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Video Review & Discussion: The Dowdle Bros' Thriller 'Devil'

by Alex Billington
September 19, 2010

I decided to see the Dowdle Brothers' new film Devil, produced and conceived by M. Night Shyamalan, this weekend as I thought the concept was quite intriguing and I was very curious to check it out. I actually enjoyed it, maybe because I'm a sucker for these kind of concepts and Shyamalan's dark, twisted stories, but it wasn't perfect by any means, especially the screenplay itself, which was actually written by Brian Nelson (of Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night). I really wanted to discuss my feelings on the film after, so I recorded a video blog with Jordan Raup from The Film Stage talking about Devil that you can watch directly below.

Devil was produced on an estimated $10 million budget, which is quite low, as the first film in Shyamalan's The Night Chronicles series of thrillers. I loved that ominous #1 at the beginning of the movie after the Night Chronicles tag and I'm interesting in seeing the concepts/stories for the two other flicks in this series. I had a few complaints with the script and movie overall, but I think it's a solid film, enjoyable to watch and I liked the darker aspects the Dowdle Brothers played with (like the pitch black moments). I doubt everyone will like this as much as I did, but I'm curious to hear other opinions on it. Anyone else see Devil, too?

Explore tags: Discussion, Reviews, To Watch

Nick S.

looks worth seeing... why not? i'm a sucker for anything with a "catch".
Hattori Hanzo

Well, regardless of what others may think I enjoyed it. Like you said Alex, it's far from perfect but it was fun and it came across that it was never meant to be anything more than that.
Al

I have mixed feelings. I like the fact that the characters didn't know it was supernatural until the end. But I hated the over acting and lack of twist. Yes I recognize two backstories intersect (trying to keep this spoiler free) but I don't consider that a twist, because me and my friends just thought it was implied that one of them had to do with it.
Rashad

The movie is directed only by John Dowdle. It said so on the screen in the theater and it's listed as so on imdb I enjoyed the movie a lot.
nelson

alex i am sure the next movie will have a better script since the buried screen writer is writing the next night Chronicles film
http://mynameisjay.com Jay

Crap I think I figured out the "twist".
David I.

I enjoyed watching it.
jacob

i thought the movie was very interesting, though it lacked in acting a TAD bit i thought most other aspects were great. I feel this movie was not suppose to be perfect or something to remember just something to entertain you in the moment and thats exactly what it did. I also like how it was an original story... so many movies are based off novels, video games, television shows and remakes of older movies, its nice and refreshing to have an original idea out there for once
Steve

I saw Devil Last Night...It Was Actually Really Good,I Thought it was gonna be another Bad Movie With a Bad Ending Like The Last Exorcism.But it Turn out to be entertaining.If you are bored at home and Want 2 Go to The Movies I Recomend it.=)
XXX BLK

I must admit went to see it today and I ENJOYED IT....WTF.....I'm getting old (44) and can't see well
Astroboy3000

did anyone else find the upside down city intro really unsettling and kind of amazing ? you have to admit that a movie taking place primarily in an elevator it never really got boring. overall a good movie.
LINKFX

I was dragged to this film with my friends and I thoroughly regretted paying my money for it. The actors at first seemed to be trying to make characters that were interesting and believable but by the end, the scruffy white guy was of course the hero and everyone else devolved into slightly racist and sexist cultural stereotypes. I saw the twist coming, I knew it was going to be there...this movie was not good, although it could have been ok. Also, yeah, let's just add a spiritual Latino to everyone one of these movies, right? Of course, that's your main audience member, talk about playing to the lowest common denominator to bring up the scare factor for all of those specific audience members who get scared by imaginary religious bullshit. I can't believe dreck like this actually gets made, it was just so obvious constantly, it made all the obvious and easy choices and really lacked in character development.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2408/blackbabyjesus.gif Crapola

I think it's one of the best films I've ever seen. So good, I loved when they started flying and there was rainbows and one guy said, hey your totally the 'Devil in disguise' and he was like 'Of course' and then some unicorns exploded and everyone danced. Better than the Happening, so that's good enough for me.
http://makatihotel.net/ darius

cant wait to watch it. good or bad - anythin by m. nigt shyamalan is good enough for me
lolwut

@12 They should've removed the Latino guy. He was irrelevant and kept spoiling the story. @13 Don't try to be funny because you kind of suck at it.
LINKFX

Alex, hear me out here, respond if you would like, but don't you at least agree that a twist ending in a movie is supposed to be a surprise? I feel like that's why all the great twists endings in movie's have worked in classics like "The Sixth Sense" and "The Usual Suspects"...or even "Citizen Kane"...the twist isn't the point, the journey and the evolution of the narrative is the point, and the twist is what ties everything together and at the same time provides an awesome moment for the audience to work through the film with their brains... With "Devil" the whole point of the movie was the twist, everyone, even the characters in the film knew the twist was coming, that the entire movie was a twist...there was absolutely zero suspense. The narrative went nowhere important really except to showcase us these stereotypcial characters and ooh la la big reveal, one of them is evil! But guess what, we already knew going in that one of them was the Devil, the marketing says it and the characters say it...so the movie is somewhat devoid of real suspense...None of the characters except scruffy guy and cop are developed...it's so obvious that the movie is really about only them all along...uggh. I hate when the structure and formula of a film is so threadbare, extremely annoying.
trey m

It was a decent movie...the Lation security guard kinda brought down the shine of the movie...but it was decent for a pg-13 flick
http://www.goseetalk.com Marc

I was surprised it wasn't a nose dive, and deep down I had some faith in this. It was quick to the point, paced well, and didn't linger. Predictable in parts but it still kept suspense at a good level. Also it was inventive, great cinematography from Tak Fujimoto and some solid performances from a good group of relative unknowns who didn't give anything away. I would have done without the narration but still I had a really good time with it!