(2012-04-21 12:59:54)

Watch till the end!

I loved this movie. Some say it got off to a slow start. I don't think so, but just do yourself a favor and watch till the end.

Dylan Fotiadis

(2012-04-20 23:10:28)

Not quite my favey.

I'll begin with the good points of the movie. They were few and farbetween, but the acting did the trick, the main characters weresomewhat realistic and believable (I will, however, expand later on thecharacter's downsides), and the plot was, however juvenile, fun toexperience.The first downside I noticed to the movie was the opening line. We, ascultured and experienced people of Western film, should have progressedfar enough to now know better than to start out a movie with the words"When I was a kid...". In addition to pedestrian cinematography (Idisagree with the other users), the storyline, which obviously formsthe backbone of most movies, was completely bland. Not predictable,necessarily, but just plain dull and passive, lacking actual meaning,or true application to the real world. References to Murphy's law weresilly and irritating, as well as the age-old rhetoric about theexistence of God at the end of the movie. Come on people, how manytimes have we listened to that line? Distastefully unrealistic- anyevident attempt to connect fantasy to reality (eg. through the tale ofmother's 'bedtime stories') were completely stretched and twistedbeyond reason. Really? A mother who *wasn't* thrown into the psych wardwould really recount harrowing stories of suicide and brutal deaths toyoung kids? Well, I guess Mexican mothers would, according to theunmistakable and unmistakably cheesy use of passionate Spanish by thestereotypical fat security guard. Using the token Chicano as a vehiclefor metaphors and guidance was a cheap move, and did end bothering me.Ending was characteristically anticlimactic. I left wondering, "whocares?" The conventional cop forgives the remorseful fugitive forending two thirds of his life. All in all, too many questions are answered where they SHOULDN'T be,and too many little plot holes are left overlooked where they shouldhave been addressed, or, better yet, never created in the first place.Not exactly the first movie that would roll off my tongue if someonewanted a recommendation.

(2012-04-20 02:17:13)

(2.5 STARS) Old Fashioned Thriller: Not Much Logic, Just Atmosphere

Five strangers are trapped in an elevator of a Philadelphia office building. Just before this accident happens, someone apparently jumped off from the same building and died. A police detective Bowden (Chris Messina) with a tragic past is sent to the scene to discover that there is some mysterious power at work behind the two seemingly unrelated incidents.The film's original story is written by M. Night Shyamalan, which is later developed by Brian Nelson, writer of a thriller "Hard Candy" starring Ellen Page. Being the first part of "The Night Chronicles," "Devil" is less a straightforward horror movie than an Agatha Christie-esque occult mystery. With Tak Fujimoto's moody photography and the effective score of Fernando VelГѓВЎzquez ("The Orphanage"), "Devil" is atmospheric, if not very scary.What disappointed me is not Shyamalan's concept, which I think is not as interesting as other reviewers, but still has potential for a solid thriller or suspense. But it seems directors John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle ("Quarantine") are so busy with the film's visual aspects (which are respectable, I admit) that they forget to provide convincing back story for each character, something that plays the central role in the storyline.In short, with cardboard characters we really don't care, the process of finding out "why them" is not that interesting in "Devil." As to "what happens and how," we know who is to blame, and in case you have forgotten the film's title, a security guard steps in and explains everything ... well, not exactly everything, but anyway, by the time the film ends, we don't know why this elaborate setup is needed.

(2012-04-19 22:44:06)

One by one, they all fall down

Five people are trapped in an elevator. You know one of them is the devil, but you don't know which one, making this one nice whodunnit. What's nice about this whodunnit is that the suspects all look guilty. Just when you think you've pegged the right suspect, that person gets killed. One by one, though, they all fall down. I mean that both in the literal sense and in the spiritual sense. Although this story is a mystery, it's also a morality tale, too. There's symbolism from the start with the world being filmed upside down and the goal of this story is to bring it right side up again.When the devil is revealed, I kind of suspected this person because I've seen this plot twist used before in a book by a famous author. However, it was by no means obvious, so those looking for a good mystery should be pleased.

(2012-04-17 21:43:05)

I Have Given Up Riding Elevators!

This is an above average movie made by M. Night Shyamalan. This was a brand new type of horror movie for me. It is based in the City of Philadelphia. It begins with a person committing suicide by leaping off a building. The action then moves to an office building. There are five people whi get onto an elevator. The elevator then stalls in mid flight. Then strange things begin occuring. One by one the elevator riders figure that one of their fellow riders is actually Satan. An investigator played by Chris Messina start coming up with the backgrounds of the occupants of the stalled. Each one of them has earned an appointment with Satan.All efforts to get the elevator moving fall short. The elevator riders start dying one by one. The police cannot rescue them. The movie has a stunning ending. The identity of Satan among the elevator passengers is shocking. Be sure to see this movie.

