by Jim Meyer:
Synopsis:
In the opening text, we are told that the movie we are about to see is based on true events. The film follows the story of Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), a college girl who is strapped for cash and responds to an ad for a babysitting job. When she arrives at the home of the Ulmans, a wealthy and eccentric couple, she finds out that she is actually being hired to spend the evening with the man’s elderly mother. The mother is unseen and apparently spends all of her time in an upstairs bedroom. She agrees to this strange job only because Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan) offers to pay her $400 dollars just to sit at the house for four hours while the couple is out for the evening.
In her boredom, Samantha proceeds to explore the house, discovering that all is not what it seems. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Samantha, a stranger prowls around outside. Towards the end of the film, Samantha does meet “mother,” the stranger, and the true identities of the Ulmans.
Review:
The House of the Devil is set in the 80’s and is filmed in a retro style paying homage to the Satanic horror films of the late 70’s and early 80’s such as Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen. In addition to making the “based on a true story” claim in Texas Chainsaw Massacre fashion, the opening text also references The Satanic Panic. Those of us who grew up in the 80’s may remember this phenomenon. Tabloids and talk shows were littered with reports of a vast network of underground Satanic cults kidnapping children, sacrificing babies and conducting all manner of atrocities in the quiet corners of suburbia. In the end, police and investigators turned up zero evidence that anything of the sort was going on, and The Satanic Panic is now remembered as an urban legend gone horribly out of control.
House of the Devil does take a while to get to any real scares but does a great job in building suspense in the meantime. Tom Noonan’s performance as the eccentric Mr. Ulman certainly builds the tension, giving the viewer the all-too-familiar feeling of being in the presence of someone who seems likeable enough, but somehow you know you just shouldn’t trust him.
The old-school feel of the film makes it a fun ride for any seasoned horror fan. We needn’t bother asking why Samantha decides to don headphones and dance from room to room throughout the creepy old house. That’s just what characters do in old horror films. At least we know that this film has a decent budget as the girl dances to The Fixx’s “One Thing Leads To Another” and not some generic disco manufactured by the sound crew.
I suppose it’s no spoiler to reveal that the family for whom the young woman house-sits turns out to be a Satanic cult. As we watch the girl’s panic build, we are led to a climax in which The Satanic Panic turns out to be a completely legitimate fear. It’s always fun to indulge ourselves with wondering if the fanciful stories we were told as children were true after all. In the case of House of the Devil, we find that the darkest of legends can be hellishly fun.
The House of the Devil can be found on Amazon.com.
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