The House of the Devil

This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of 'The House of the Devil' released by Dark Sky Films in 2009.This review is SPOILER FREE.PLOT/SUMMARY: A college student, Samantha, is looking for her own apartment so she can have some privacy from her slob of a roommate. She answers an ad and is accepted as a tenant. The problem is that she doesn't have the money she needs. She goes looking for a job to make some quick cash. She finds a posted ad for someone looking for a babysitter. The prospective employer behaves a bit odd and ultimately she finds out that the job is not exactly what it was represented to be. Samantha has to decide if it's worth the money she is being paid to accept the job.COMMENTS/CONCLUSIONS:I don't easily hand out 5 star ratings for movies. Especially when movies have more than one or two flaws, which most movies do. I will still rate a movie with a sub par plot higher if there is some aspect of the movie that I love. A lot of nice extra's will also do the trick. In this case, I'm giving the movie 5 stars because it was entertaining. I didn't love the ending, but that's OK. I can look past the ending if everything else was good up until that point. This movie is genuinely creepy and I like the way the tension slowly builds. I also like that this movie doesn't follow the typical rules of horror movies for teens. Somebody who goes down, stays down. Hopefully you won't consider that statement a spoiler!I am a fan of lesser known science fiction and horror films. This movie fills the bill as far as I'm concerned. Although, I like horror, I'm not a huge fan of witchcraft. I like movies that are more grounded in reality. Of course, people who are into witchcraft would tell you that witchcraft is very much grounded in reality. Anyway, this movie isn't loaded with unexplainable stuff. There is just a little of that, which is fine by me. The bottom line with this movie as far as I'm concerned is that it is very good. I like the 80's look and feel of the movie. This was done deliberately by the director, Ti West. If I had to give on honest score for the plot, it would probably be about a 7.5/10 and if it had a better ending I'd have given it an 8.5/10. Since this site starts with a curve of 2 points or 1 star, that makes this a 4 1/2 to 5 star movie.I thought that there were a few things in this movie that look as if they were the victims of script changes. Unfortunately, I am going to keep those things to myself since I decided to keep this review 'spoiler free'.This movie features some actors of note. Dee Wallace is probably most famous for 'E.T.' and 'The Howling' but she has starred in some other sci-fi/horror classics as well. I was surprised to see her for such a short period of time in what is more or less a minor role. Mary Woronov has starred in quite a few cult classics. For me, those include Death Race 2000, Eating Raoul' and 'Night of the Comet'. But there are a bunch of others too. Tom Noonan has been around since the early 80's and he has been in quite a few cult classics as well.ARE THERE ANY OTHER FILMS BY THE DIRECTOR WORTH WATCHING?: Ti West has made several horror films. I have only seen one other, 'The Innkeepers' and I think that it is pretty good. That one is a ghost story as opposed to witchcraft. I would recommend that movie if you like supernatural mysteries.

I was unaware of this movie until I came across a recent and positive review, so I went ahead and purchased. A slow-paced film for sure, but one I enjoyed. It’s pacing was actually refreshing and necessary. I wasn’t overly thrilled with the ending but watching Ms. Donahue prance around in jeans throughout the movie, especially from behind, made up for it. More suspense than horror, in my opinion, plus I’ve always been a fan of Mary Woronov.

A MUST OWN FOR ANY HORROR FAN!This is my favorite modern horror film. Director Ti West does an amazing job at making it feel like the 1980's. The overall slowness gives it a very eerie vibe. Love the lead actress Jocelin Donahue!

Skillful, truly frightening.

stop shaking the camera and making loud noises. Good lord thats just lowest common denominator horror tricks. The story was almost worth watching. The girls were cute. The ritual would have been cool if filmed correctly. Mildy interesting. Not that scary.

This is a great horror film in the vein of 1980's B grade horror cinema. Shot like it would have been had it been made in the '80's, forced zooms and no CGI. This movie is paced a bit slow but it builds the tension well, the clothing and music of this movie is some of the best I've ever seen in regards to capturing the look and feel of the 1980's without being over the top and campy. This movie is a masterpiece of horror cinema and it shines on Blu-Ray, no DNR, great detail, blacks look deep and although there is some muddy soft edges throughout, I can only assume director Ti West was going for this look when trying to make this harken back to early '80's horror. This really is an instant classic in a world of unoriginal horror films made with shaky hand held cameras and generic slasher flicks. If you like classic horror films, the '80's, and originals like The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (even though the only things these movie have in common is setting a high standard for horror films and awesome cinematography and musical scores) then you should really like this movie. I had this already on DVD and decided to upgrade to Blu-Ray, and although it has no new content, I am really glad I own it on a better looking format.

Was expecting a bad 80's movie what I got was a good 80's er 2000's movie very well done movie held my interest start to finish.

Once in a blue moon a horror film comes along that reaffirms your faith in the genre. The House of the Devil is one such film, written and directed by Ti West who gives the film a throwback look and feel, and is a delightful homage to classic suspense. The story revolves around 80s college student Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) who takes a babysitting job from an odd couple (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov), only to discover that her clients plan to use her in a satanic ritual. For a majority of its running time, The House of the Devil features some powerful moments of suspense and genuine terror. While its conclusion may leave something to be desired, plus some glaring plot holes as well, The House of the Devil regardless remains a worthwhile horror endeavor. All in all, if you're looking for something that will truly give you some scares, look no further then The House of the Devil.

Película ambientada en los ochenta, una niñera va enfrentar a una secta con final inesperado. El blu-ray tiene subtítulos en Español. La película es un joya del terror.

i like this movie

Mine didn't work either and i emailed them and they said was it was in the description that it needed to be played in europe or a multi player which I didn't see bc it wasn't on the sale page.total scam

Brutal, the disc won't play on standard equipment. Waste of money.

La historia trata sobre una estudiante de nombre Samantha, quien desesperada por dinero rápido toma el trabajo de niñera para una extraña familia en una mansión aislada, pese a advertencias de su mejor amiga.Lo que tenemos aquí es un suspenso entretenido, la actriz principal es una revelación Heather Donahue, la dirección es buena y la opción de hacer parecer a esta cinta del 2009 como una cinta ochentera resulta efectivo e innovador, del tipo de Rosemary's Baby pero para nada se le iguala, resulta una buena opción mucho mejor que esas producciones que llegar al cine, he aquí cine independiente de buena calidad.La cinta clama estar basadas en hechos verdaderos sin explicar lo cual la hace mas tétrica, y he ahí el detalle o mas bien la explicación sobre el porque no especifican cual era el propósito de la secta, el único detalle negativo que le veo a la cinta.El dvd tiene audio en ingles y subtítulos en inglés y español, extras: comentario con el director y la protagonista, comentario con el director, productor y equipo, detrás de cámaras, escenas borradas, entrevistas con el elenco y equipo, trailer de la película y de otras películas.