TVGuy3

(2012-04-17 07:20:38)

For Once A Good Shyamalan Movie

Devil is not necessarily an actual Shyamalan movie because he onlywrote the story, but two other people in the director's chair and atwist that isn't dumb make for a good movie that Shyamalan was involvedin. I think that's enough for people to go see his next project afterthis. Now this may be a PG-13, but it's a hard PG-13 so think twiceabout taking your kids, but if you're 14 or over or something likethat, you're in for a best horror flick since Last Exorcism (whichsucked, but it's the only horror flick that's come out in a while). Andfor those you who keep saying on the message board for this movie thatthere's a dumb twist, like the elevator is the devil or something,you're wrong. The devil is actually somebody on the elevator. Devilisn't gonna win any awards for, well, anything (actually maybe a coupleof Saturns) but if you're bored one night, have at least 12 bucks(including popcorn) and wanna get scared at the theater, give Devil ashot. You won't regret it.Grade: B+ I'll be back on Saturday when I review "The Town".

jess tess

(2012-04-10 22:23:39)

enjoyable thriller

I watched this movie pretty much expecting what I'd get. An enjoyablehorror flick, not amazing, but enjoyable.If you have high standards of movies do not see this movie. The scriptis corny, the voice over over-dramatic. And if you are ahighly-critical viewer you probably won't be able to see past that.But if you can you are in for a treat! The premise is amazing, imaginebeing trapped in a elevator - firstly thats enough to make anyonenervous and claustrophobic. Now the lights are flickering, the powerseems shot and it's taking a lot longer than usual for the elevator tobe fixed. Tensions are running high, these are not a friendly bunch ofpeople stuck together in a confined space.Lights go out, darkness...and people start dying. Everyones a suspectand no-ones innocent. Your in for a freaky treat that'll keep youguessing to the end.

jnguyen46117

(2012-04-10 13:55:37)

Devil: 6/10

A group of people with each of them a criminal record got trapped in anelevator in a building. These people each have a purpose of being inthe building at the time, but I guess you can say that the plot relystrictly on coincidence. We never got introduced to the charactersthemselves besides the detective because we weren't suppose to. As youcan already guess {SPOILER}, most if not all of these people die in theend, but the movie never developed the remaining people for us to carefor him. Co-written by M. Night Shyamalan, this is probably one of thefew better scripts he delivered in the past 5 years. Though I find thesubject controversial, director John Eric Dowdle (Quarantine) balancedthe film with the same of amount of cinematic tweaks as the religiondialogue. Devil is a great looking religious film, but what it lacks isthe force that can drives the film much further.

(2012-04-04 13:32:10)

Devil Flops!

I saw this at The Cinema and expected it to be lots better..I sort of figured out who was the devil before the end..but the story really had no substance to it and was boring...

(2012-04-04 06:04:12)

Definitely Impressed!

I glanced over this movie in the Redbox several times before finally checking out the description and when I saw M. Night's name, I knew I had to give this movie a try. I love The Sixth Sense, Signs, and The Village. Each of them is creepy and enigmatic in their own right. This movie is along the same lines. The chilling suspense leaves you jumping and wondering what will happen next. Imagine being stuck in an elevator with the devil and when the lights turn off, you have no idea who will be the next one to get hurt! The cast is not very well known, but this leaves the plot open to the mystery it needs to create a good background. I was caught off guard by the ending as it did not happen the way I expected. I've watched it three times already!

alex

(2012-04-04 08:14:51)

Next time....... take the stairs.

To start off it's not as bad as The Happening, a term which may wellbecome an International measurement of awfulness in movies if this manis allowed to make any more films. But it is utterly pathetic.Plot goes like this: Bloke jumps off a roof and in true comedy fashionfalls on truck whilst another bloke with ear defenders buffs thepavement. Truck then trundles off on it's own round corner withoutbothering the buffer. Five people then get in a lift and none of themare what they seem. Lift mysteriously stalls. Then some religiousmaniac working as a security guard sees weird face on video feed inlift and declares that the Devil, not a devil mind but THE Devil is inthe lift disguised as one of them. Cop with dull back storyinvestigating comedy jumper does not believe, then for no apparentreason does believe. Lots of really boring stuff happens in the liftand the passengers die but the survivors seem really calm that they arein a lift and people keep dying every time the lights go out. Theacting is as poor as the script and the rare attempts to show anyemotion seem forced and badly done. The tension is racked up by usingthe lights in the lift. Light go out somebody die. Light come on cuebad acting in reaction to lift filling up with dead people. The endingis really stupid and surely in this day and age the Devil can occupyhis time more fruitfully than playing a dull game with people in alift. If I was the Devil I would have to be really bored to botherdoing this.MNS has made some rubbish films and this though not his worst, seeHappening measure of awfulness, is among them. Not remotely tense orscary or even interesting. Five people trapped in a lift with the Devilshould be terrifying but in the hands of MSN is reduced to an absoluteabsurdity.Perhaps MSN is actually the Devil and his fiendish plan is to bore thehuman race to death with crap movies? Now that seems more plausiblethan the lift idea.

austenlennox

(2012-04-03 19:41:37)

Christians and Deep Thinkers, Take Note!

