Devil (2010)

Today on Movie Russian Roulette, Alex finally takes on a movie made by one of the most infamous hacks working in Hollywood today. Hold on to your twists... this is Devil.

how this managed 52% on rotten tomatoes I'll never know

Overview: Five strangers in a modern-day Philadelphia office building take an elevator, get trapped, and then get killed off one by one by someone who may or may not be the devil. Can a cynical Detective Bowden, who's still reeling from losing his family to an unsolved hit and run, unravel the mystery? (Hint: he should check the title of the fucking movie.) More after the break!

The movie opens with an overwrought Bible quote, followed by narration about a folktale about the devil himself appearing on Earth and tormenting the damned in human form before dragging them to hell. Sounds hokey enough, I know, but this is apparently an actual folk tale. Whatever.

The movie shifts between detective thriller as the cops and the building's rent-a-cops try to stop any more murders and get the people out of the elevator, and horror as we check in on the increasingly desperate people inside the elevator. The movie does what is actually a pretty good job at making all five folks inside the elevator suspicious: one has a record of assault, one's a thief, one's a con artist, another is a disturbed Afghanistan veteran, and one is a mattress salesman. However, as "tension" mounts, each likely suspect is killed off one by one until we're left with only the culprit and the last target.

Notable moments/quotes: The movie opens with an upside-down shot of what I assumed was the Golden Gate Bridge, but is apparently some bridge in Philly. The significance of this is never really explained.

Other cop (seriously, I don't think the movie ever gave him a name): "Are you sure [this dead guy] wasn't pushed?"
Detective Bowden: "Got a rosary in his hand. Not the kind of thing you grab in a panic."
(Note: after this exchange, the suicide/murder victim referred to is never mentioned again except in passing.)

A downright amazing number of coincidences happen to stop the cops from getting into the elevator: first, all automatic measures fail, then the maintenance guy dies due to equipment failure, then power fails multiple times after the fire department attempts to cut through the wall.

not the last time I'll be using this image this review

Larson, a security guard temp trapped in the elevator: "Why don't you lay off?"
Slimy salesman who is apparently six years old: "Why don't you suck a butt?"

"Bro, calm down."
"Bro? I'm not your bro."

The building where all the action takes place is located at 333 Locust Street. I guess 666 was too obvious.

The two poor security guards on duty in the camera room work with the cops. One of them, a younger fella, is 100% convinced from the start that the devil is the killer in the elevator, because he read the script. Every other character is naturally skeptical. His response is a fool-proof test to determine the devil is near: he flips a nearby slice of toast, and it lands jelly-side down.

Pictured: the latest in demon detection

Detective Main Character who apparently didn't pay attention to the toast test that took part right in front of him: "So, no, I don't believe in the Devil. We don't need him. People are bad enough by themselves."

The security guard stuck in the elevator cozies up a little bit to a well-off lady in the elevator. This lady turns out to be one Mrs. Caraway, who might be about to divorce her husband for all he's worth. Said husband owns the company the security guard works for.

At one point, the cops have a solid motive for the Afghanistan veteran and notice he brought in a satchel with him that didn't make it onto the elevator. When it's located (hidden under a sink, mind), the cops just zip it right open. No precautions are taken, no bomb squad is called when they open this suspicious package left by a man they suspect of multiple murders at this point. How godsdamned stupid are these cops?

Meanwhile on the idiocy spectrum, the people in the elevator don't think to use their cell phones to light up the dark when the power goes out until the cop tells them over the intercom to do so. Sure, one could make the argument that I have the benefit of sitting here in my comfy, dingy apartment safe from all immediate danger while they're trapped with a killer, but come on. That excuse only goes so far to excuse lazy writing. Minor point of interest: in presumably the present day of this movie, everyone, even the businessman, has a flip phone and not a smartphone.

Superstitious Rent-a-Cop who somehow knows everything about the Devil's MO: "This is what he does. He wants us to doubt everything."

So, at the movie's climax, it is revealed that the soldier was the one who did the hit and run on Detective Bowden's family.

 

The same Detective Bowden who is working this case.

And, as it happens, confessing to this crime and having the cop forgive him are all it takes for the devil to somehow be stopped from claiming the soldier's soul.

seriously, M Night?

