Devil - Movie Review

But in this movie a group of people are trapped in an elevator high above Philadelphia and one of them is the devil. But there was a period in time in which I finally started watching movies that had demonic or even satanic content and Devil was one of the very first ones that I watched because M. Night Shyamalan produced it and he's a hero of mine. And I was like all right I'm gonna watch a movie that has some demon ---- in it we might as well make it be PG-13 and we'll have it be a Shyamalan thing. It's very literal for them and so I was terrified watching this movie. All these years later watching it tonight it's more of a fun experience it definitely leans more thriller than it does horror. The film opens with upside down exterior shots of the city which eventually became more of a trend. It wasn't as popular back then and I look at Devil as one of the earlier times that I noticed it. This was also Tak Fujimoto's final film as DP after he retired. And there's a really phenomenal shot early on that establishes all of the principal characters in a one-er. I loved seeing this level of ingenuity in something that otherwise is a very contained movie that's about people on an elevator. The score for Devil is great. Fernando Velasquez. He's worked with Guillermo del Toro a lot. He's a really really fantastic composer. Eventually the characters are trapped on the elevator and things start getting weird. The movie does have attempts at humor throughout and sometimes it works very well and others I can't quite tell if it's supposed to be funny or if it was unintentional. Like this guy saying this. That's like what a five-year-old would say. Like my kids would find that very funny right now. Then there's this whole thing about Jelly on Toast. There's a person who works there as a security guard who believes in the devil very much. And he believes in this story that his grandma told him. It's voiceover that occasionally is referenced throughout the film. His usage in the story is to eventually be like look when the devil's around everything goes wrong. Look and he takes a piece of toast that has jelly on it. He throws it up and it falls jelly side down and it's like confirmation to him that the devil is really there. Okay. I really wanted a scene to be in this movie that confirmed this as a joke. Like later on they find that same guy and he's in a room and there's like 30 pieces of toast on the ground and they're all jelly side down. And he's like everyone falls on the jelly side down. We're going to get into some spoilers if you've never seen Devil. Okay. So just as a fair warning as characters eventually start to die on this elevator. There's a really great beat that I love where someone tries to close somebody's eyelids and they won't shut. And somebody's like it doesn't work like that. They have to be dead for a while. Otherwise they'll just keep opening. And I really like that beat because it's one of my least favorite things I see in movies. I just don't really feel like that would work. Like it would be kind of funny if somebody tried to do it and like only one shot. It's like kind of comical all of a sudden. It just kind of feels like this thing that we all accept but we ignore the reality of it. My favorite thing about the movie by far is that there is this notion that the detective played by Chris Messina lost his family in a car wreck. His son and his wife. And this person left him a note on a car wash coupon that said I'm so sorry and it was a hit and run. And it has absolutely destroyed his life. And eventually we realize that one of these guys on the elevator played by Logan Marshall Green was that person who killed his family. And that all of this kind of is happening for a reason. It's a really great reveal. And it does a lot for the characters. Having seen the film a couple times I don't really know why the devil is choosing this specific group of people. Even though we have narration that is explaining it. It does kind of seem like it boils down to the simple fact that the devil likes to **** with you. And that's about it. And I guess I'm okay with that. In the case of this film the devil roams about like a roaring grandma seeking someone to devour. It makes sense that they would have it be someone who died already. And you assume okay well it's definitely not them. Like that's a good way to subvert audience expectations. But I want to talk about something regarding this movie that has always kind of stayed with me. And it's this notion that I think Devil would be an even better movie. To be clear I enjoy this movie a lot. It's a lot of fun. I think that it's a little underrated actually. Although beats of it don't entirely work for me. I like this 80 minute contained devil on an elevator movie. It's a fun concept. But I think it would be an even better movie if I didn't know going in that it was about deciding whether or not someone on the elevator is the devil and which one of them it is. But that's the hook of the movie. And I have to know that to get my butt in the seat. And that's what I really want to discuss because this film has a lot of red herring subplots. The detective is looking through each and every one of these people on the elevator and looking into their past and figuring out who they are and all the bad things they've done. And it's supposed to make us suspect that one of them is killing people on the elevator. But because of the title of the movie and because we know the concept of the movie we know that none of that matters. What really matters is who is the devil and who isn't. And the only way it doesn't matter is if there's some kind of twist we really weren't expecting that has nothing to do with the devil at all. But we're pretty much assuming based on the title and the trailer and the log line that it is one of them that's the devil. And so all of that red herring plot work just doesn't work. And the point that I'm really trying to make is that I can't fault this movie for that. It's actually just some aspect of our industry that is broken. We have to tell people the hook to get them to come to the movie. But sometimes the hook makes everything else not as good when you're watching it because you already know what to anticipate and what to expect. A really good example of this is Abigail. If I did not know about the little girl and Abigail going in, the first half of that movie would be way more entertaining. And I would be guessing and I would have mystery and everything would be so much more investing. But because I know the hook, which I of course had to know to get me to watch the movie, it's not as cool. And so I don't know what the great middle ground is where you don't know everything about a movie before you sit down to watch a movie. Because if I didn't know as much about devil, I would definitely have a better time watching it. And there are definitely a handful of movies that have been affected that way, mostly in the genre space. Because you're trying to get audiences to come to your movie no matter what you want to tell them things. And obviously this movie is sort of built around this notion of Satan is on an elevator. But it's just that the rest of the story and trying to guess like in a real world detective way who these people are. And if one of them might be a murderer, that aspect of the movie just isn't as investing. Because I am already ahead of the characters. I'm not really faulting the movie for this because that makes sense. You got a detective there who's trying to figure this ---- out. It's really just an aspect of the industry that's kind of broken that can sometimes have an adverse effect on how you're watching a movie. At the end of the day, I find devil to be a modestly entertaining film that has good performances, some good direction, some good scares, and a really fun concept. At its core, I love the idea of Shyamalan helping other filmmakers get to make a movie like this. And I love that he did it again with Caddo Lake, and I hope that he continues to do that. Because I love the notion of anybody who's really experienced helping someone who maybe doesn't have that experience or that pull get a film made. It's something I obviously respect deeply. What do you guys think of devil? I'm curious to know your thoughts below. Guys, thank you so much for continuing to watch the 14th annual Halloween special. Look forward to more videos very soon. And if you like this, you can click right here and get Stuckmanized.