SYNOPSIS
The year is 1984 (or so). Samantha, a broke college student, takes a babysitting job on short notice at a sprawling house in the middle of nowhere. $400 for a night's work? It sounds too good to be true...
OPINION
A pure horror throwback in every way. Trope after trope flies thick and fast in this film - the isolated babysitter, the Satanic cult targeting young women, the mysterious killer on his way to your house - but director West recompiles and recalibrates these worn-out ideas for an audience that's already been weaned off of them, to spectacular results. House of the Devil is well-paced, chilling, and eerie, until it bursts to life, dripping wet, suddenly and irrevocably.
CAST + CREW
Director: Ti West (The Innkeepers, The Sacrament)
Cast: Jocelin Donahue (I Trapped the Devil, Doctor Sleep)
Mary Woronov (Death Race 2000, Night of the Comet)
Tom Noonan (The Monster Squad, Robocop 2)
CONTENT (spoilered; highlight for warnings)
violence against women, forced pregnancy, drugging, suicide, Satanism, possession
CAREER STATS [on a scale from 1 (least) to 10 (most)]
FUN: 7
Everything feels era-appropriate; gloriously nostalgic.
SCARINESS: 7
Creepy house, spooky vibes - and that's before it gets nuts.
INTENSITY: 7
Some uncomfortable stuff ramps up, but it's fairly standard.
RECOMMENDABILITY: 8
A solid, harrowing, violent horror flick of another era.
SEE ALSO:
Halloween, When a Stranger Calls, The Babysitter, Prom Night
