DEVIL (NIGHT CHRONICLES: DEVIL)

US, 2010, 80 minutes, Colour.
Chris Messina, Logan Marshall- Green, Jenny O’ Hara, Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbine, Geoffrey Arend, Jacob Vargas, Matt Craven, Joshua Peace.
Directed by John Erick Dowdle.

With a title like Devil and the publicity highlighting the horror-diabolical elements of the plot, it is obvious that this is a film for fans of the genre. Personally, I thought it was very good. I jumped several times and actually felt a bit eerie at key points. At just 80 minutes, it sets out to tell a tale of a haunted elevator, of the presence of the devil, the power of vengeance and judgment for evil deeds. And that is what it does, efficiently and effectively.

Set in Philadelphia, whose skyline appears vividly during the credits – but upside down. We are disoriented from the start. And we are told that this is the first of a trilogy of Night Chronicles.

In a very modern office block, five people find themselves together in the lift, going up. Then it stops. The effect of this kind of story is that it could happen to any of us (and having been trapped with 25 people in a hospital lift for a half hour or more, I can vouch for this). We identify with these characters. We know that they will clash, be afraid, become desperate, even though they can be seen from security cameras and they can hear the voices of the officers as well as the police who arrive on the scene because there has already been a suicide jumper from the 35th floor and detectives are investigating. But, they cannot be heard, only seen.

The same song plays over and over. The lift jolts. Lights go out. The five bicker... and then a succession of deaths. But, who could be doing it?

A Hispanic security guard tells a voiceover story of how the devil disguised himself and takes people to himself who deserve it. So, which one of the five is the devil - or not?

The film builds the tension. Mechanical difficulties are not solved. There are more deaths.

And, the investigating detective has his own back story of grief at his family’s death in a hit-run accident, his drinking, his feelings of hatred for the unknown perpetrator.

Lots of little clues are scattered throughout the film – often to mislead the audience into rash opinions about the killer and the devil.

It all comes together by the end – and the devil doesn’t always win.

Many of the reviewers and bloggers attack the producer of the film, M. Night Shyamalan, who won friends with The Sixth Sense but whose reputation has gone downhill and become the target of hate bloggers. They seem to be reviewing him rather than the film, even though he is responsible for the story, not the writing and direction. The director is John Erick Dowdle who directed the remake of the Spanish horror film, Rec, the American film, Quarantine. Shyamalan also gives his name to the Night Chronicles. He was even condemned by one reviewer for moralising, being didactic, at the end of the film. In fact, the film does, especially in terms of redemption and forgiveness. But, it fits with this kind of terror-horror fable.

1. Audience expectations from the title? The religious dimension? The horror dimension?

2. The work and reputation of M. Night Shyamalan? Associated with the supernatural, with horror? The Night Chronicles? The first of a trilogy? Shyamalan and his religious perspective? Moral? Moralising and didactic? Sin, crime and punishment? The Devil, chasing the sinner, the thwarting of the Devil by repentance and atonement?

3. The Philadelphia settings, the effect of the credits, the skyline upside down, entering the lift shaft?

4. The voice-over, the narrator and the story of his mother, telling stories of the Devil, the situation of a suicide, the Devil in disguise, looking ordinary, people dying, the photography of repentance? The interspersing of this story throughout the screenplay?

5. The introduction to Detective Bowden, talking with his friend in the diner, five years since the hit-run death of his wife and child, his grief, his history of drinking, changing? His pondering about the guilty man? His friend urging him to a change of heart?

6. The case in the building, the suicide, the body on the ground, Bowden and his forensic skills, seeing where the body fell, where it was taken, a suicide because of the Rosary, the glass falling, investigating the window, speculation about the thirty-fifth floor?

7. The scene in the foyer, Sarah and her not wanting to sign in, the security guard telling her to do so? Her being held up? Ben, his job, the messages for the thirty-fifth floor, not wanting to go in the elevator? Tony, waiting outside, his hood, the mysterious bag? The salesman and his arrogance? The old woman, waiting for more space in the lift? The sequences giving clues which were later taken up?

8. The five in the lift, their experience, seemingly random group, the explanations? Ramirez and his pondering the situation, his vision of the massacre? Lustig and his watching? Wary of Ramirez’s religious dimensions?

9. The lift, ordinary, stopping, fear, the music playing again, its finally being stopped? The salesman, his impatience? The old lady being demanding? The holding up of the card to the screen and its not being clear? Tony and his being quiet? Sarah, wealth, glamour, the mystery of her being cut? Ben and his fear of claustrophobia?

10. The drama of the stop, the maintenance man and his lack of contact, the phone messages, trying to rectify things, going to the roof, lowering himself down, the chain breaking and his death, the blood seeping into the roof?

11. Bowden and his being called to the lift case, into the security room? His skill as a policeman, handling the situation? The people in the lift, able to hear but not able to be heard? Bowden and his orders, reassurance? Getting the data, investigating the list of signing in, looking at the video footage, the suspicions, the puzzle? Ramirez telling Bowden about the Devil? The crowd, calling the lawyer and interviewing him about Sarah? Ordering the cutting into the wall?

12. Ramirez, his fervour, praying? Lustig and his going to the basement, the water and the wires, his death?

13. The interactions amongst the five? The growing suspicions? The salesman and his spiel, his analysis of Sarah, his pitch? Sarah’s clothes? His touching her, the blood on his suit? The death? The lady and her age, her being argumentative, her being hanged? Ben, the background of his being a thug, his fighting Tony? The claustrophobia? His twisted neck and his death? Sarah and Tony, the confrontation, the glass, being persuaded to drop it? The dark, Sarah and the attack on her, Tony as the only one left?

14. The old woman reappearing, confronting Tony, his confessing, his being sorry, the fact that he was the killer of Bowden’s wife and child, the visualising of the flashback? His note and Bowden’s showing the ‘I’m sorry’ note to Ramirez?

15. Bowden’s story, Tony, the discovery of the truth, wanting to arrest him?

16. The Devil, in the old woman, wanting vengeance, taking the criminals? The salesman and his Ponzi scheme, causing the suicide at the beginning of the film? The thug, the old lady and her pick-pocketing the purse? Sarah and her husband, the divorce proceedings?

17. Bowden, Tony’s arrest, their driving together – and his forgiving him?

18. The blend of horror, terror, the supernatural – and the moralising for forgiveness?