Rating:  

Media Rights Capital, The Night Chronicles, and Universal Pictures.

Written By: Brian Nelson, based on a story and concept from M. Night Shyamalan

“Devil” is a disposable little movie, made for cheap, and heralding in the next phase of (in)famous writer and director M. Night Shyamalan’s career. Taking a much needed break from filmmaking, Shyamalan has turned to the creating of ideas for films and then allowing new or up and coming filmmakers a shot at turning his visions into on screen realities. Shyamalan produces or co-produces the film, oversees its creation, and then brands it as one of “The Night Chronicles”, a series of projects which depict supernatural happenings in everyday life.

Okay. Good enough.

In Part 1, “Devil” places five random individuals in an elevator set to travel to the highest reaches of a Philadelphia office high-rise. Inexplicably the elevator stops somewhere around the 33rd floor, seemingly stuck in space. A frightening scenario for most people, these five people utilize fear, confusion, humor, panic, and silence as a means of dealing with their unsettling situation. Droning elevator music pipes in, putting everyone on edge, and once contact is reached to the elevator by building security, the communication runs only one way – in and not out.

Very quickly, the inhabitants of the elevator realize something is not right. As tensions mount, the lights begin to flicker and then go black. When the lights surge back on, the Young Woman (Bojana Novakovic) is thrown to the floor, a glass mirror is shattered and Young Woman sports a nasty gash in her back. Immediately all eyes point to Salesman (Geoffrey Arend) as blood is found on his suit. Old Woman (Jenny O’Hara), Mechanic (Logan Marshall-Green), and Guard (Bokeem Woodbine) (yes, those identifiers are how they are listed in the credits!) immediately believe that Salesman is responsible for the attack and force him to remain in a corner. But then…lights flicker, go dark, and Salesman has been seriously injured. But wait…if he didn’t hurt Young Woman, then…Who? Or How? And What in the H…?

Investigating a suicide at the same high-rise mere hours before the elevator malfunction, Detective Bowden (Chris Messina) and his partner Markowitz (Joshua Peace) are called to investigate the latest goings on. Relying on the closed circuit security camera monitoring the elevator’s inhabitants, Bowden tries to maintain calm and control, soon realizing that his inability to gain access to the elevator may accelerate a series of events he is simply powerless to stop.

Simple and modest on paper, “Devil”, as a completed film, is a bit of a mess. The dialogue, written by a pretty good suspense/horror screenwriter, Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy), comes off punchless and flailing. The cutaway shots of overcast Philadelphia look straight out of a start-up visual effects lab and since much of everything suspenseful or intense occurs with the most basic of visual cues, the lights going off and flashing back on, the movie feels akin to a vocalist who can only sing in one note or key. In other words, the attempts at scaring and freaking out its viewer become weak and ineffective. At times, “Devil” feels like a project on par with a pretty good Made-for-TV movie on the SyFy Network or some other cable outlet. In that regard, the film is effective. On the big screen, not so much.

And yet, I was entertained the entire time. I could watch “Devil” as easily as I could throw down a bag of popcorn and a soda. Admittedly I expected “Devil” to be abysmal, as was Shyamalan’s last big screen disaster, “The Last Airbender”. Nelson’s screenplay does feel as if Shyamalan did more than simply “oversee” the production. Embedded within “Devil” are Shyamalan’s trademark themes of faith – lost and regained, redemption, the Shyamalan characters who are slow in figuring out what is happening to them, and yes, the film embodies the twist!!! All in all, whether you see the twist coming or not matters none. “Devil” has a bigger message to sell you and it goes down about as tasty as the unpopped kernels of popcorn you choke down, only because they were covered in salt and butter.

And again, I was entertained the entire time. “Devil” is not a so-bad-it-is-good type of film. Rather it is a film that is silly, cheesy, hokey, cumbersome, and despite itself, completely watchable. To the credit of director John Erick Dowdle, “Devil” drains every last ounce of potential from the walls of that elevator and never tries to be more than a “Twilight Zone”-style B-movie. The movie is fun, despite its serious flaws in logic, deception, and/or ability to build to any palpable tension or suspense.

I am not sure I need or want another “Night Chronicles” episode on the big screen, but this is not nearly the debacle people expected or thought it would be. Although as my wife points out, the biggest flaw in the entire concept starts and end with the film’s generic title “Devil”. Imagine her choice of “HELLEVATOR” on your nearest marquee. That alone would earn another half-star or so, right?

Should I See It?

YES

As a disposable 80 minutes of movie-watching, you can easily be entertained by this. In the right setting and viewing, you can ignore the worst elements and probably have quite the entertaining viewing party.

There really is not a scary moment in the film, so those who like the softer kind of horror/suspense thriller will be able to withstand this.

Fans of M. Night Shyamalan will be interested and although he is only credited as a producer and story creator, his touch and approach is in many elements of the final product.

NO

For all of the silliness of it, there are a lot of moments that miss. By a guess, I figured out the “devil”‘s identity and so much of the film is simply not intense or scary in any way imaginable. So, for many, this is a nothing movie which serves no purpose whatsoever.

The visual effects seem TV-movie quality and on the big screen, look amateurish and low-rent. Throw in poor dialogue and a silly and forced ending (the twist!), and you might wonder why this didn’t debut on cable.

Five nameless people are stuck in an elevator and one of them might be the devil. That alone will make a bunch of people refuse to take this movie seriously.