Devil
Starring: Chris Messina, Bokeem Woodbine, Caroline Dhavernas
Directed By: John Erick Dowdle
****Mild Spoilers****
I'm going to start out by saying I'm not the biggest M. Night Shyamalan fan, which means I am usually in no hurry to rush out and see a movie that has his name tagged on it. I'm not even too terribly big on The Sixth Sense. It's a movie that doesn't hold up so well after its first viewing, and without the ending, you don't have much of anything. I'd watch Stir of Echoes over The Sixth Sense any day. I will say that Unbreakable is a terrific film, but Shyamalan has never surpassed it, and probably never will. One recent film of his I did enjoy was The Happening, which is ironically not a fan favorite. While I'm still not sure if he was going for a B-Movie approach, that's what it was for me, and a highly entertaining one, at that.
With Devil, Shyamalan serves as the story writer and producer, and it's the first film under the Night Chronicles banner. What had me interested in this film was that it's directed by John Erick Dowdle. He's was the man behind Quarantine, and The Poughkeepsie Tapes (a highly unsettling “found footage” mockumentary about a serial killer that films all of his vicious depravity). While Quarantine isn't a bad remake, I highly suggest skipping it if you are already a fan of the Rec. series, as it's damn near a shot-for-shot depiction of the first film. There are no surprises to it. Aside from that, I still think Dowdle is a damn fine director, so I had to eventually give Devil a chance.
The movie begins with narration about the Devil taking human form to systematically kill off sinners after trapping itself somewhere with them. This deed unravels after a suicide. Immediately after the narrator's story, a man jumps to his death from a high-rise building. Shortly after, five strangers get trapped in an elevator inside the same building. A detective on the scene overhears the news of the incident going on inside, and decides to investigate. Things begin to go wrong quickly, and it becomes a race to rescue the passengers, not only from the elevator, but from themselves.
A large chunk of the film takes place inside the elevator, shot with brilliant cinematography that makes the viewer feel every bit as confined as the people trapped within. Every time the movie goes elsewhere, such as the security room of the building, it is honestly a welcome sigh of relief. The strikingly different personalities and background of the five passengers is the catalyst that pits them against each other. They all have skeletons in their closets, and once identified, it becomes quite suspenseful as to who is behind all the deception going on inside their box of inevitable doom.
The only means of communication with these passengers is through an intercom in the elevator, prompted from inside the security room. But it's only half helpful, because the passengers can hear the detective and the security staff, but they can't hear the passengers. All other attempts of trying to make contact have been one failure after the other. It gets to the point of feeling bleak, when something awful happens every time there is a power surge inside the elevator.
I'm not going to get into a full character breakdown, in fear of giving away too much, but all the personalities are pretty intriguing in their own respects. Detective Bowden is a great protagonist; a character recovering from alcoholism due to a horrible past tragedy, and still is reluctant to give in to people who care for him. His perception of the events inside the elevator are pretty interesting, too. He is a man of limited faith, and begins having a hard time fighting back over-the-shoulder stories from an extremely religious security guard, due to the situations at hand.
The acting is pretty well on par by everyone, though, most of the characters have brief backgrounds, giving the actors/actresses little to work with. The detective (played by Chris Messina) is the most well structured, and it's a good performance from an actor I was completely unfamiliar with.
The film works as more of a suspenseful thriller instead of a gory horror film, though, there are some violent scenes and out-of-nowhere type moments. I will say that at times it did feel a bit more intense than most PG-13 films, and I was quite surprised when I learned that was the rating.
Of course, I guess any movie that has Shyamalan's name on it can come expected with a twist of some type, and Devil is no exception. Though, I didn't find it pretentious this time. Some viewers will probably see it miles away, but it was a welcome surprise for me, and I'll leave it at that. As far as directing, this is more of a win for John Erick Dowdle than Quarantine was, and it proves that he is versatile. I will for sure be looking forward to his future endeavors.
