Devil

Precise direction and a really fast script with lots of ideas and flashy stunts that elevate this horror B-movie above many of its clichéd ghostly brethren. The atmosphere is not very chilling, but it’s enough to keep your attention, and the actors are decent and convincing to the extent of their possibilities. And the final twist, which I was increasingly curious about as time went on and I found out more and more, was delivered quite sensibly and did not disrupt the carefully constructed story based on one simple central idea, which, by the way, was so well delivered that it provided me with an (un)enjoyable and unrelenting spectacle. (01/08/2011)

It takes seventy minutes carefully building a disconcerting atmosphere, relationships and tension between characters, only for all this to fizzle out, instead of reaching a climax and hitting hard with a message. Too bad, because it’s the ending/punchline of these genre snacks that separates the wheat from the chaff; leaving just the bold deeds of those who we can remember. (08/05/2011)

A likeable, if disposable, film with great technical aspects (Velázquez's music in particular is really excellent) and little-known actors who were very good. If it wasn't for the devil specifically, I would have called it a thriller rather than a horror film - it was suspenseful, but it didn't scare me and I wasn't afraid... The "Lights out - lights on - someone's dead" scenes reminded me of an Agatha Christie - Monty Python detective sketch. (21/03/2011)

I feel sorry for John Erick Dowdle, nobody knows the excellent The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Quarantine is the most pointless film of the decade and Devil is killed by Shyamalan’s creative crisis, but he knows the craft and one day he’ll make a proper genre gem, at least I hope. But well, let’s talk about Devil. The opening upside down flight over a city with some great music is perfect to whet the appetite, but the rest of the film is a five out of ten. Technically it’s fine, but the five victims, the detective, the security guards – everyone, basically – are incredibly unlikeable, behave in an unexplained fashion and sometimes utter words that I was unable to understand. If we add to this the fact that the performances are rather poor, the conclusion we reach is that this film simply cannot work. And that’s exactly the case, with the exception of the moments when nobody speaks. The twist does answer the question of who’s the devil, but why the devil did what he did remains a mystery. I’d rather ignore the moral of the closing scene, otherwise I would have to rate it even lower, which I don’t want to do because of the premise, the technical quality, a couple of chilling moments, and the music. 6/10 (14/11/2010)

The classic problem of Satanic horror films (why does the lord of all evil give such a shit?) is of course present. Fortunately, it's made up for by fairly decent direction and very good cinematography. Plus, with this film, I realized after Cloverfield that the MPAA is becoming more tolerant of violence. (03/01/2011)