Devil
Any M. Night Shyamalan movie is going to cause mixed reviews if it came after The Sixth Sense, and if you are more accepting like me, Signs and even The Village. :) However, the previews for this film actually seemed promising. I admit to having hopes for The Happening (I honestly did not have much of an interest in Lady in the Water as it did not appear creepy in the previews.). I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest, like a fellow film buff suggested, it makes a return to Signs. It does this in more ways than one. The main similarity is a character's loss of faith and return to accepting it again. Don't let this stand in the way of you seeing this film. It still has it's scares, and though faith is an important part of the film (we are talking about the Devil here), I didn't feel like this loss-of-faith---renewal-of-faith was as in your face as it was in the previous film.
The previews have made this much clear: 5 strangers take an elevator, only one of them is actually the Devil in human form. I am NOT going to give away who it is, because I found that to be partly why the film was so interesting. In fact, I really am not going to go into the deaths and who dies when, as this would take away a lot of the tension and suspense that is provided. And there truly is quite a bit of suspense in the film due to the location. The action and tension is purely in this space which is about 4.5 X 6 ft. (standard dimensions).
See? Small space. But do they try and make friends?? Noooooooo.
The film is narrated by a character who is not a part of the action but is a witness to it. It is narrated by one of the security guards for the building in which this elevator is located. None of these five characters is connected to the other and none of them is connected to the security guards. But this guard seems to know how it is going to work out for everyone, all because of a story that his grandmother told him growing up. While the other guard calls the police, he watches the video and notices the glitches that appear to look like the Devil. Lucky for the people in the elevator, the police are nearby as they are at the site of a suicide - a man who leaped to his death from the 35th floor of the same building!
Well, he couldn't have been that religious if he decided to commit suicide.
And the narrator/guard claims that the Devil's visit and actions all come after a suicide. Ahh, I see what you did there, Shyamalan. We killed a holy man because he knew that the Devil was coming! Honestly, don't get your hopes up as to why this guy killed himself or who he is; we never find out. The guard goes on and on about the Devil even though no one believes him. Even in the end, the cop still does not seem to believe that the Devil was present in that elevator.
Devil provides the scares, though more in a make you jump from surprise type way, than from from anything truly freaky. In fact, that is partially the reason why I like this film so much. Director John Erick Dowdle never shows a clear image of this demonic entity that is the main force behind the action. The problem with portraying a figure that inspires fear in so many people, and is meants to scare the audience is that it is rarely possible to create something that is more horrific than what people can imagine. Instead, the Devil, when in the final confrontation, is in human form. What is scarier than not knowing who the Devil may be when it could be anyone around you?
I mean, damn, when you have to start using cell phones to give someone the third degree in the darkness, there are serious issues.
Go forth in fear. ;)
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