Movies / Movie Reviews

Devil

By Andy Frisk
September 19, 2010 - 21:20

There is almost no conceivable way to properly discuss a film that, however remotely, has the name M Night Shyamalan attached to it without discussing, or at least acknowledging, the incredible downward spiral his film making career has taken since he made The Sixth Sense. Each film Shyamalan made in order of succession from his critically and popularly received first film were successive let downs. Each subsequent film made its predecessor look like a candidate for Best Picture in comparison. Putting aside the slightly under rated Lady in The Water, Shyamalan’s films simply got worse and worse. After The Happening and The Last Airbender, it looked like Shyamalan’s film making career might finally be over. In a sense it is. Devil is based on a story by Shyamalan, and he is a producer, not director, of the film. It’s also the first film from  Shyamalan’s newly formed and collaborative film production company, Night Chronicles, where Shyamalan and others will work together on films, many of which will based upon Shyamalan’s stories and ideas, but Shyamalan himself will not be directing. Shyamalan’s stories were never really bad, but beyond The Sixth Sense each story that he wrote would have worked much better as a written short story or even graphic novel. It is nearly heresy (to sequential art fans) to mention Neil Gaiman in the same breath as Shyamalan, but their storytelling is actually quite similar. Many of their tales involve elements of the fantastic that just simply do not translate well to film. How many films are there based on Gaiman’s stories? How many of the ones that do exist are actually word for word translations of the original story? I don’t even need to ask this question: How many of Gaiman’s stories are great as novels or graphic novels? The answer is: Every single one of them.

Yes, Shyamalan is a masterful storyteller. Being a masterful storyteller doesn’t always mean that one will be a master filmmaker though. Devil is a smart and taunt story, much like Shyamalan’s other stories. Along with being taunt and sharp, Devil has at its heart and in its resolution a positive message, like all of Shyamalan’s stories do as well. Themes of redemption, acceptance, and forgiveness reign supreme. This time out though, Devil is a taunt and sharp film as well as story, much to its credit, and Shyamalan’s for letting it be developed, directed, and filmed by others.

Devil is the story of five individuals trapped in a skyscraper elevator who, when the lights go out, begin to suffer and die at the hands of a supernatural being that can only be considered to be The Adversary, El Algo Malo, Satan, or simply: The Devil. The attacks happen only in the dark and they are horrifically supernatural in nature (although they aren’t particularly gory—this isn’t a slasher film, thank God). Each of the five trapped in the elevator either have some sort of connection to each other, those outside the elevator attempting to get them out, or someone else in the building. As the tension builds and the histories and sins of those trapped are revealed, the question of who among them is exactly The Devil almost becomes moot as each of them is capable, and in some cases guilty, of deeds just as terrible and demonic in our world and plane of existence as The Devil himself is on all planes. The audience’s narrative link to the religious ideals behind the events comes from a particularly religious security guard who determines what is going on way before anyone else. His mother used to tell him stories about the “Devil’s Meeting.” A gathering of sinners whom The Devil has decided to torment before taking to Hell, it seems, simply because he can. He’s derided at first, tentatively asked advice of later on, and finally, if not instrumental bringing the events to a close, at least instrumental in saving whatever souls he can through his rather obvious, if powerful, observation that “they are all in there because of the choices they’ve made.”

The cast of relatively unknown actors all perform admirably and manage to draw the audience into their own little personal mental hells as their encounter with the King of Hell is chronicled. Director John Erick Dowdle manages to use the close confines of the elevator to capture the intense visages of the trapped sinners who slowly begin to turn on one another and make alliances amongst themselves. Each actor manages to effectively convey their fear, horror, revulsion, and in at least one case, resolution to their fate through little more than a raise of an eyebrow or through a powerful portrayal of the weakness of voice and quiver of lips present when facing alternately the danger presented by each other, The Devil himself, and as it becomes evident, certain death. Dowdle also does an excellent job of never fully or clearly showing The Devil or the violent death that takes them one by one as it occurs. We and the occupants of the elevator are bonded by Dowdle through our mutual inability to see the action, only witnessing the aftermath. This adds to the psychological horror of the film and actually brings the viewer into the elevator with them. When Dowdle takes us out of the elevator, the looming oppression present in cramped areas like the cubicles, crowded lobbies, and crowded city streets of Philadelphia does little to release the viewer from the mental confines of our own minds, sins, and conscious. When this horror is coupled with the psychological horror in the minds of The Devil’s targets, seen in both flashback and in their faces, the effect is complete, and we finally get the type of psychological horror that draws you in and holds you tightly that we’ve been missing since The Sixth Sense.

Overall, as stated Shyamalan is a masterful storyteller. Each of his films has an interesting premise, rising action, falling action, and resolution. They just didn’t (again, not counting The Sixth Sense) manage to convey their uniqueness effectively on screen without coming off as either hokey or downright silly. With Shyamalan at home behind the pen and paper, and others adapting and filming his stories, Shyamalan might have finally found his creative niche.  

 

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: January 17, 2025 - 08:20