M. Night Shyamalan (who while not acting as director or screenwriter,was the mind behind the film) has crafted a story that calls to mindthe work of storytelling geniuses and greats such as Alfred Hitchcockand the Twilight Zone's Rod Serling. Like them, Shyamalan has a way ofusing "fantastical" elements to tell a story from "everyday reality"(like something as commonplace as riding an elevator) that convey thedeep truths of life and the universe which all to many of us,particularly in this modern age, tend to overlook and never givethought to.At the end of the day as "fictitious" or off the wall as the story'spremise might seem, the film manages to reflect what could very well bethe truth of what reality REALLY is, of how things actually are! THAT'swhat makes the story so compelling. The "Devil" in the movie representsthe very devil many of us might feel like we can recognize, whetherit's the force behind the evil criminals we hear about on the eveningnews or even our own "personal demons" that we ourselves struggle tocope with.Christian audience members will appreciate the cleverly placed subtleallusions and overt references to some of the core elements our faith.Some mythological elements are incorporated without diminishing theoverall Biblical perspective of what the Devil is.Thinkers from ALL sides of the spectrum should appreciate theinteresting questions the film brings up about concepts such as "freewill", "predestination," "nature versus nurture," etc... The movie's artistic and production values are of high caliber. It hasthe right amount of horror and drama with a healthy dose of comicrelief as well. No element seemed gratuitous. It is a suspensefulmystery that will keep you at the edge of your seat guessing whathappens next. The main characters are engaging to explore. And whilenone of the acting is Oscar-caliber, it is well cast.It is so refreshing to finally enjoy an intelligent yet fun Hollywoodfilm that is not replete with cheap sex, drunken jokes, and mindlesseffects or action. That being said, some of the horror elements shouldpreclude parents from watching the film with young children.Without sacrificing the entertainment value of the movie, thefilmmakers did a good job of communicating an important message thatwill hopefully leave viewers thinking long after they leave thetheaters. I personally remain both touched and freaked out by the movieat the same time. This is what movie-making is about. Loved it.

(2012-04-03 11:29:05)

I WASTED MY MONEY ON THIS MOVIE

This review is from: Devil (DVD) EVERYTHING HAPPEN IN THE ELEVATOR , WHEN WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN SOMETHING INTERESTING THE LIGHTS WILL TURN OFF AND THERE WAS A DEATH PERSON, I WASTED MY MONEY

(2012-04-02 14:56:07)

Devil

This review is from: Devil (DVD) I truly enjoyed the drama about this movie. It was a real who done it film. The quality was excellent and I would recommend this to every one. I purchase this and am very pleased that I did. Brand new and sealed. Thank you for having great movies and I will purchase from you again!!!

Leofwine_draca

(2012-03-24 22:52:29)

Claustrophobic stuck-in-a-lift horror

Five people trapped in a lift, and one of them is the Devil. That's thestoryline-in-a-nutshell of DEVIL, as written by M. Night Shyamalan, andit's a good one that makes maximum use of its single-setting scenario.This is a claustrophobic, twist-aplenty movie packed with taut dialogueand engaging characters.The plotting, as it plays out, is pretty hard to guess and the movienever needs to resort to cheesy theatrics to impress, instead workingvia slow-building tension and sudden, trapped-in-the-dark horrorscenes. The acting is fine, especially from the likes of BokeemWoodbine and Bojana Novakovic, both 'possessed' with the ability toconvince the audience that they're genuinely afraid. To say too muchwill be to spoil the experience, so I'll leave it at this: if you likegood, simple, old-fashioned scare flicks then you'll love DEVIL.

muvcritic

(2012-03-24 09:22:00)

