Plot: A group of people are trapped in an elevator and the Devil is amongst them.
Director: John Erick Dowdle
Starring: Chris Messina, Caroline Dhavernas, Bokeem Woodbine, Geoffrey Arend, Logan Marshall-Green
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Released: September 2010
These days when I see M. Night Shyamalan on a film poster, I no longer get the same excitement as when he had burst onto the scene with Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs and even The Village, then his films have mostly felt cheesy or simply boring, luckily however with Devil, Shyamalan handed over directorial duties to another and although the film might have missed out on the extra exposure, his name would bring, it gained so much more.
The film opens with an awesome upside-down aerial view of Philadelphia, throwing the audience off-kilter from the very start, before introducing us to a rather simple premise: when five people trapped on a lift start to die one by one, a detective has to get to the bottom of who is the killer and deal with the idea that one might be the killer, coming to collect their souls.
A confined space like a lift works surprisingly well in this movie and creates an intense and claustrophobic atmosphere, playing on everyone’s worst fears when travelling in one, while the scenes outside of the lift do well to keep the tension building and make you truly fearful for not only the inhabitants of the lift but also the rescuers.
There are some things that I found didn’t work with the poor character development as the biggest issue. Sure I understand that the four are set up as bad people or to at least have a dark past, but none of them felt bad enough to warrant a visit from the Devil, with the only character given any real development being Detective Bowden (Messina). With this movie being only an hour and twenty minutes, there is definitely room to have expanded the story and give more of the characters further backstory.
Devil may not be perfect, but it is a good thriller that mixes in religion and fun time that keeps you guessing right up until the enjoyable twist ending that makes you watch back more than once to see if the film gave any hints.
If you liked: Knock Knock, Se7en, Meet Joe Black
I really liked this movie, but I’m a sucker for anything he does. The only movie he’s ever done that I didn’t like was The Last Airbender. He butchered that story.
I love M Night Movies, but I’ve never heard of this one. I’ll add it to my watchlist.
I think I saw this film. It was very intense, but worth it.
I’m not usually a huge fan of horror, but this one does sound like something I would enjoy. I’ll keep an eye out for it.
Not really my kind of movie, but maybe I will give it a go anyways …
What??? How is it that I have never watched this movie before? This is right down my alley. I wanna watch as soon as possible.
Woof! This type of movie would scare the crap out of me, won’t lie to you! I have to give the writer’s credit though! They have such a small space to work with, that they certainly need to be creative and think outside of the box (as everyone is trapped in a box? lol).
Not my type of film, but I would say that the writers were creative and have made it impossible for me to even consider an elevator for the time being….
I haven’t watched this yet! I never heard of this film. Looks so scary!
This movie was actually insane. I really loved the story and how it all takes place in an elevator.
Haven’t heard of the film before but that sounds quite interesting. I’m already intrigue by the trailer.
i haven’t even heard of this movie before. it sounds really cool. i will have to check it out more.
There is something special in every Manoj Night Shyamalan’s movie and this movie is not an exception. It’s a solid thriller which keeps everyone on the edge of the seat for 1 hour and 20 minutes of running time.
Im intrigued. I would love to see this movie looks interesting!
This looks so scary …but I really wish I can watch this
I don’t really like scary movies or thrillers! They give me nightmares. This is however and extremely interesting concept to explore.