House Of The Devil

[Reanimator]

The last half an hour was ok but nothing happened for the first hour which was a real disappointment. When will Ti West make a good film?

[lupogirl]

Really like the 80's look but it was soooo slow going. With her nosing around the rooms. Thought it had hardly any suspence.

[mamawaldi]

Loved it. A great look, great atmosphere. Only criticism would be that it kind of showed its hand a bit early with what happens to her best friend. It eliminated the possibility that the dangers she faces are being conjured by her imagination, so it just became a matter of timing - ie. when is something really nasty going to happen to her.

[streetrw]

One of my favourites of the weekend, and I speak as one who really didn't care for The Roost at all. Everything was so precisely evocative of late 70s cheap exploitation movies: the willingness to leave the camera stationary for minutes at a time (rather than flash-cutting everything into an epileptic sludge of subliminal gibberish), the freezeframe titles (in yellow, with the copyright notice at the front), even the hair.

And most importantly for me: the music. I've been moving away from modern film scores in recent years as they're frankly nothing more than functional audio underlining. But Jeff Grace's score for The House Of The Devil is a fantastical blast of dischordant string writing that goes between slow suspense cues and aggressive violin shrieking. I'd love a CD of this score.

Loved the film, it's certainly one of my top five.

[Satans Puppy]

I get what the director was saying about rewatch value and picking up things you'd missed... like the warning signs were all there considering the time period and setting...

The wife wearing the rams head broach and I'm sure that the hubby had one on his cane, little things like that which the victim keeps missing which should have told her to get out out out right now.

Although, after that, whose going to want to watch it again? I loved the look of the film and the last 20 minutes were great fun but it delivered too little, too late...

[django]

liked this a lot but felt it was a bit too drawn out, Ti West obviously went for the slow burn but in my opinion it was a bit too slow, shame really as there's a fantastic film in there somewhere, I felt the same about the Roost, flawed but loads of promise. I'd say that more than any other film maker who's been to Frightfest I think Ti West has pottential to create a masterpiece one day.

[Stark]

Fantastic build with tension you could drown in. Amazing period piece with some lovely shocks and jumps (did anyone see the blonde getting her head blown off?). Was really hoping the ending could match the build but was dissapointed. Had it left quite what was happening open and just cut it in the graveyard I'd have been very happy, but the hospital scene was, for me, the one thing that really let the movie down.

[Porkboy]

Admittedly I fell asleep a bit during this, while the house was being explored, but part of that was more due to me being knackered than anything else. Still, I really enjoyed this... until the ending at the hospital (which I felt was a total let-down).

[tschill]

My favourite of this year's Fright Fest. Nearly missed it because the audience at Germany's Fantasy Film Festival didn't respond very well to Ti West's film. Glad, a friend of mine recommended House of the devil. Didn't see such a cinematic energy in a long time. Wouldn't have felt so eruptive without the atmosphere created by exploring the house.
When she visited the house in the beginning I thought *Oh no, not another of these haunted-house-because-there-is-an-indian-graveyard-beneath films". What a relief that this was only the justification for her desperate need of money.

[Wolfshade]

Really liked this - really stylish, and dark and creepy with loads of jumps and scares. This 80s looked worked perfectly and made it look really classy.

The only problem was the end - after the girl shot herself in the head and then woke up in the hospital and I was just left thinking "err, WTF?", I just didn't get it! One of my favourites of this year, but I would have rated it even higher if it hadn't been for that ending.

[Spencer]

Really liked this - really stylish, and dark and creepy with loads of jumps and scares. This 80s looked worked perfectly and made it look really classy.

The only problem was the end - after the girl shot herself in the head and then woke up in the hospital and I was just left thinking "err, WTF?", I just didn't get it! One of my favourites of this year, but I would have rated it even higher if it hadn't been for that ending.

the ending though , totally fitted the period. loads of movies at the time had those kind of tacked on endings for some reason although I am stuggling to think of one right now ! haha. but i remember seeing lots of stuff late sevs with type of ending , so in that respect it totally fits with the rest of the movie.....

[AdeBrown]

I was reminded of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG1SDpAINNI

That is the level of my praise for this film.

[macready]

I rolled my eyes a little at the final scene, but other than that, a great movie. There's a lot of atmosphere built, loved the cameos and there's a few nice shock moments. The thing I loved most was the 80s feel - almost perfect from the titles sequence to the wardrobe.

[zoltan]

I was kinda enjoying the build up and really liking Tom Noonan's character but the climax did nothing for me.
Was not worth the wait and had been lead to expect something more interesting.

[krispyg]

I liked the fact that it took a while for bad things to happen, if done correctly a slow paced film can work well and this worked well for me.

I thought the settings and props were excellent and it must have been a ball ache to find the original props to use to recreate the 80s setting.

Some of the first horrors I saw were religious/psychological films and it took me back to my childhood.

All in all an excellent film that requires patience but is worth the wait.