Devil (2010)

            The final film for this Satanic Sunday is Devil, filmed in 2010 by John Erick Dowdle (produced by M. Night Shyamalan).  I hadn’t heard of this film prior to this review, but apparently a lot of people have – it grossed 33 million at the box office (that’s roughly a 20 million dollar profit!).  The gist is that sometimes the Devil makes people pay for their karma while they are still alive…and it appears to be a repeat pattern known as “The Devil’s Meeting.”  It generally begins with a suicide.  In this story someone plummets off a skyscraper with a rosary clutched in their hands, thus beginning the pattern.  Next, a group of five people are trapped in an elevator and…you guessed it…one of them is the Devil.

            I have to admit that my first thought was that the man in the suit was the Devil, but that thought was quickly dispelled when he was the first to die.  After several suspected Devils bit the dust, though, I began wondering if that really mattered or if they could still be the Devil (in a death disguise).  Detective Bowden is assigned to the case (portrayed by Chris Messina), and he joins up with the security team for the building as well as with the fire department to try to get the survivors out of the elevator.  There are some intense moments as the people in the elevator try to figure out for themselves who is doing the killing, and the Detective continues to struggle to get them free. 

            The music isn’t the best thing about the movie, but I can’t say I hated it.  I just wasn’t super into it, either.  The cinematography was decent but it’s also fair to say it wasn’t the best filmed movie I’ve ever seen.  The concept was interesting, though, and the suspense of trying to guess who the Devil was kept my interest throughout.  Though I wish Geoffrey Arend had a larger role than he inevitably did.  He was the only actor/tress I recognized and he was gone so quickly.  He would have made a fantastic Devil.  This film sort of reminded me of Jean Paul Sartre’s “No Exit,” with the elevator and the concept of hell being other people (the people in the elevator sort of drive each other insane; they may have just killed each other without the Devil lending a hand).  The killings are all basically kept within the elevator itself, so they really aren’t all that creative or gory.  Sorry, blood brothers, this one’s fairly tame. 

            What do you get when you place a few people with the Devil in an elevator?  A fairly low Body Count, clocking in at only five deaths, one of them being a suicide.  Number of killers?  Three.  Boob Count?  Zero, again this movie lacks even kissing.   Cheap Thrills?  One.  Actual spooks endured? None.  Raven’s Scream Meter says:  3 out of 5 screams.  A decent concept and stimulating plot sequence, but the acting could have potentially been a bit better.  Thanks fiends as always for reading, and feel free to leave comments in the space below!  Xx ~ Raven