movie I think is what terrifies so many women. Because in real life, when a woman is raped and is found to be pregnant, there are so many thoughts that run through her head. Does she keep it? Does she abort it? Will she be reminded of the demon when she looks at the baby? While being raped and impregnated by the devil is not necessarily a possibility in life, the ideology behind it is.

Jordan Shanahan House of the Devil is a film that delves the audience into an atmosphere of a classical slasher film. The scenery and style of the misc-en-scene throughout the film heavily mirrors that of the ideal 80s slasher such as Halloween. The scenery in the film is one of its defining characteristics that help this movie stand out from other modern day horror films that rely heavily on special effects.The overall best aspect of this film is its growing suspense. This is not a movie for those who love gore and constant assault on the senses. For the grand majority of the movie the audience held down by so much expectation it becomes almost unbearable. The audience grows attached to the very attractive main character (Jocelin Donahue) who despite her and her friend's best efforts to be sensible throughout the film falls victim to classic horror movie stereotypes. This attraction and connection to the main character as the suspense continues to build at a grueling pace make this part of the film truly great. The excellent use of growing suspense throughout the film is also its biggest downfall as the audience is filled to the brim with expectation only to have that feeling shattered by a very rushed ending. The ending assaults your senses too fast and is too unbelievable. The audience becomes disconnected as the realistic suspense of the majority of the film at this grueling pace is replaced by an unrealistic ending that happens all too fast. Another positive aspect of this film that should be mentioned is the comic relief of the best friend (Greta Gerwig) delivering excellent amount of fun in the face of this growing suspense. Overall the majority of this film has all the aspects of a classical slasher of growing suspense. However, the pacing at the end and the disconnect from this suspenseful first half of the film served as a large disappointment.