Devil

(2010, Dir. by John Erick Dowdle.)

Devil is the kind of horror film that just makes me want to ramble about everything I love about this type of film.  Full of religious anecdotes and potential symbolism, it's a mystery that unravels one way on the screen and a different way in my mind.  With a sensational idea - five people in an elevator, one of whom is The Devil - from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan, I entered the film in the mindset of someone ready to watch a carnival sideshow instead of a film.  I even put aside my prejudice against producer Shyamalan, because I do admit to admiring the guy's belief in "campfire tales" where simple events happen for meaningful reasons. 

(And also because he wasn't listed as director.  I still can't get over The Happening.)

Directed by John Erick Dowdle (a hard-luck director whose previous horrors (Quarantine and The Poughkeepsie Tapes) faced plenty of demons in their cinematic lives), Devil is the most crisp story from Shyamalan in the last decade.  There are still some problems in the plot - some coincidences that bring characters to the story aren't dealt with and there's a flashback that reminds me of the heavy-handed ones in Signs - but the meat-and-potatoes of the story are dealt with wonderfully.  A huge amount of credit for selling the supernatural side of the tale goes to the character played by Traffic's Jacob Vargas, who narrates by dropping in his grandmother's tales about what might happen when the Devil appears on earth.  If Shyamalan is the carnival barker that lures us into a tent with grand proclamations (like the film's tagline, "Bad Things Happen for a Reason"), Vargas' character is the terrified "witness" who assures the viewer that there's truth to these claims.  I admit that I'm an easy mark, because I lap these seemingly irrational religious beliefs in horror right up.  Thus, I was immediately connected to Vargas' character - and the film's hook was in me.

That character, plus a jaded police detective and a few other innocent bystanders, are the in-film witnesses.  They observe the participants in the doomed elevator; five souls that are certainly not innocent.  One of the most enjoyable parts of trying to unravel Devil's mystery is finding out what lies each of these mostly nameless characters are selling, and trying to make sense out of their role in the story.  They're represented by a mostly no-name cast of actors, though you may recognize the young woman as Sylvia Ganush's granddaughter in Drag Me to Hell, the salesman as a stoner in Super Troopers, and the security guard as one of the Marines-turned-terrorists in (one of my absolute all-time favorite movies of ever) The Rock.  While these characters try to learn about each other, we also meet a lot of side characters who are determined to help end their predicament, many of whom meet their own grisly ends.  As our narrating believer states, Old Scratch can't let anyone get in his way.

As the initial dose of claustrophobia begins to wear off and the number of people left standing in the elevator drops, it becomes increasingly evident to the viewer that the payoff will make or break the film.  I will admit to becoming skeptical as the story neared conclusion - I worried that there might be a copout that breaks the story's promise - but the film stays true to the premise as it wraps up.  I can see some being disappointed with the final scenes, but I thought they fit the story told by Vargas' character perfectly.  As a religious parable that tells of pure evil at work and the way it effects people, I think Devil's results are comparable to some of the best episodes of The Twilight Zone.

Looking back at the film knowing the full story, I love the game that Devil plays with the viewer.  It may require a few leaps of faith, but there's a lot going on as it plays its tricks on the viewers and victims alike.  There are a lot of clues throughout the film (one particularly significant cue is a Shyamalan trademark) that really helped me make sense of the film.  The wrap-up of the plot will definitely miss for some, but I thought where it ended was exactly where a horror film of this type should end.

It's impossible to talk about most of the film without spoiling the twists, so there's not a lot more I can say about Devil.  (I'd love to ramble about the symbolism I picked up and what I think it meant - which was probably my favorite aspect of the film's design - but that's another story for after people have seen the film.)  I can say that this is entirely my kind of popcorn horror flick, and I won't be forgetting it soon.  If you step into Devil's trap and are open to what it has to offer, I think you'll probably get caught up in this tale.