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.
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.
When Samantha orders a pizza, the pizza guy asks if she wants a pizza with extra anchovies. This is a very subtle nod to the Patrick Dempsey comedy, Loverboy (1989). The extra anchovies reference in that film meant that the delivery boy would be delivering a lot more than pizzas. See more »
Goofs
The rotary phone inside the house has a "516" area code, which is Nassau County, Long Island, NY. There is also an emergency sticker on the phone displaying the real life working phone number for the New Hyde Park Fire Department. New Hyde Park is a suburb on Long Island, NY. However, the film is set in a remote area on the outskirts of an upstate college town. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Landlady:
I can tell you like it.
Samantha:
Oh, I love it. It's perfect.
Landlady:
Well, great. It's such a neat place. You know, I showed it to another girl this morning, but to be honest, I didn't like her very much. She looked like trouble, and I'm way too old to be dealing with all that nonsense. I go a lot on my gut feelings, and I have a good one about you. You remind me of my daughter.
See more »
Crazy Credits
Samantha is shown lying down on a hospital bed over the closing credits. See more »
House of the Devil is a film that delves the audience into an atmosphere of a classical slasher film. The scenery and style of the misc-en-scene throughout the film heavily mirrors that of the ideal 80s slasher such as Halloween. The scenery in the film is one of its defining characteristics that help this movie stand out from other modern day horror films that rely heavily on special effects.
The overall best aspect of this film is its growing suspense. This is not a movie for those who love gore and constant assault on the senses. For the grand majority of the movie the audience held down by so much expectation it becomes almost unbearable. The audience grows attached to the very attractive main character (Jocelin Donahue) who despite her and her friend's best efforts to be sensible throughout the film falls victim to classic horror movie stereotypes. This attraction and connection to the main character as the suspense continues to build at a grueling pace make this part of the film truly great.
The excellent use of growing suspense throughout the film is also its biggest downfall as the audience is filled to the brim with expectation only to have that feeling shattered by a very rushed ending. The ending assaults your senses too fast and is too unbelievable. The audience becomes disconnected as the realistic suspense of the majority of the film at this grueling pace is replaced by an unrealistic ending that happens all too fast.
Another positive aspect of this film that should be mentioned is the comic relief of the best friend (Greta Gerwig) delivering excellent amount of fun in the face of this growing suspense.
Overall the majority of this film has all the aspects of a classical slasher of growing suspense. However, the pacing at the end and the disconnect from this suspenseful first half of the film served as a large disappointment.
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House of the Devil is a film that delves the audience into an atmosphere of a classical slasher film. The scenery and style of the misc-en-scene throughout the film heavily mirrors that of the ideal 80s slasher such as Halloween. The scenery in the film is one of its defining characteristics that help this movie stand out from other modern day horror films that rely heavily on special effects.
The overall best aspect of this film is its growing suspense. This is not a movie for those who love gore and constant assault on the senses. For the grand majority of the movie the audience held down by so much expectation it becomes almost unbearable. The audience grows attached to the very attractive main character (Jocelin Donahue) who despite her and her friend's best efforts to be sensible throughout the film falls victim to classic horror movie stereotypes. This attraction and connection to the main character as the suspense continues to build at a grueling pace make this part of the film truly great.
The excellent use of growing suspense throughout the film is also its biggest downfall as the audience is filled to the brim with expectation only to have that feeling shattered by a very rushed ending. The ending assaults your senses too fast and is too unbelievable. The audience becomes disconnected as the realistic suspense of the majority of the film at this grueling pace is replaced by an unrealistic ending that happens all too fast.
Another positive aspect of this film that should be mentioned is the comic relief of the best friend (Greta Gerwig) delivering excellent amount of fun in the face of this growing suspense.
Overall the majority of this film has all the aspects of a classical slasher of growing suspense. However, the pacing at the end and the disconnect from this suspenseful first half of the film served as a large disappointment.