My thoughts: So, Hollywood's fallen hero of suspense seems to have been going for a mystery angle from the get-go here. This is evidenced by heavy emphasis on the detective scenes as well as much time spent on the folks in the elevator trying to piece together what's happening. However, when the fucking title and all the narration gives away who the culprit is, the mystery gets blown out of the water before it even starts. And as for the horror aspect, well...

It's not great

I will give credit where credit is due in one area: the concept. Having people trapped in an elevator is a great modern take on the classic "Locked room mystery" genre. It also served to lower the movie's budget dramatically, or so I imagine. It doesn't take much cash to mock up or use an elevator and a security office. It's some cheap but effective minimalism, and I'll applaud that. However, the execution is just... seriously, this is almost like making a movie about a murder, titling the movie after the murderer, and opening the movie with narration from the murderer that begins with, "I sure did kill all those people and eat their corpses!" While there may be some dramatic irony to be gleaned from watching the characters squirm about and figure out what we already know, the twist of "Yeah, Satan was the murderer all along" is probably Shyamalan's lamest twist since The Village. There's a small secondary twist in that the devil was actually one of the people who seems to be dead, but when you introduce the supernatural into your murder mystery and particularly as strong a force as the devil, all rules get thrown out the window because any lazy writing can be attributed to "Uh, demonic powers and stuff." Interestingly, this is literally the movie's explanation for why all attempts to rescue the folks in the elevator fail. Power goes out? Satan. Security overrides failing? Satan. The fire department can't cut through the wall due to their oversized saws failing? All that wacky Satan's doing!

"I'm kind of a petty dick, you know."

There is another very tiny point that I was going to count as a positive for the movie. Larson the security guard freaks out and says he has claustrophobia. The other folks manage to pry open the service panel in the roof, which at least lets him look upwards into the elevator shaft. I thought this was a nice little moment, because really you couldn't do much better for someone with that condition in that situation. Larson's condition is even foreshadowed by him initially refusing to take the elevator when he needs to head to a higher floor. The movie, of course, immediately ruins this by having his claustrophobia cease to exist once the murders start. In an interesting twist, this laziness is actually pointed out by one of the characters in a neat little moment of fourth wall leaning I'm convinced was an ad lib made by an actor desperately trying to save his career after realizing he was starring in a flop. This is a small thing overall, it's true, but little ruined moments of brilliance like this one pepper this turkey like similes on a something that can somehow tie together bland bird meat and lame writing jokes, ruining the movie bit by precious bit.

I really need to mention the corny glory that is the toast scene again. If you have a minute, give it a watch. It's the epitome of everything wrong with this movie.

I also need to take issue with the movie's depiction of the good ol' Adversary. Now, I'm no expert in Christian theology, but this movie's Devil seems to careen wildly between a few different extremes. Is this Satan the sort who likes to offer mortals the chance to destroy themselves through temptation and only tests humans' strength of character (i.e. the kind that I think is actually in the Bible)? Nope, because the devil just keeps offing people at random because they've already done bad stuff. Is this devil the kind of demon who just likes to offer mortals deals that work out in his favor? No, because he reacts rather poorly to the soldier's attempt to offer his life instead of another dying passenger's. Is this Satan just a classic Chaotic Stupid demon who kills anyone and everyone in sight? No, because the soldier gets spared because he confesses to a past crime

So, what kind of being is the devil supposed to be in this movie? I have no idea, and neither does the movie. That's a shame, because if the goddamned Devil is going to be your bad guy, have some characterization for him! Otherwise, the devil in this movie may as well have just been the Wendigo, or Angra Mainyu, or Surt, or Dick Cheney, or any one of literally thousands of sinister figures that mythology, religion, superstition, and the Republican Party have provided over the years. If a writer draws on a specific supernatural bad guy, said villain provides a rich, ready-made background which in my opinion can and should be used to the fullest and not just boiled down to yet another generic evil spirit bent on humanity's destruction. This movie goes to so much effort to evoke the terror and Christian mythos associated with one of its darkest figures, yet does nothing with it. So much wasted potential, not unlike this whole movie. If only a halfway competent filmmaker could have handled this project, but alas.

or at least someone who could have made this more hilarious

So, in short, the movie has some good ideas and small chunks of it work, but that Shamallamatwistin style cramps it so much it drowns. I give this movie a Nic Cage Practices Responsible Parenting out of five. Facebook exists, and I'm still begging for money. If you like. Thanks again to my supporters on Patreon.