HOUSE OF THE DEVIL

DIR: Ti West
(2009)

"People make mistakes, it happens." Well not in this case they don't Ti West has served up a dish of 80's throwbacks to the extreme. Starting with the trailer and poster, House Of The Devil embarks on a whole bunch of homages to the horror genre. Completely unoriginal though somehow satisfying, we get something special. In our current climate of slasher films and dare I say 'torture porn' this film offers the viewer a toned down suspenseful period piece; if one didn't know any better they would 100% believe what they were watching was made in the 1980's as absolutely everything in regards to that detail is perfected.

Samantha Hughes is a broke sophomore college student who desperately needs to come up with some money to move out of her shared dorm room and into the perfect place for her. She comes across a 'Baby $itter' flyer and answers the ad. The residence in question is situated out in the sticks, getting there she learns the job is not exactly as it seems and despite the pressured efforts of her best friend to leave, the generous payment is too much to refuse. It's the night of the big lunar eclipse and what begins as fairly innocent turns into something completely not.

From the television news presentation to the props, the hair, and the clothing, the dialogue and phrases used, the music and vehicles, everything is perfectly accounted for in terms of 1980's continuity. So much design has gone into the production of this film and its for good reason; if House Of The Devil was set in modern times it wouldn't have the same viewing pleasure and perhaps even be regarded as rubbish, mainly because as horror fans we have seen it done so many time before. Because of this gimmick we are able to accept the storyline and overall package given instead of it being just another lame knock off and/or remake.

As a horror fan I believe we should never know where the story is leading and with this we immediately have an understanding and a hope where is shouldn't lead and that's exactly where the movie makes a major mistake, the final act is too cornball and predictable. But I guess works fine as a film making the Grindhouse circuit in the era its set in.

House Of The Devil gives us exactly what Rob Zombie has been thriving to achieve but Ti West is able to pull it off so much better in that regard.

6.5/10