Devil

When I was younger I loved scary movies, if you asked me what my favourite movie was The Silence of the Lambs would have been up there. These days scary movies are nothing but cheap shots; ominous music followed by something jumping out at you. The Silence of the Lambs was smart and thrilling, it pushed boundaries in a human way. Hannibal Lector and Buffalo Bill could be real people, horror villains these days are superhuman, appearing miles ahead and super strong. Pardon my French, but it's just stupid bullshit these days. If I feel like watching a scary movie it's not because I want shit to jump out at me and for the violins to be a screeching to let me know that something scary is about to happen. So as to not all be negative, I will point out that the first SAW movie broke the silly scary movie mould, it was different, it was smart and interesting and complex. Devil tries to step away from the ridiculous that has become common in scary movies and delivers a film that keeps you in suspense, but also keeps you thinking.

No one special stars in this movie, so I can't start with that. This movie is about five strangers stuck in an elevator... oh, and one of them is the devil! I don't want to ruin this one for you because the whole fun of this movie is not knowing who it is. This one was written (but not directed) by M. Night Shyamalan, and I don't care how crappy you thought Lady in the Water or The Happening was, I LOVED The Village, and you can't take that away regardless of the bombs he's been putting out as of late.

The music was, in fact, ominous, and it was raining, and people did some obviously stupid things that got them killed. But I still liked this movie, as I said before, it was the not knowing, the always guessing and second-guessing who the bad guy could be. I liked that this movie called it like it is; the devil, not a demon or evil spirit, but that son-of-a-bitch that gives God a hard time. The movie recognizes that not everyone believes, there is the necessary sceptic to counter balance the overly religious security guard who knows what's going down early on. The character stories were interesting, and the five people in an elevator for an hour and a half wasn't as monotonous as I thought it might be.

With that being said I wish it was longer, at 83 minutes, we don't get as much back info as I would have liked. There is also something to be said about redemption in this movie that isn't fully explored.

If you're in the mood for a newer scary one, you could do much worse than Devil.