Devil [HD]

The Devil gets his due
People trapped in an elevator...with Satan! Does it get anymore freaky than that? M. Night Shyamalan conjoured up a suspenseful premise and let Director John Dowdle (Quarantine, Poughkeepsie Tapes) dance with the Devil. The result is a simple but effective thriller that is sure to horrify.

An unsettling suicide in the City of Brotherly Love seems to open the gates (or elevator shaft) for The Dark Lord to impose his will on a group of sinners. Police are baffled as they watch from the outside, trying to identify the culprit for these brutal crimes as they occur.

Is Hollywood finally discovering that less is indeed more? Don't be expecting lots of action here--it's a slow burner, taking place almost entirely in one confiscated setting. It's not especially gruesome either, but it's sure to butcher your brain trying to pinpoint the murderer. Many of the kills happen quickly when the lights conveniently flicker.

DEVIL is very well written and acted...

Floor Six: Fine Characters and Good Plots...going up!!
M. Night's Back in the game in his tale of evil whacking the passengers of Elevator Six of a Philadelphia high rise building.

Beginning with the mysterious suidicde from the 35th floor, Detective Bowden (Julie and Julia's Chris Messina) is dragooned to become a sinister force's latest audience as it picks off an ecclectic passengers of express elevator six and to defining the metaphysics of evil after his family's killing at the hands of a hit-and-run driver.

From the disorienting opening sequence to the final narration by Jacob Vargas' Ramirez, M. Night continues to bring his audience through the screen to his world with clarity and stregnth reminding us why we go to the movies. Devil's plot races forward like a controlled explosion, never boring the audience (which, when I saw it, was me.) And while the tale may seem tired, the presentation was not.

I enjoyed Mr. Messina and the Elevator Cast's performances. The terror for the passengers is felt...

Not Too Bad
So far, I've liked all of Night's movies so I went into this one expecting some of his trademarks. The plot twist at the end was the big Kahuna, and in this movie, it was there, but I'm sure there were plenty of people who had it all figured from the opening scene. I didn't because I don't try to look that far ahead. I'd rather have the story carry me there. In this case, I was at first surprised, but not shocked after I thought about it. I don't know if that's a bad thing, but it was nothing like the surprises of his earlier work. Maybe because there is expected to be a plot twist, no matter what he does, it is no longer a surprise.

The movie has a decent if unknown cast and takes place in Night's hometown of Philadelphia. I'm guessing the building used doesn't really exist, but either way, the structure looked good.

For anyone with a phobia about being trapped in an elevator, this takes things to the next level with the uninvited guest. During the whole movie,...

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