Shyamalan Again Explores Faith in Devil

After The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, M. Night Shyamalan's nameon a script or movie was enough to sell it, but after thedisappointment of his last four films, it's the opposite. I'm here toprofess my continuing faith in Shyamalan, if for no other reason thanthat's what most of his movies are about. His stories have the probingspiritual themes that were the true meaning of Rod Serling's foraysinto The Twilight Zone, but the popular twist endings have ledaudiences (and probably studio executives) to expect one in everythingShyamalan does. While he didn't direct Devil nor even pen its finalscreenplay, its sensibilities are firmly anchored in his writing.I love the elegance of a simple set-up, and this one's as simple as itgets. Five strangers -- Bokeem Woodbine, Jeffrey Arend, BojanaNovakovic, Jenny O'Hara and Logan Marshall-Green -- are trapped in anelevator. Building security and a police detective (Chris Messina), thelatter grieving over the death of his family, can see the five on amonitor but cannot hear them. At first believing they're dealing with amechanical problem, everyone is stunned when the lights momentarilyblink off and one of the five is murdered. Who did it and why, andwho's next? Of course, it's not quite as simple as we think, as theobservers suspect when inexplicable accidents occur when any rescueattempt is made.On one level, yes, it's a horror movie, but there's no gratuitouscomputer-generated thingies jumping out of the shadows and, while thereis violence, we don't really see it. It happens in the dark, whichmakes it creepier. We feel the electric tension and the awful suspenseas these folks anticipate their deaths, but it's not a gratuitous"victim every 10 minutes" mentality, especially as Messina realizesthat none of these people are exactly innocent themselves, and as werealize that the whole divine purpose of the event may not necessarilybe their punishment, but an exhortation to Messina's character. Thereare heavy thematic echoes from Shyamalan's Signs, in which Mel Gibson'scharacter has lost his faith because of the death of his wife, andMessina's role in Devil incurs the same kind of literal soul-searching.This is not a silly "monster in the elevator" movie. It's a probinginquiry into the meaning of guilt.My main complaint is Jacob Vargas's character, a security guard whowatches the ghastly events unfold, and is obliged to chime in once areel like a Greek chorus as he recounts ominous stories from hishometown about what happens when the devil decides to take someone toHell. You know, I can kind of figure out what's going on; I don't needit explained it to me. Explanations drain the mystery and awe out ofsituations like this. Also, the movie Law of Elimination reveals whothe menace is -- if it is, indeed, any of the trapped five -- longbefore we get to the last ten minutes.But I'm not going to speak ill of a film that has profound and sincerethought behind it, nor even one that depends on one of thoseSerling-esquire surprises or coincidences for its ultimate answer. Thisis a movie made by filmmakers who take it seriously and want you totake something home beyond a momentary funhouse scare.

Tim851

(2012-03-23 19:19:48)

That's all?

A movie like this, you'd expect there to be a lot of philosophicaldiscussion. About the nature of evil, the devil, man.But this one instead tries to be some sort of scary flick. There wereprobably some people scared by it (after all, there were peoplethinking Paranormal Activity is scary...), but by and large it has tobe counted as one big failure.Way too much focus on the people outside the elevator. Without evergetting close to actually fleshing out any character. NOTHING going oninside the elevator. There are people dying and the survivor's seem totake it pretty well. Once again, you'd expect some sort of discussionforming, after all, they'd have to be assuming there's a killer amongstthem. But no.This was just 90 wasted minutes. 4/10

(2012-03-23 09:00:26)

Great Thriller!

This movie takes 5 strangers and throws them together in an elevator, but one of them is Satan. The police can see and talk to them through a security camera, but the mic on the camera is broken so they can't hear them.One by one the people in the elevator are killed by mysterious circumstances, and everyone suspects everyone else. All the passengers have something in their past that damns them. One is a thug who beats people and has a long rap sheet of offenses. One is a gold-digging woman who marries men, divorces them and takes their money. Another is a thief and a con artist. One is a soldier from Afghanistan (I could be wrong on this one), who has killed people in war time but also killed the police man's (who is watching them)family in a car accident years ago and got away with it.The suspense is awesome, and the story really keeps you on your toes all the time. It also preys on the fears that we all have of unexplainable evil and what we would do if we came face to face with that evil. And what do you do when part of that evil is part of you, no matter what little lies you tell yourself to cover it up?It's pretty good and I do recommend it.

sshaikh3

(2012-03-18 06:54:10)

impressive job

I'm not very familiar with m shyalam's work but this was impressivemaybe in our lives bad stuff does happen to us because we made thedecisions that landed us there that is the whole point of this storyit's amazing at one point you are feeling sorry for the people trappedin the elevator next you are learning about the metaphoricalcircumstances that landed them there this is nice work and directionand screenplay the movie does a decent job in scaring you but i guesspeople are looking for a light-hearted comedy like the easy way or themichael douglas movie wall street but this should defifniely be given achance.

lonegreywulf

(2012-03-17 17:44:04)

Mediocre, but I expected little more

A fairly mediocre film, with quite competent direction in places,especially the surprising variety of camera angles used in the liftitself. Felt very much like an M Night film, even down to "expositionMexican", the security guard who burbles on about Devil this, Devilthat, while the cast of five in the lift do a quite good job in places,and I will admit that I had no idea until the end who Ol' Nick actuallyis. The title sequence, upside footage of the city, which travels intothe building, was very good, and most of the film is also filmed verywell too. Shame bout the script/idea not really having the legs to holdme for the full length of the film.