October 8th - Horror Feature: The House of the Devil

The House of the Devil is a 2009 film directed by Ti West, who I previously mentioned in the V/H/S feature. This project predates the anthology film, giving us some insight into the earlier work of West. The House of the Devil merges the slasher and haunted house subgenres to make a "based on true events" horror film that delivers. By now you should know I'm a sucker for 1970s and 1980s horror films and this one emulates them in a respectful and appropriate way by adopting framing, music and themes.

To fill you in, the plot centres on a college student named Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue) who takes a babysitting job to make rent. She finds herself in an awkward situation looking after a mansion while an old lady sleeps upstairs and is not to be disturbed. But it's good money. The deeper the trail goes, the weirder things get. There's a surprising kill that I won't spoil, but it blindsided me. Things go south for Samantha as she makes her way through the mansion. Things go satanic. It's pretty great.

I don't really have a lot to say about the film because it is so straight forward. It has an aged feeling to it that makes it more authentic to the time period that it portrays and I love the moody tone. It's not overly gory, but it makes up for it in good scares and the creepy turn of events. It gets by on style instead. Even though it hits on the nostalgic points for me, and surely for Ti West, it is also just an all-around good horror film and demonstrates how filmmakers should be approaching their work in the genre today. At least if I'm going to like it much.

The House of the Devil is a cool flick for October, so check it out!