Skeet On Mischa, For me most of the tension came from the...

For me most of the tension came from the underlying question of ‘Will anything EVER happen?’ and ‘Will Joceline Donahue EVER deliver a line convincingly?’, the answers to which are ‘Sort of’ and ‘No.’ The film’s big finale, a rushed ten minutes at the end, is slightly confusing and utterly underwhelming and totally conventional. I understand that West wasn’t look for a gore-a-thon at the end of his picture, but after the truly lax pacing of the rest of the movie, House of the Devil needed to end with a bang, whether that be a bang of violence or a bang of brain-twisting coolness, and neither is the case here. There’s a final shot in the movie that is held over the closing credits and I sat through pretty much all of it because I couldn’t believe that this was the ending it had all been building towards. With a horror movie you need to either shock me, gross me out or unsettle me, and House of the Devil is incapable of doing any of those things.

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CHUD’s Devin Faraci

REVIEW: HOUSE OF THE DEVIL

While I feel like writing a long thing about Ti West’s House Of The Devil, I feel this quote sums up my feelings about the film. It’s just a slow film about a girl with really skinny legs walking around a college campus and a creepy house in the woods. It’s a frustrating endeavor that left me tapping my feet, tapping my invisible clock, and saying multiple times: “less chatter, more splatter!” I don’t mind a slow film, but when it’s a thriller or a spooky movie, I need more.

Let’s look at it like we’re eating a nice meal at a fancy restaurant. First, the waiter brings you up some bread, to get the appetite going, then maybe you’ll have an appetizer and some more bread and a glass of wine and eventually, you’ll get to the main course and it’s great. This film is just like ordering a pizza. You place the order and wait by the door or go over to the place to pick it up and you eat it when you get home. There’s no building of the appetite. It’s just there like a greasy, soggy mess. It feels a need, but its devoid of substance unless you’re getting the prosciutto and mushrooms pizza from Red Brick Oven. A good horror film builds tension and rewards the audience with an occasional set piece or good acting that will enhance tension when the film is devoid of grandioso set pieces.

I’m just glad that Ti West and star Joceline Donahue introduced the film instead of staying for the Q&A because they would have a lot of explaining to do. Great poster, though!

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