Movie Review - The House of the Devil (2009)

The House of the Devil (2009)

Starring Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, and Greta Gerwig

Directed by Ti West 

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix*** 

Sam (Jocelin Donahue) is a sophomore at college, longing to move out of her dorm and leave her sexually promiscuous roommate behind.  Having found a nice apartment, Sam is need of money and finds a babysitting job posted on the campus bulletin board.  When she arrives at the employer's house in some secluded eerie woods, the rather jittery Mr. Ulman (a delightfully creepy Tom Noonan) tells her that there isn't a child in the household.  In fact, Sam will be watching over Mr. Ulman's mother-in-law while he and his wife go out for the evening.  Sam reluctantly agrees to this bait-and-switch.  Little does she know that she's in for one helluva night.

There is an unnerving feel to this film.  There's something that happens about twenty minutes in that tells the viewer that Sam's in trouble, but Sam is oblivious to this until the end of the film.  Instead, we watch Sam as she explores the Ulman's ornate house, finding ourselves completely on edge because we know something that Sam doesn't.  I mean, sure, this "we know something you don't know" is a simple concept that is used in horror films all the time, but director Ti West is quite the genius at building up the suspense.  Honestly, I was kind of jittery while watching.

Unfortunately, once the film reaches it's climax, it can't quite deliver.  Yes, the end was interestingly shot, but it all happened much too quickly and seemed to be both edited and written rather poorly.  There's a lot of build-up (so much that I can see how some would be completely and utterly turned off by the film), but the end falls a little short.

That being said, there's much to admire about the film.  As I said, the director Ti West (who was also the writer and editor) shows much promise.  Interestingly enough, he chooses to set the film in the 1980s and, right from the opening credits, you can tell it's an homage to the classic horror flicks of that decade...and not in one of those tongue-in-cheek "Scream"-like tones.  This film genuinely looks and feels like it could've been made in 1983.  There's a grainy quality to the images and the score, costumes, and sets are blasts from the past. 

The film belongs to the talented Jocelin Donahue, though.  As Sam, she is in every single scene and for the middle 40 minutes of the film, it's simply her alone onscreen.  She managed to keep me rapt throughout the entire film, and in less talented hands, this film would have fallen apart.  I look forward to seeing more of her in the future.

The RyMickey Rating:  B