Starring Joceline Donohue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig, AJ Bowen, Dee Wallace and Danielle Noe

Written and directed by Ti West

Second Sight, out now

In the mid-80s, student Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue) accepts a request from Mr Ulman (Tom Noonan) to babysit for him. When she gets to his remote house, she begins to realise something is very, very wrong.

Reissued by Second Sight in an excellent new edition, The House of the Devil is a fascinating piece of horror history that stands, appropriately, at a crossroads. For director Ti West, it was the breakthrough that led him to work in the V/H/S and Cabin Fever series and most recently the breakaway hit X franchise. You can see West’s fondness for close up camera work, creeping menace and stripped back filmmaking here as well as his clear love for the genre.

But the movie also sits at a crossroads of time. Released in 2009, it carefully imitates and embraces the decade in which it’s set. Samantha has a delightfully chunky Walkman that plays a vital role in the movie, the ownership of the Volvo parked outside leads to one of the best jump scares, and the movie has the opening credits and yellow font of a dozen horror movies many viewers stayed up too late to watch. It feels like a movie of its time, not a period piece and that ramps the menace up beautifully.

What keeps it there are the performances. Jocelin Donahue’s Sam is reminiscent of Jamie Lee Curtis’ epochal work in Halloween but is defined by an economic anxiety that’s depressingly relatable decades later. She takes the job because she needs the money and that need both protects her and leads her further into danger. It’s a very honest, open and slightly traumatised performance that really anchors the movie. Sam’s not okay, because no one at that time was, and that trauma makes her deeply relatable.

The rest of the cast is just as good. Tom Noonan, a legend in 80s horror circles for his work on Manhunter, impresses as Mr Ulman as does Mary Woronov as his wife Mrs Ulman. AJ Bowen, one of the defining faces of the ‘mumblegore’ horror movement that West is also part of, is great as a supporting threat. Greta Gerwig too, years before her breakout on Barbie, impresses as Sam’s best friend Megan. Horror luminary Dee Wallace steals the show though, as Sam’s landlady. A kind, big hearted woman who is the last person to help Sam, she feels like the movie’s single light in the darkness, one that recedes the further we get from the first act.

Special features include an audio commentary with Writer-Director Ti West & Actor Jocelin Donahue; and an udio commentary with Ti West, Producers Larry Fessenden & Peter Phok and Sound Designer Graham Reznick. New interviews with Ti West; Jocelin Donahue; AJ Bowen; Peter Phok; Larry Fessenden; Director of Photography Eliot Rockett; Composer Jeff Grace; Sound Designer Graham Reznick. And The Making of The House of the Devil.

Verdict: The House of the Devil isn’t a movie designed to break new ground but it’s also a movie that refuses to drown in nostalgia. This is a lean, cut to the bone horror story that holds its reveals, and gore, until an ending which rings you like a bell and is both of its time and horrifically timely. If you can, double bill this and last year’s excellent Immaculate. Sam and Sister Cecilia would have a lot to talk about. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart

 

The House of the Devil Blu-ray