Naturally with October coming to an end, and Halloween only a few days away, my desire to consume some frightening and eerie media has ripened like an old mushy pumpkin. I was lucky enough to see “Paranormal Activity” (read about this horror show here), and force my sister to sit through “Quarantine” (not only to see her squirm, but also to see Deborah Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) in horrible despair). Truly one of the more delightful treats this hair raising holiday season was a sneak peek for the film “The House of the Devil”. I have to admit that one of the reasons the movie had such a lasting impression on me was that my first viewing of it was in the comfort of my home on my HDTV, and not in the theater feeling 9 bucks lighter (it was released on VOD and shown on the HDNet movie channel throughout October, and will be released in theater on Oct, 30th!)
“…the Devil” was first surprising because I could see in my DVR-guide info it was released in 2009, but the film is shot as a film would have been in the 70’s. The film brings back to life the slow zooms, camera pans, and the quick and sudden “Exorcist” style jump cuts to ugly, horrible figures. At first I wondered if it had been shot and produced 30 years ago, and that this was a re-mastered release, or maybe even a discovery of a long forgot scary movie. I could almost feel the ghosts from the distant past surfacing in my psyche like Hitchcock’s shadow in San Francisco!
The production team, director, (Ti West) and the art department pull off the style and nuances of the 70’s through great camera work, wardrobe & hairstyle, color schemes, and editing that really work together to produce a unique throwback film to the 70’s- a time that gave rise to some of the best occult indie and commercial horror film releases, such as:
- Rosemary’s Baby – though this was technically in the 60’s, in many ways it set the tone for the following decade )
- The Exorcist
- Don’t Look Now
- The Omen
- Audrey Rose
- Carrie
- Phantasm
- The Wicker Man
- The Amityville Horror
- Suspiria
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
“..the Devil’s” combines many aspects from these better known occult films, and mixes them all together in a homage. If you like the occult genre of horror, or feel particularly nostalgic about 70’s film, then I completely recommend finding a showing of “The House of the Devil” before the end of the weekend.
Have a Happy Halloween!
Thu, Oct 29, 2009
Film