Written by James M. Tate / 6/14/2011 / No comments / ensemble , horror , m. night , mystery , suspense , tens
DEVIL

year: 2010
cast: Chris Messina, Bokeen Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green
rating: **1/2
M. Night Shyamalan, whose last few directed films have steered away from the patented twist endings, wrote (directed by someone else) a film where the conclusion is hinged upon an inevitable answer to the plot-built question: of the five people stuck inside a high rise elevator, which one is the Devil? Not just a devil, but the real thing. This quirky notion’s set up (i.e. explained) through narration by a Catholic side-character sharing his mother’s bedtime story: centering on the Devil infiltrating a small group of people without making himself known, causing each to turn against each other in violence. Well, well, if this isn’t exactly what happens in the elevator between an eclectic group of characters including:
a claustrophobic temp security guard; a roguish drifter with a questionable past; a pretty divorcee; an old tough lady; and an overly-opinionated salesman, the latter obviously written as the snarky comic relief, but winding up the weakest, and most annoying, of the group. Random slayings occur within the elevator during power failures, so no one knows who the killer is. And on the outside, a world-weary cop, whose wife and child recently died in a car accident, is trying to figure the culprit and,
after being convinced by our narrator, to find out if he, or she, is truly the Devil. And there is a twist within, probably the most creative aspect of a film that meanders at a somewhat clunky pace inside and outside the enclosed setting. And while some of the dialog seems contrived, and sporadic moments of bombastic C.G.I. bloodshed intrude upon the Hitchcock inspired character-driven suspense, there are pockets of reliable moments within a unique modern fable of right, wrong, and whatever, or whoever, gets caught in-between.


Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
All Time Popular
-
Robyn Hilton enters into an eclectic exploitation comedy career in Wonder Women circa 1973 As mentioned a few posts ago, ROBYN HILTON, b...
-
year: 1978 cast: Allen Garfield, Leif Garrett, Kathleen Lloyd, Tony Alva, Pam Kenneally rating: ***1/2 Although promoted as a Leif Garr...
-
Mary-Louise Weller in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE ANIMAL HOUSE, directed by John Landis and produced by Ivan Reitman, stars John Be...
-
Kari Michaelsen in Saturday the 14th year: 1982 In LOVE AT FIRST BITE, a popular comedy that took the vampire genre by satire, Richard ...
-
Robyn Hilton on STARSKY AND HUTCH Model/Actress ROBYN HILTON played Mel Brook's secretary in BLAZING SADDLES and turns up in an epis...
-
Cornelia Sharpe in BUSTING Year: 1974 Rating: **** Starring Elliott Gould and Robert Blake as determined vice cops BUSTING hookers, makin...
-
Kerri Green and John Candy in SUMMER RENTAL Year: 1985 John Candy, in his first leading role, plays a burnt-out air traffic controller ...
-
WILLIAM SMITH AS FALCONETTI ON RICH MAN POOR MAN The baddest of all TV bad guys… Matt Dillon’s character in BEAUTIFUL GIRLS calls Antho...
-
Robyn Hilton in Video Vixens the same year as Blazing Saddles: 1974 The Anthology of Comedic Parodies, already done in several Woody All...
-
Susan Dey in Skyjacked YEAR: 1972 Some of the best elements of hijacking, plane crashing, ship sinking, building burning or any other di...
Featured Post
EDMOND O'BRIEN KILLS THE BAD COP NOIR 'SHIELD FOR MURDER'
Title: SHIELD FOR MURDERYear of Capture & Release: 1954 Bullet Holes: **** By the time this SHIELD FOR MURDER hit theaters, Edmond O...

No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.