The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009)
- denti alligator
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:36 pm
- Location: "born in heaven, raised in hell"
Re: Amazon
A line or two about why House of the Devil is worth a blind-buy?
- perkizitore
- Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:29 pm
- Location: OOP is the only answer
Re: Amazon
Domino has a soft spot for retro-horror
- denti alligator
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:36 pm
- Location: "born in heaven, raised in hell"
Re: Amazon
That's one line. About someone else's tastes.
- perkizitore
- Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:29 pm
- Location: OOP is the only answer
Re: Amazon
Isn't a Domino endorsement not enough for you?
- denti alligator
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:36 pm
- Location: "born in heaven, raised in hell"
Re: Amazon
Basically, I'm asking for Domino to say something to convince me to blind buy it.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Amazon
Well, I was going to talk more about it when the Horror List Project started up, but it's an immensely intelligent and well-made horror film that understands how cinematic suspense works without ever once devolving into period fetishization, pandering, or a false sense of superiority to the materialdenti alligator wrote:Basically, I'm asking for Domino to say something to convince me to blind buy it.
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009)
I second "House Of The Devil". Besides the camerawork in the ending, you would easily believe this was made in the 1980s if nobody told you otherwise. Although the real fan would have gone for the DVD/VHS combo pack... (out of print)
- Feego
- Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:30 pm
- Location: Texas
Re: Amazon
I heard the VHS featured a widescreen transfer. This is a rare instance where I say they should have included a pan-and-scan transfer (on the VHS only) just to make it more true to the period.manicsounds wrote:Although the real fan would have gone for the DVD/VHS combo pack... (out of print)
- Finch
- Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
- Location: Edinburgh, UK
Re: Amazon
House of the Devil is horror for grown ups and very good indeed: I caught it earlier this year and it was one of the most pleasant surprises I had in some time. Can't wait to see Ti West's next pic, The Innkeepers.
- htshell
- Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 4:15 pm
Re: Amazon
Enjoyed House of the Devil, but The Innkeepers was awful...Finch wrote:House of the Devil is horror for grown ups and very good indeed: I caught it earlier this year and it was one of the most pleasant surprises I had in some time. Can't wait to see Ti West's next pic, The Innkeepers.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Re: Amazon
I'll recommend House of the Devil too, though the denouement in no way lives up to what went before (basically because it has to go into 'showing, explaining and twisting' mode like every other horror movie). Before that, it's very smartly (and slowly) paced and well executed. Even though there are a lot of superficial retro signifiers in there, it really doesn't owe a lot to 80s horror.
- Professor Wagstaff
- Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:27 pm
Re: The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009)
zedz puts it nicely. What I like about those 1980s signifiers is that Ti West doesn't bring too much attention to them, so the movie doesn't feel self-consciously retro. It's a slow burn too, so that heightens the tension, even if the resolution is rather conventional. The atmosphere is just right that I've made it a new staple in my Halloween season viewings.
- JamesF
- Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:36 pm
Re: Amazon
I could not disagree more with the latter half of this post if I tried. I had a great time with The Innkeepers: great acting across the board from Pat Healy (who gets many of the best lines - "Pana-suckass", indeed), Kelly McGillis and the adorable Sara Paxton, a truly hair-raising third act (even more so than House Of The Devil, which I also loved), and a real sense of mourning rare in horror cinema.htshell wrote:Enjoyed House of the Devil, but The Innkeepers was awful...
- denti alligator
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:36 pm
- Location: "born in heaven, raised in hell"
Re: The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009)
Damn, this is one fine film! Very impressive, indeed. Thanks for the recommendation. No regrets on the blind buy at all.
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- Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 12:21 am
Re: The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009)
Recently watched the 2009 horror flick The House of the Devil for the first time, and was extremely impressed by this flick. I'm a big horror movie fan from way back, and the retro '70's/'80's tone, the storyline, and all of the actors worked perfectly. Very archetypal horror movie from that era -
In fact, if I hadn't known better, I would have thought this film was from the '70's or early '80's; the beginning with the freeze-framed images, the color, lighting, etc. were all identical to movies from this era. The film reminded me a lot of older flicks like The Last House on the Left (Wes Craven), Let's Scare Jessica to Death, The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc.
It was also a brilliant move to cast actors/actresses from '80's genre films: Mary Woronov starred in Eating Raoul & had a cameo in The Night of the Comet, Tom Noonan played the the Tooth Fairy in Manhunter, & Dee Wallace was the mom in E.T. - she was also in one episode of the underrated '80's Twilight Zone TV series...
SpoilerShow
i.e. the girl in the seemingly empty house hearing suspicious noises, the creepy old guy & his even creepier wife, the old demon lady, the horrific ritual at the end, etc.
It was also a brilliant move to cast actors/actresses from '80's genre films: Mary Woronov starred in Eating Raoul & had a cameo in The Night of the Comet, Tom Noonan played the the Tooth Fairy in Manhunter, & Dee Wallace was the mom in E.T. - she was also in one episode of the underrated '80's Twilight Zone TV series...