Devil (2010)

A group of people are trapped in an elevator and the Devil is mysteriously amongst them.

Director:

John Erick Dowdle

Writers:

Brian Nelson (screenplay), M. Night Shyamalan (story)

Stars:

Chris Messina, Caroline Dhavernas, Bokeem Woodbine

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Messina	...	Detective Bowden
Logan Marshall-Green	...	Mechanic
Jenny O'Hara	...	Old Woman
Bojana Novakovic	...	Young Woman
Bokeem Woodbine	...	Guard
Geoffrey Arend	...	Salesman
Jacob Vargas	...	Ramirez
Matt Craven	...	Lustig
Joshua Peace	...	Detective Markowitz (as Josh Peace)
Caroline Dhavernas	...	Elsa Nahai
Joe Cobden	...	Dwight
Zoie Palmer	...	Cheryl
Vincent Laresca	...	Henry
Rudy Webb	...	Old Janitor
Craig Eldridge	...	Donnelly

Storyline

In Philadelphia, Detective Bowden is still grieving for his wife and son, killed in a hit-and-run five years ago. When someone jumps from a skyscraper onto a truck, Bowden is sent to investigate. Meanwhile, five strangers are trapped in an elevator in the building where the jumper committed suicide. The communication radio in the elevator is broken but the guards, Lustig and Ramirez, observe the individuals via CCTV as events unfold. Tensions run high among those trapped, so Lustig calls the police and Detective Bowden assumes the case. Without being able to contact the individuals, he tries to work out who they are, but he can only account for four of them. Time is running out for the occupants of the elevator, as Bowden realizes he has to get them out quickly.

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Plot Keywords:

devil | throat slitting | supernatural horror | elevator | trapped in an elevator | 

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Taglines:

Bad Things Happen For A Reason

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and disturbing images, thematic material and some language including sexual references

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Universal [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Ukrainian Spanish

Release Date:

17 September 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Devil

Filming Locations:

Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,289,375, 19 September 2010

Gross USA:

$33,601,190

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$62,695,489

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Media Rights Capital (MRC), Night Chronicles

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All five characters who get on the elevator have the color red in common: the Mechanic's satchel, the Old Woman's hair, the Young Woman's nails, the insignia on the Guard's uniform, and the Salesman's tie are all red.

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Goofs

In the end, the Marine confesses on the walkie while the entire time trapped inside none of them thought of using it or even trying to see if it worked.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Ramirez: [voiceover] When I was a child, my mother would tell me a story about how the Devil roams the Earth. Sometimes, she said, he would take human form so he could punish the damned on Earth before claiming their souls. The ones he chose would be gathered together and tortured as he hid amongst them, pretending to be one of them. I always believed my mother was telling me an old wives' tale.

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Crazy Credits

Upside down shots from a helicopter of a city as the opening credits roll.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.2 (2010)

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Soundtracks

DON'T SIT UNDER THE APPLE TREE
Written by Lew Brown, Sam H. Stept, Charles Tobias
Performed by The Bone Bird and the Dock Flock Brass
Courtesy of Alanna Records

User Reviews

A very solid psycho thriller

After several weaker movies, Shyamalan begin to work on a new trilogy about the presence of supernatural evil in big cities. He concentrated on the script and preferred to let other people direct the movie and so you might expect that this first part of Shyamalan's renaissance must be a well elaborated and twisted masterpiece. Well, this is absolutely not the case, there are no major twists or surprises in the story. But that doesn't mean that this movie is without the glimpse of a doubt a very well done psycho thriller.

Let me mention the negative points first. The movie isn't really long. There are only two minor twists and the first one is not that much surprising while the second one is an interesting turning point of the story but also a little bit predictable towards the end of the movie. The story is not really innovating and this time, Shyamalan really delivers what he announces in the previews. Because of the short running time, not every character is extremely well developed and profound. The critical and philosophic influence that many movies of Shyamalan had is not very present in this movie.

But there are more positive points about this movie. There is a high tension present throughout the whole length of the movie and this is what makes the watching experience breathless and intense, you don't see time pass at all. The movie spares out the unnecessary and goes straight in your face which isn't that usual for Shyamalan's earlier works. That is something new, fresh and innovative coming from him and a little positive surprise for many but maybe also a little deception for some of his more purist fans. The interactions between the characters in the elevator are intense and very interesting. Every character has a very unique and special behaviour and something interesting to hide even if the characters could have been more developed if the movie had maybe twenty minutes more running time. The actions in the movie become more and more intense towards the finish and end up in a well done finale that leaves you with no open questions.

All in all, this is surely not the best of Shyamalan's movies but way better than the last stuff he has done before this movie. It is not a very surprising and philosophical movie, but rather a short and intense psycho thriller. It is a very good movie but far away from being the best movie of the year. It is worth watching it at the cinema or at home, but i wouldn't recommend buying this movie at the full price without having seen it before.