"This movie is all sorts of creepy fun, 70's style..."
Cast Members of Note- Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, AJ Bowen, and Dee Wallace.
Margot Kidder's cuter doppelganger needs a job; she's a college student who just rented a new house (because her slut roommate is a pig), and she desperately needs some extra cash. Being that this is the 80's, it's obvious that a babysitting gig could totally pay the rent on a house in a college town. Right? Right.
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| What a naive dummy. |
The only thing creepier than the people she's "babysitting" for is the house (of the Devil) itself, and trust me when I say that's pretty damned creepy. $400 for four hours work is worth it though, right? So, it's the night of a full eclipse, there are creepy people, a creepier house (of the Devil), an even creepier old woman upstairs who is "not to be disturbed..." At least they left her pizza money.
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| Order pizza... now! |
Once alone for the night, cute doppelganger-girl pops on her Walkman, throws in a cassette, and begins to dance through the dark, creepy, "I'll be damned if I'd stay" house (of the Devil) without a care in the world... like a dumb ass. At least we get to hear The Fixx's "One Thing Leads to Another"
which really is one of the coolest songs of the 80's. Needless to say, shit goes all sorts of wrong, and the cute chick soon realizes that she's really, really screwed.
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| Like really. |
The atmosphere and feel of this movie are absolutely astounding; Ti West makes a movie that not only feels like it was made in the 70's/80's, but truly belongs there. From the creepy score, to the awesome opening credits, to the over-permed hair, this plays like an unearthed Horror movie that suddenly popped up about 30 years too late. In a cool way. The payoff in the end wasn't what I wanted or hoped for, but the whole movie was so groovy to watch, that I still found it to be all sorts of keen.
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| "Hello? Is this Pizza?" |
Why not just sit in the front room and not move, ignoring any and all noises from upstairs, the basement, or down the myriad of dark hallways... because then they can't get you. Dummy.
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| Yeah, go check on that noise, dumb ass. |
I can't believe that a college girl who is super nervous about "babysitting" for a creepy couple in an even creepier house (
of the Devil), would put on her
Walkman, blare some music, and dance around the house (
of the Devil) without a care. The dark, shadowy, foreboding house (
of the Devil.) I kinda lost sympathy for her after that move.
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| She's got a butcher knife and pizza box for defense. |
This movie was definitely more atmospheric than it was bloody, but we get a little bit of good violence to satiate our hunger. I'm always down for some good gun violence.
Nope, and here I was hoping for some 70's style "action." I do, for the record, totally dig that 70's style hair that the chicks rocked back then. Hot.
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| Come on, that's hot! |
"This one night changes everything for me" or "You're not the babysitter, are you?"
Don't ever, never ever babysit, or you will either die or have to face off against Satanists and Demons. Many a Horror movie has shown us this over the years, so heed the damn warning!
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| "So, no one knows you're here,right?" |
Were it not for the slightly lackluster ending, I would seriously have given this movie an A. As it stands though, House of the Devil is creepy, stylish, retro awesomeness that you should absolutely see. I miss the old days of Horror, as cheesy as they were at times, and Ti West has given me a little throwback present that took me back, if just for a moment... whatever. Just check it out.
B
The House of the Devil is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.
Jocelin Donahue is the super cuteness.
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Agreed. Such a great build up, but the pay-off couldn't have been any duller.
ReplyDeleteI liked the ending because I felt like it worked well for the 80's style. It was surprising without being insane and I loved how the credits just came up without one last big scare or anything of that nature. It felt good for once not to receive a jolt of terror! But- I was still unnerved by the ending which is a definite plus.
ReplyDeleteLove this movie though and I thought the EXACT same thing about her dancing around with the walkman! And also the way she would just open all these random doors?! What a ballsy gal. Plus she knocked over a vase...some babysitter.
I really enjoyed this one, thanks for the recommendation.
ReplyDeleteSuper slow burn....I mean it had its moments of awesome but there were some super moments of yawn.
ReplyDeleteAnd yup that ending was WTF.
Very slow burn indeed, but it was really pleasing in most ways at least.
ReplyDeleteThe feel of this mocie was amazing,Ti West did a superb job.Definitely slow,slow burn but I thought worth it once all hell breaks loose.The aren't you the babysitter part was a shock.
ReplyDeleteCool blog as well
this movie is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI loved the atmosphere and I loved that it was a slow burn, but I wasn't bored at all by what was going on. i loved how the movie recreated the early 80's vibe and the awesome 70's style hair the girls were sporting, way cool.
the ending I thought was shocking in a subtle way, because its also very tragic. this girl tries to kill herself to keep herself from being used by Satan, but in the end, she ends up in a coma and is pregnant as well with the Devil's child. the fact that the movie ends there is equally sad because we are left to wonder what will happen to this girl, will she wake up to give birth to the child, we just don't know. Great stuff all around.
Wtf are yiu and yall talking about?! What damn atmosphere?? This movie was garbage in the 1st degree. It was so drawn out leading up to pretty much nothing. They did do a good job with the whole 80's feel but other than that th8s movie was poorly wwritten. Now there doesnt need to be bloo an gore every 5 mins or even jump scares around every co4ner but atleast give people a reason to want to continu watching the film wnd not hoping for something to happen til the very END!
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