M. Night Shaymalan proves he’s still creepy.
Photo courtesy of imdb.com
M. Night Shaymalan hasn’t made a good movie since The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. And when he made Avatar: The Last Airbender, I lost all faith in his directing abilities whatsoever. So I walked into the theater on a Sunday night, fully expecting Devil to be yet another of Shaymalan’s snooze-fests. It seems I was not alone, as there were only three other moviegoers in the theater. I fully expected to tear this movie apart, limb from limb.
I was wrong.
“Amazing,” “captivating,” “Oscar-worthy,” or even “good” are not words I’d use to describe this movie. But neither would I use “horrid,” “boring,” “pathetic,” “God awful,” or “bad”. Shama-lama-ding-dong might have ruined Avatar for me, but Devil was not of the same degree of garbage. It was not spectacular in any sense of the word, but it was most definitely a step in the right direction; a reminder that the creepy horror/thriller genre is where Mr. Shayamalan belongs.
The premise of Devil is less interesting than the movie actually is. Five people trapped in an elevator dying one by one has more of a Final Destination cheesiness to it than a creepy, haunting tale. Odd happenings are more the style of Fate Cheated than the fires of Hell. But what the trailers don’t reveal is that it is actually the ol’ snake himself tormenting five chosen victims, which is ultimately more entertaining.
The movie begins with a narrative from a security guard we later learn is named Ramirez (John Vargas, Death Race) as he outlines a story his mother told him as a child, to warn him of…something. You know, the more I think about it, the less sense the parable makes. Who would terrify their children with a bedtime story about the devil murdering five people? Who would tuck young kids into bed and start a story designed to lull them off to sleep with a suicide? That’s not storytelling, that’s bad parenting. Anyway, this bedtime story turns into a nightmare as it becomes real, pulling five seemingly innocent people into their unbeknownst doom.
The most interesting part of the story revolves around the detectives who are investigating a suicide at an office building; the same office building where five different people get into an elevator. I know, the suspense is building, huh? What I expected was this story to be a front for a killer, or a whodunit mystery with the murderer appearing as a victim. Yet, as Detective Bowden (Chris Messina, Greenberg) points out, either the slayer is insane and would murder everyone at once, or would be more logical and never kill in front of so many witnesses. And so, the predator is literally Lucifer, giving this movie its religious spin and a ghost story feel.
The characters in the movie are stereotypical and bland, but each serves his/her purpose well. The characters who held the movie together were trapped ex-marine Anthony (Logan Marshall-Green, Brooklyn’s Finest), who is the only sane person trapped in the elevator, and Detective Bowden. Once again, there I was not awed by Devil, but neither was it so wretched that I would have rather watched clouds go by overhead. There was nothing special about the camera angles, lighting, effects, or anything. In fact, it all felt a little low budget.
What was interesting, however, was the story. It was haunting, it was entertaining, and it wasn’t completely ridiculous. The best word to describe it was creepy, which is exactly what the movie needed. Shyamalan has got a lot of work to do if he wants to make up for the steaming pile of slag that is Avatar, but this Faustian deal with the Devil sure puts him on track.
★★☆☆☆
