In keeping with his models, West is concerned with not suspense exactly but the ritual withholding and ultimate lavishing of bloody chaos.
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12/17/09
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The House of the Devil (2009)
87
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:61
Fresh:53
Rotten:8
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: Though its underlying themes are familiar, House of the Devil effectively sheds the loud and gory cliches of contemporary horror to deliver a tense, slowly building throwback to the fright flicks of decades past.
Theatrical Release:Oct 30, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: A coed struggling to pay her rent ends up taking the wrong part-time job in writer-director Ti West's old-school, 1980s-set horror flick THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is a... [More]
Starring: Jocelin Donahue, Greta Gerwig, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov
Director: Ti West
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Reviews for The House of the Devil
Top CriticFans seeking the immediate gratification of random shocks and sudden gore will be disappointed, but anyone savoring a sense of dreadful anticipation and menace will be enthralled.
12/03/09
West, a rising young director of minor cult pleasures, comes clean here about his love for all things Bava (Mario) and Carpenter (John).
12/03/09
Top CriticLess is more, and writer/director/editor Ti West knows it -- until he forgets near the end of this babysitter-in-peril nailbiter.
12/03/09
There's a payoff in The House of the Devil, if you have the patience. Some of the scenes seem draggy, but the characters are complex, and their motivations are explained.
11/19/09
Top CriticThere is a lot about The House of the Devil to admire but West ultimately likes the slow burn a bit too much and it fizzles out.
11/13/09
It may not completely succeed as a horror film, though I would take its deliberately funky and low-key vibe over the hard-sell nonsense of "Paranormal Activity" any day of the week.
11/13/09
A first-rate chiller.
11/12/09
The cinematic equivalent of foreplay. It's all about building mood, teasing us, and, in between the lines, promising an eventual payoff.
11/12/09
Even the familiar tropes of The House of the Devil are familiar in the right way, like an old, bloodstained sweater.
11/12/09
Top CriticThe film may provide an introduction for some audience members to the Hitchcockian definition of suspense: It's the anticipation, not the happening, that's the fun.
11/12/09
Top CriticIf you like horror movies that actually have some artistic merit to them, this is definitely one of the more noteworthy pictures of the year.
11/07/09
The film is a perfectly pitched old-school horror homage to a '70s/'80s-era of cinema that should have been.
11/02/09
If you love a nerve-stretching build up to a seriously creepy payoff, you'll want to see for yourself.
11/02/09
Ti West knows how to set up his prey for the kill
11/02/09
...there is one scene early on with Mr. A.J. Bowen that is as creepy as anything you're going to get this summer.
11/02/09
...a virtual refutation of all of the conventions of contemporary horror that manages to be terrifying precisely because it refuses to give you that gratification until you've almost given up wanting it.
11/01/09
The House of the Devil could have certainly turned out stronger with a shorter buildup and a more drawn out climax, but who am I to argue? I haven't been this scared watching a horror film in years.
10/30/09
Those of us who remember that strange and marvelous era when the grindhouse gave way to VHS pajama parties are apt to see a kindred spirit at work here.
10/30/09
Part of the film's off-kilter surreality comes from its retro look, tone, cinematography, and even music.
10/30/09
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