The House of the Devil (2009)

I heard everybody chatting on Twitter about The House of the Devil. So what did I do I threw it on my Netfilix Watch Instant list. Well it really intrigued me so I decided to watch it now.  I am notorious for adding something then watching 2 months later.  What was cool since I didn't really know the full premise of the movie I decided to watch it on 12/20/10 the night of the Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse. I do explain the movie in detail but leave the ending a mystery.

The movie is directed by Ti West and is based in the 1980's.  The story is setup a college girl Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is looking at renting an apartment that is $300 a month.  Well like most college students that don't come from wealthy parents she is broke. So she sees a flyer in the college quad about a babysitting job and decides to call the number on the bottom of the sheet.  She is greeted by an answering machine and she leaves a message and walks away from the payphone.  Then once she is walking away the phone rings and it is the man about the babysitting job on the other end.  Samantha is shocked and wondering how he knew the number.  He tells her to meet him outside one of the buildings and that he would be buy to pick her up.  Well she waits for him and he never shows up.  She goes and meets up with her friend Megan (Greta Gerwig) and tells her about the apartment and that she has to come up $300 by the following Monday. She explains to Megan that she is broke and that she was stood up by this babysitting job.  She goes back to her dorm room where she has a dirty pig for a roommate. (Samantha is a bit of a germaphobe)  Her roommate says that she has a message.  The message is from the guy about the babysitting job.  She quickly calls him back and takes the job.  So she has her friend Megan drive her out to the house that is way out in the country.  Megan has a bad feeling and makes Samantha promise her if something is weird that they will both just leave.  They arrive to a big beautiful home where they meet Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan).  Mr. Ulman explains to Samantha that he would actually not be babysitting that she would be watching over his mother.  Samantha does not like that idea and told him that she is not interested. He offers to double what he was going to pay her. Then offers to pay her $300. She said that she would do it for $400 and he agrees.  Now she knows that she has her rent money and a little extra to live on.  Megan is not happy to find out what has taken place and storms out of the house.  Samantha reassures her that everything will be fine and to pick her up at midnight.  Megan drives away and pulls over in a cemetery to smoke a cigarette where is greeted by a strange man.  Then the man asks if she is the babysitter and Megan answers no.  Then Megan meets her maker at the hand of the strange man. While Samantha is back at the house her job is explained a little better by Mr. Ulman.  He then goes upstairs where it is assumed that he is speaking with his wife.  While Samantha is sitting in the living room she is greeted by Mrs. Ulman (Mary Woronov) who appears from the kitchen.  Samantha explains that she is the babysitter and Mrs. Ulman complements her on how beautiful she is.  The Ulman's leave the house and now Samantha is by herself with the mother upstairs somewhere.  Samantha explores the house room by room as any normal teenager would do.  She decides to order a pizza.  She puts on her headphones and dances around the house to kill some time and accidentally breaks a vase upstairs. She begins to clean it up when she notices a closet.  Inside the closet she finds some pictures of a family at the house that is not the Ulman's.  She is alarmed by this and continues to explore the house.  Then she he hears the doorbell and realizes it is the pizza she ordered.  The pizza tastes funny and she ends up throwing away the slice she was eating.  Samantha starts hearing weird noises coming from upstairs and then she continues on her exploration. Once she is back upstairs she sees a door that leads up to the third floor of the house and cautiously goes upstairs.  She reaches for a light and turns it on and blows a fuse to the whole the house and then the house goes completely dark.  Now she is completely freaked out as she is sitting by the door to the attic she sees light and someone walking closer to the door.  The door starts to open and she sees a hand coming around the door and she takes off back to the 2nd floor and then passes out.  When she wakes up she is tied down and gagged.  Now she sees the Ulman's and the mother that she was "babysitting".  This is where the fun begins.

I really loved this movie.  It was shot as if it was made in the 1980's.  Had great music and clothing was period accurate for the 80's.  I thought Ti West did a great job with the movie.  It had some slow parts when Samantha was dancing around the house.  If you are looking for a gorefest this not the movie for you.  What gore is in the movie fits perfectly.  The third act seemed rushed.  The ending really left me thinking what the... This movie is a great nod to the 80's horror suspense genre.  Take the time to watch it I think that you will enjoy.