Devil (2010)
Directed by John Erick Dowdle
A group of people are trapped in an elevator high above Philadelphia, and one of them is the devil.
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But regardless of how the muted kudos is parceled out, the end result is a moderately entertaining tale that borrows Christie’s Ten Little Indians template of putting a group of strangers together and having them get picked off one by one.
At least, that's what he spends his time doing in Devil, a pocket-size supernatural thriller that plays a bit like Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians retold by an unstable Sunday School teacher.
With a plot like that, you might expect something slight and subtle, like "Bug" or a horror-tinged "12 Angry Men" or, maybe even more appropriately, Hitchcock's "Rope" or "Lifeboat."
Second, it is an unabashed horror film with genuine Judeo-Christian spiritual convictions, which seems to raise the ire of a critical establishment that insists on a mandated separation of church and cinema (with all due forgiveness given to The Exorcist because at least it was made during the cynical ’70s, even if it is anything but).
Devil, which mixes elements from disaster flicks, mysteries, police procedurals, and demonic classics such as Damien and The Exorcist, starts with a bang when an unknown office drone throws himself out a window of a high-rise at 333 Locust St. (No high-rises there in the real Philly!)
While its fright tactics are plucked from various other movies like The Exorcist and any thriller set within a confined space (think Panic Room), it still has several ghoulish twists within its brisk 80 minutes, yet never quite rises above the simplicity of its tale.
With a plot like that, you might expect something slight and subtle, like "Bug" or a horror-tinged "12 Angry Men" or, maybe even more appropriately, Hitchcock's "Rope" or "Lifeboat."
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CHICAGO – Being a hardcore fan of anthology series like “The Twilight Zone” and “Tales From the Crypt,” the simple set-up of “Devil,” the new horror film based on a story by and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, intrigued me — five people are stuck in an elevator and one turns out to be the devil.
The first in producer M. Night Shyamalan’s Night Chronicles series (from his story, written by Brian Nelson and directed by John Erick Dowdle) feels, in fact, just like a Tales From the Crypt episode stretched out to 80 minutes, and the padding results in a number of loose ends and red herrings.
The screenplay, a sharp, unadorned affair penned by Brian Nelson (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night), is predicated on a Twilight Zone-ish premise: Five apparent strangers--a young mechanic (Logan Marshall-Green), an older woman (Jenny O’Hara), a sharply dressed younger woman (Bojana Novakovic), a temp security guard (Bokeem Woodbine), and a sleazy businessman (Geoffrey Arend)--get on an express elevator one morning in a Philadelphia high-rise and find themselves trapped when the elevator inexplicably stops somewhere halfway up the building.
And it was written by Brian Nelson, who was the screenwriter for "30 Days Of Night" and "Hard Candy," who seems like a natural fit for this sort of story.
The actual director, John Erick Dowdle, previously made Quarantine , and the screenwriter, Brian Nelson, penned Hard Candy .
The first in a trio of "Night Chronicles," Devil was conceived by Shyamalan, who farmed out the project to a terrific team, including screenwriter Brian Nelson, who penned Ellen Page's breakout film Hard Candy and the vampire classic 30 Days of Night; and director John Erick Dowdle, who infuses Devil with the same sickening sense of claustrophobic dread that permeates his 2008 fight pic, Quarantine.
Based on an original concept from Shyamalan?s sketchbook, Devil?s surprisingly clever script was written by Brian Nelson, who hit pay dirt with his Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night , both excellent pieces of work.
Screenwriter Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy) is the one who filled in the details of M. Night’s story, and he wisely keeps the dialogue between the passengers inside the box snap-crackling, while keeping us engaged with movement and physical action carried out by the players on the outside.
Though their lives are at stake, director Dowdle and screenwriter Brian Nelson (2007's " 30 Days of Night ") do not suitably capture the grave danger they're facing.
The script, by Brian Nelson ( 30 Days of Night ) from a story by M. Night Shyamalan ( The Last Airbender ), veers from the intensely banal -- I had plenty of time to wonder where the building management was in all of this, especially after the cops (led by Chris Messina’s [ Julie & Julia ] detective) and the fire department close down the entire city block surrounding the building -- to the impossibly ludicrous: the building engineer survives an elevator falling on him!
"Devil" is, as the massive number "1" preceding the film suggests, the first in these chronicles, with the directorial duties handed to "Quarantine" helmer John Eric Dowdle and the screenwriting to Brian Nelson of David Slade's "30 Days of Night."
The screenplay, a sharp, unadorned affair penned by Brian Nelson (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night), is predicated on a Twilight Zone-ish premise: Five apparent strangers--a young mechanic (Logan Marshall-Green), an older woman (Jenny O’Hara), a sharply dressed younger woman (Bojana Novakovic), a temp security guard (Bokeem Woodbine), and a sleazy businessman (Geoffrey Arend)--get on an express elevator one morning in a Philadelphia high-rise and find themselves trapped when the elevator inexplicably stops somewhere halfway up the building.
But fear not: even though M. Night did pen this supernatural thriller, screenwriter Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night) and director John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine) have stepped in to help diffuse the familiar Shyamalan stink.
And it was written by Brian Nelson, who was the screenwriter for "30 Days Of Night" and "Hard Candy," who seems like a natural fit for this sort of story.
One of the main reasons that “Devil” fails is the decision by writer Brian Nelson (working from a story by Shyamalan) and director John Erick Dowdle (“Quarantine”) to make the lead a character not trapped in the elevator.
Director John Erick Dowdle did a fine job capturing the claustrophobic atmosphere of an apartment building in lockdown with 2008's " Quarantine ," but the even tighter confines of an elevator elude him.
Despite the stink coming off the picture due to Shyamalan’s participation, “Devil” was actually directed by John Erick and Drew Dowdle, the filmmaking team behind the crummy 2008 horror remake, “Quarantine.”
But fear not: even though M. Night did pen this supernatural thriller, screenwriter Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night) and director John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine) have stepped in to help diffuse the familiar Shyamalan stink.
The Dowdles are responsible for "Quarantine" and "The Poughkeepsie Tapes," and they're talented horror filmmakers who have proven they've got the chops to genuinely unsettle an audience.
Although the Quarantine director John Erick Dowdle is at the helm, Shyamalan's fingerprints are present all through this film, which begins interestingly enough but quickly races through to the finish line with little fuss or surprises.
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An elevator in a Philadelphia skyscraper gets stuck between floors, and then Satan proceeds to pick off the passengers, one by one, in mildly gruesome PG13 ways: there’s a black man (Bokeem Woodbine: Jasper, Texas ), an old woman (Jenny O’Hara: Extract ), a young woman (Bojana Novakovic: Edge of Darkness ), a white guy who’s a jerk (Geoffrey Arend: An American Carol ), and a white guy who seems like maybe he’s okay (Logan Marshall-Green: Brooklyn’s Finest ): that’s the extent of the fleshing out the characters get.
It's not exactly Phone Booth in an elevator with Rosemary's baby's daddy, as the trailer had genre fans believing â alas, no intricately warped Larry Cohen plotting here; more's the pity.
Bolstered by some lovely Tak Fujimoto cinematography and assisted quite capably by a Fernando Velazquez score, Devil is a supernatural mystery by way of a "gimmick thriller" (like Phone Booth), with just a few dashes of Irwin Allen and Agatha Christie thrown in for good measure.