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- DVD: The House of the Devil
- Rating: R
- Starring: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, AJ Bowen, Greta Gerwig, and Dee Wallace
- Written By: Ti West
- Directed By: Ti West
- Distributor: Dark Sky Films, Magnet Releasing
- Series:
The House of the Devil DVD Review
Is Feathered Hair the Devil? You Be The Judge By
Rob Vaux
February 01, 2010
DVD Review for Ti West's The House of the Devil
© Dark Sky Films/Bob Trate
The House of the Devil represents a bit of a challenge if you're watching it for the first time on DVD or Blu-Ray. The film takes its sweet time to get going; you need to tolerate 75 minutes of long, torturous build-up in exchange for 20 minutes of pay off. It's absolutely necessary in order for director Ti West to create the atmosphere he's after, and the end results reward patient viewers admirably. But while the theatrical experience more or less created a captive audience, the myriad distractions of your average home--with PS3s gleaming enticingly nearby and a fridge full of food just waiting to be rifled through--may spell its death knell.
So if you're coming to the film sight unseen, be ready to cowboy up. Learn to soak in the atmosphere for awhile and resist the temptation to turn it off and walk away. West makes the task easier by providing a winningly sympathetic heroine (Joceline Donahue) whom we follow through virtually every moment of screen time. Her situation at the university dormitories sucks--with an inconsiderate roommate practically shoving her out the door--and a few hundred dollars buys her a sweet off-campus apartment where she can revel in blissful solitude. There's just one catch: in order to make the first month's rent, she needs to take a babysitting job from this weird couple living in the middle of nowhere (on the night of a lunar eclipse no less).
Genre fans can see where it's all going immediately, especially after catching sight of the couple's Amityville-esque mansion. But West refrains from copping a smirk even once. Indeed, he revels in the po-faced approach of an earlier era, setting the film resolutely in the early 1980s and tailoring his filmmaking style to match. It works mainly because of his attention to detail--even the opening credits use the stock freeze-frame gimmick of grindhouse horror--and because Donahue's performance wins us over so completely. The transfer to DVD reveals an appropriately grainy film stock (don't expect a gorgeous image here), but that plays into the overall mood as well.
However, it doesn't remove the central problem of sitting quietly long enough for The House of the Devil to work its spell. Luckily, West also has a keen eye for Twilight Zone-style twists--one of which arrives out of nowhere in the middle of the film and a second which sets up the final roller coaster plunge into darkness--that mitigate the worst of the restlessness. And have no doubt: The House of the Devil wouldn't be one-tenth of the movie it becomes had it adopted a less disciplined approach. Throwaway horror flicks look for the cheapest way to goose some scares out of the kids. This one cares enough about the medium--and the earlier era which it emulates--to establish the right tone and stick to it. The film's barely-there theatrical release got hopelessly lost in the wake of Paranormal Activity, an admittedly better film which respects its material just as much as this one. But those willing to give The House of the Devil a chance will find a quiet gem worth saving: something they might have once discovered in the back of the video store with Duran Duran playing over the speakers, and all the more treasured for its forgotten status.
Besides the film itself, the DVD and Blu-Ray versions contain a couple of brief behind-the-scenes documentaries, some deleted scenes and the red band trailer. A voice-over commentary featuring the director and cast rounds out the disc, and there's little to differentiate the Blu-Ray version from the DVD. If you're looking for a real throwback kick, however, try to find the VHS/DVD bundle pack, which contains a classic video cassette decorated in true-to-the-eighties fashion.
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I actually really love this movie and as much as I love Paranormal Activity comparing them is like comparing Apples and Oranges. The film goes for an 80's look but a more 70's style stanic flick approach. After seeing this one I had to go back and watch Rosemary's Baby and Burnt Offerings. What you say is absolutely true that the slow build is part of the atmosphere and part of the impact of the story by the closing credits. Greta Gerwig is also a lot of fun in this film and she's starting to show up in more and more movies.