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Title: The House of the Devil (2009)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Jocelin Donahue | ... | Samantha | |
| Tom Noonan | ... | Mr. Ulman | |
| Mary Woronov | ... | Mrs. Ulman | |
| Greta Gerwig | ... | Megan | |
| AJ Bowen | ... | Victor Ulman | |
| Dee Wallace | ... | Landlady | |
| Heather Robb | ... | Roommate | |
 |
Darryl Nau | ... | Random Guy |
| Brenda Cooney | ... | Nurse | |
|
|
Danielle Noe | ... | Mother |
| Mary B. McCann | ... | Elaine Cross (as Mary McCann) | |
| John Speredakos | ... | Ted Stephen | |
| Lena Dunham | ... | 911 Operator (voice) | |
| Graham Reznick | ... | Local DJ (voice) | |
| Ti West | ... | Favorite Teacher | |
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.
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.