Taking a break from the 10+ day TIFF 2010 adventure, I checked out the Dowdle brothers latest film last night, Devil. Based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan and scripted by Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy), it tells the story of five strangers trapped in the elevator. One of them is the devil. the premise is interesting enough, but the Dowdles manage to actually craft a decent horror/thriller.
Their direction is tight, always pushing the story along and building tension. They capture the claustrophobic nature of the elevator with success. The characters are pretty generic, but they each have their moments. It’s the M. Night Shyamalan that we used to love and proves if he can just stick to developing these Night Chronicle stories, he’s still got it.
Alex Billington from FirstShowing.Net and I recorded a video reaction near the elevator of Scotiabank theaters here in Toronto last night. Check it out below.