I was covering the Toronto International Film Festival when Devil was released in September and never ended up catching it in theaters, but I’d heard some good things so checking it out on Blu-ray was a must and as it turns out it isn’t half-bad, although it isn’t all that scary. Written by Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night) from a story by M. Night Shyamalan, Devil centers on a group of people that end up trapped in an elevator with the twist being one of them is actually Satan.
The source of this comes from a South American myth called The Devil’s Meeting in which the Devil gathers, torments and kills a group of people, all of which have done some sort of evil in their lives. The myth is explained in the story by a security guard as our group of people grow increasingly paranoid in their steel box confines as they get picked off one-by-one.
Devil is pretty much your standard PG-13 frightener that’s light on frights and heavy on sounds that go bump in the night. However, for a small feature it serves its purpose and at only an hour and 21 minutes it’s hard to say it doesn’t make for an easy watch.
The supplements are garbage and they can all be found online right here, here and here. You certainly aren’t buying this for bonus features you can watch online. If you’re buying it it’s for the movie alone.
Devil is a perfectly fine movie, but it isn’t anything you’ll be dying to add to your collection. It’s a one and done. If it had any kind of redeeming features I would perhaps give those that really like it a suggestion at a buy, but renting it should more than suffice any urge you have to give it a watch.
