Friday, October 3, 2014

Horror Review #1 - "The House of the Devil" (2009)

Horror Review #1 - "The House of the Devil"

In the 1980s, college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret (from IMDB's official description).


The House of the Devil is a movie from 2009 that looks like it came straight out of the 70s and 80s. This was intentional from director Ti West, who approached it as a period piece rather than an homage.

The style alone immersed me into the movie. From the beginning, we get zoom shots and freeze frame opening credits. I was not familiar with it compared to the movies of today but it was a great breath of fresh air. Instead of rushing to get as many jump scares as possible, "House of the Devil" takes its time and lets the audience soak in the atmosphere. Very slow burn. There's not many actual scares, but the setting is undeniably spooky, especially when you watch the movie with a great sound system. I had the opportunity to watch "House of the Devil" in theaters recently and the difference was unbelievable compared to watching it on DVD at home.


There aren't many great horror flicks out there. It's hard to stand out because a staggering amount of crap gets released every year and puts a bad name to the genre. However, once in a while a gem comes along and in my opinion, "The House of the Devil" is one of those worthy titles. 4/5


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