Movie Review: Devil

Devil  (2010; Directed by John Erick Dowdle; Screenplay by Brian Nelson; Story by M. Night Shyamalan)

Anyone wondering if Devil is going to do for riding the elevator what Psycho did for showering can rest easy.  You won’t be frightened into taking the stairs from now on.

Executive-produced by M. Night Shyamalan, this supernatural thriller (the first installment of “The Night Chronicles” trilogy) has a compelling premise: five strangers are trapped in an elevator in a Philadelphia office building, but one of them is the Devil himself in disguise.  Apparently the Prince of Darkness has come to toy with the other sinners before killing each of them and sending them free-falling into hell.  This exposition about “The Devil’s Meeting” is provided by one of the religiously-versed security guards at the office building.  Ramirez shares his beliefs with his co-workers during the crisis situation, and furnishes additional detail via an obtrusive voiceover (it’s somewhat disorienting to hear such a minor character assuming a choric function throughout).

If Devil succeeds at all, it is as a murder mystery.  The wavering finger of suspicion targets all five passengers on the elevator, none of whom are quite what they appear.  As the body count starts to mount, the respective survivors look all the more guilty.  But this is also where the film begins to go awry.  The death scenes in the elevator just aren’t that terrifying, and after the first couple of instances grow almost tedious (as the pattern develops: the lights in the elevator conveniently malfunction for a few moments, sounds of struggle and dismay are heard, followed by the discovery of a ravaged body when the lights turn back on).  It also doesn’t help that the most interesting character of the group is the first one to be dispatched.

The film fails to instill a sense of claustrophobia, largely because the action continually cuts away from the trapped passengers to detail the efforts of the police/workers/firemen trying to liberate them.  More importantly, Devil lacks an aura of dread (viewers expecting the same thrill as provided by movies like The Last Exorcism or Paranormal Activity will be severely disappointed).  The climactic revelation of the Devil (tied in to a plot twist that isn’t very shocking) proves surprisingly banal; the figure terrifies neither with its appearance or dialogue.  And the film ends on a facile, God-affirming note that circumvents any lingering sense of unease.

This is not an awful movie; it will keep you interested as it keeps you guessing.  It just does not provide the suspenseful experience that viewers might be expecting heading in.  The set-up is intriguing, but the payoff is unsatisfying.  Devil, unfortunately, is a film destined to be damned with faint praise.