The House of the Devil (Second Sight)

Written and Directed by: Ti West
Cast: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig, AJ Bowen, Dee Wallace
Running time: 95 mins
Year: 2009
Certificate: 18

Retro aesthetic is so in right now, mainly in thanks to Netflix’s Stranger Things providing viewers with such a love letter to the 1980s. But while many filmmakers try to find that perfect vibe to place their movie within a certain timeline, no one has perhaps done it quite as well as horror writer/director Ti West, not only in the genre and era stretching vibes of his recent X trilogy in which Mia Goth ventured into the 1970’s and 80’s (X  and Maxxxine) but also took a detour into the early 1900’s (Pearl). Arguably, though, it’s West’s first feature film, The House of the Devil, where he absolutely nails this style right out of the gate.

The House of the Devil sees student Samantha (Donahue) take on a babysitting job to pay the rent. Unfortunately her new employers, the Ulman’s (Noonan and Woronov) haven’t been entirely honest about WHO she is babysitting, and her night in their house takes a turn for the dark as weird events start to happen, and Samantha’s sanity and life are placed under threat…

I first watched The House of the Dead back in 2010, not long after it came out in the UK and I always remember coming away feeling pretty disappointed. The film had built up a reputation of being scary, unsettling and thoroughly embracing the “satanic panic” genre of exploitation horror movies it was homaging. I remember coming away feeling a deep sense of boredom at the films pace, however, despite its admittedly strong sequences of horror and gore; but there was always a lingering desire to revisit the film with older eyes and perhaps re-evaluate my stance. Thankfully that chance came with this newly remastered Blu-ray release from Second Sight.

On a second watch and with more experience in the kind of genre cinema West was aiming for, The House of the Devil hit far better. What’s remarkable from the outset is just how well West really nails the 70’s aesthetic of the film, from its 16mm film stock which gives each frame a very specific, grainy colour scheme, to the costumes, set design and even the acting from the core cast, this feels like some lost movie from the era. The bold, yellow title cards and synth soundtrack all compliment this aesthetic, easily making The House of the Devil one of Ti West’s best looking films, missing the polish of his later releases in a way that only adds to the experience.

The cast themselves are great, with Jocelin Donahue getting the most screen time. Her performance as Samantha feels natural and, when things start getting weird, she can 100% deliver on the terrified side of things. On the antagonist end of the scale we have Tom Noonan (Manhunter) and Mary Woronov (Night of the Comet) delivering appropriately sinister and menacing performances as the weird couple who leave Samantha in their creepy old house overnight. There’s even small showings from indie darlings Greta Gerwig, as Samantha’s friend, and AJ Bowen as a creepy stranger who flits in and out of the story. Add in a tiny cameo from genre legend Dee Wallace (Cujo) and you have a small, tight cast delivering some solid and very watchable performances.

Of course, the house itself is as much a character as any of the humans that appear and, as such, needs to deliver a very specific vibe to help the story move along – something it delivers in spades. The accompanying interview with Ti West is hugely enlightening in respect to the specifics of delivering this vibe and the set design work that went into turning this house not only into something appropriately 70’s, but something appropriately unsettling and creepy, is a great achievement. As the story progresses, and the house reveals its secrets, its lonely, dark corridors begin to become far more oppressive, as does the sense that something is simply not right in this building.

Unfortunately, the house is also the part where the film falls down a bit and I fully understand why 2010 me didn’t gel with this film on a first watch. The middle section is very saggy – purposefully so. Falling into the mumblegore subgenre of indie filmmaking, an offshoot of mumblecore, The House of the Devil can move remarkably slowly. When this involves dialogue and characters, this is hugely engaging, such as scenes with Donahue and Gerwig or Noonan simply having conversations, but in the second act everything turns to Samantha in the house alone and we end up with a nearly 20 minute sequence, dialogue free, of her exploring. While the atmosphere does start to ratchet up towards the end of this sequence, there is a feeling of a lot of fat that could easily have been trimmed here, but West clearly wants the audience to feel every creak of this building – and this doesn’t entirely work.

Thankfully when the film does deliver on the horror good, it REALLY delivers, with some superb gore effects that often come out of nowhere (particularly one shocking and unexpected early death) and a finale that goes HARD into a highly ambiguous ending. These scenes will delight any horror fan with their willingness to go full on savage with practical effects that hold up superbly. For the slower sections as well, it does arguably dig into a sense of creeping dread and the isolation that you get from being alone in an unfamiliar environment – it just perhaps lingers there a little longer than is entirely necessary.

Overall, The House of the Devil is a superbly made film and is highly recommended watch for horror fans looking to tickle a particular aesthetic itch, but its flaws are still somewhat apparent over 15 years on from its release.

Bonus features

• Audio commentary with Writer-Director Ti West & Actor Jocelin Donahue 
• Audio commentary with Ti West, Producers Larry Fessenden & Peter Phok and Sound Designer Graham Reznick
• The Right Vibe: a new interview with Ti West
• Satanic Panic: a new interview with Jocelin Donahue
• Slowing Down is Death: a new interview with Actor AJ Bowen
• A Level of Ambition: a new interview with Peter Phok
• An Enduring Title: a new interview with Larry Fessenden
• It All Feels Appropriate: a new interview with Director of Photography Eliot Rockett
• Hiding the Seams: a new interview with Composer Jeff Grace
• Writing Through Sound: a new interview with Graham Reznick
• This Night Changes Everything: The Making of The House of the Devil
• In The House of the Devil
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailer

This new Blu-ray release from second sight is a real treat, chock full of new interviews as well as some deleted scenes and older special features from its original DVD release. It’s always a joy to see genre producer Larry Fessenden interviewed and this was the first time I really realised he was involved in this film, while the interviews with West,  Donahue and Bowen are superbly enlightening. It is a shame we didn’t get more of the cast revisiting this, particularly modern directorial superstar Gerwig, but what we have is excellent.