Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Spook Out! Day 14 ~ The House of the Devil (2009)

IMDb Says...
"In 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger."

I Say...
Slowly, indeed. Oh, so very slowly. Also, one little part of this descriptor is a necessary bit of misdirection, but to avoid spoilers, I'll say no more about it.

Horror Type...
Occult, Supernatural

Main Players...
Jocelin Donahue as Samantha Hughes (Babysitter Who Doesn't Like Kids)
Greta Gerwig as Megan (Groovy BFF)
Tom Noonan as Mr. Ulman (Creepy MFR)

I liked...
  • the great acting from Gerwig, Noonan, and Mary Woronov (who played the Creepy MFR's wife). Even Dee Wallace's teeny little cameo was terrific
  • being steeped in the early '80s--from hair and makeup, to costume, to props, it all took me back to a time I refuse to believe was 40 years ago
  • the three '80s tunes they employed--great choices. (Even the music from the opening credits was pretty groovy--borrowing the riff and mood from The Cars' "Moving in Stereo".)

The Meh...
  • I've seen this flick referred to as a slow burn. For me, it was more of an, "Oh, shit, did we forget to pay the gas bill, why isn't the stove lighting???" Dudes. DOOODS. From my notes as I watched:
    • A bit too slow moving
    • 34 mins in, still kinda boring
    • 50 mins in, snooze fest
    • 1 hour 8 mins I'm sorry, this flick's boring af I'm ready for it to be over
My lovelies--the movie's an hour and a half-ish long. Having to wait for over an hour to give a shit about what was going on in it was too long. I actually grabbed my phone to check on an expected Verizon withdrawal from my checking account, I was so frickin bored.
  • This bit's spoilery, so I've blocked it out. Double click on the space between the two sets of colons to read it :: Do you seriously expect me to believe some mfkn satanists are so incompetent as to be incapable of tying proper knots to secure their offering to the evil one? Come tf on. ::

Would I recommend it...?
Oh, my sweet darlings--I wouldn't do that to you. Unless you're having trouble falling asleep, in which case, by all means do watch it.* Or just watch the trailer, below. It's another film that's done way better with critics and audiences than I can readily comprehend. Unless they were all high or something, when they saw it...? Did we even watch the same movie, wt actual f???

*Actually, even using it as a sleep aid is problematic, because the shit doesn't hit the fan till the last 20 minutes or so, but it does so to disturbing effect. Waking to see that portion of the movie would not be conducive to getting back to sleep. Tell you what, listen to some podcasts about this movie instead (to paraphrase one podcaster, I'd rather listen to others talk about this film than watch it again).

Miscellany...
I enjoyed a few moments of recognition with Tom Noonan (Frankenstein's Monster from 1987's The Monster Squad) and Mary Woronov (the Channeler from 1989's Warlock)--these actors have done way more than just these flicks, but they happen to be among my fave '80s movies. 

Ratings...
My Grade: D
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: Tomatometer=85%, Audience Score=63%

Details, Schmeetails...
I Watched The House of the Devil on Shudder (the Rotten Tomatoes page linked above provides links to other streaming platforms)




This concludes Day 14 of


Thanks for reading and come back tomorrow...

IF YOU DARE


2 comments:

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