THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
****
Directed by Ti West.
Starring Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig, A.J. Langer, Dee Wallace.
95 mins, Certificate 15, USA 2009
Released in the UK on Standard & Limited Edition Blu-ray on 28th April by Second Sight Films
As noted by a commentator on Second Sight’s typically comprehensive disc, Ti West’s breakthrough film premiered 16 years ago – so might now be considered a period piece in its own right (!). Following the early 21st century fad for remaking horror hits of the 1970s and 80s, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL successfully recreates a certain vintage look, pace and ambience at a time when other genre “reboots” or homages opted for aggressive cutting, deliberately ugly visuals and graphic gore.
An opening disclaimer advising the film is inspired by “true unexplained events” riffs on the then-ubiquitous “Based on a true story” tag employed by many of its contemporaries. We’re also placed firmly in the Reagan era of “Satanic Panic”, during which apparently 70% of American adults believed in the existence of abusive Satanic cults. The prologue, featuring beloved 80s mom Dee Wallace, and the title sequence authentically ape big and small screen U.S. horror films of the period: freeze frames, zooms, glorious 16mm grain, the production year in Roman numerals and a garish yellow title font. The fashions and narrative themes confirm an unspecified date in the early 1980s.
Jocelin Donahue is terrific as the financially strapped student taking up an unconventional babysitting position: at the imposing country house of towering, polite Tom Noonan (the horror host in West’s earlier THE ROOST) and his black-clad wife (the always great Mary Woronov), she is tasked with sitting for the latter’s unseen, apparently bed-ridden mother. While Donahue’s best pal (Greta Gerwig, then best known for her work with Joe Swanberg) knowingly warns of potential dangers – “The kid could be from Hell!” – an eclipse looms, parallel to a growing sense of threat.
West has fun with knowing dialogue (“It’s a Godsend!”) and public domain perennial NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD playing on TV for “Frightmare Theatre” but never condescends to the audience. Sparse use is made of gore and conventional jumps: one contrived false scare is cleverly followed by a genuine, bloody jolt. The babysitter-in-peril trope familiar from the slasher cycle is deployed for a masterfully controlled exercise in sustained dread, emphasising shadows and not-quite-silence, while the slowly encroaching camera has us looking for things that (usually) don’t appear. Even an extended scene of Donahue grooving to The Fixx’s “One Thing Leads to Another” on her Walkman (echoes of RISKY BUSINESS or perhaps the second ELM STREET movie) has us on edge.
HOUSE superbly nails the look and feel of the best scary movies of this period without any tension-diffusing ironic nudges, though the need for a busy, bloody finale arguably doesn’t quite live up to the immense tension of the slow-burn preamble, and the closing scene is perhaps more disappointing than ambiguous. Nonetheless, this holds up as one of the standouts from the first decade of 21st century American horror.
Second Sight delivers the strongest home video release to date for Ti West’s third feature. Nick Charge’s beautifully eerie new artwork adorns both the standard and limited releases, with the latter encased in a rigid slipcase with six art cards and a 70 page book of new essays.
Hours of on-disc extras include several holdovers from earlier releases: 7 minutes of rightly deleted scenes, a behind the scenes featurette entitled “In the House of the Devil” (13 mins) and “Behind the House of the Devil” (5 mins), with brief chats with West, Gerwig and Donahue. Of the two archival commentaries, West and Donahue pleasantly discuss the production challenges and practicalities- though the alternate, booze-enhanced group chat track is more fun, showcasing West, sound designer Graham Resnik and producers Larry Fessenden and Peter Phok.
Heather Buckley’s eight new featurettes provide a fascinating oral history of the movie. West (with cute dog) talks about his early career and obsession with period detail in “The Right Vibe” (19 mins), while “Satanic Panic” (17 mins) has Donahue remembering That dance, the audition process and watching old talk shows about Satanic Panic. Phok recalls his early encounters with West in “A Level of Ambition” (24 mins) and cinematographer Eliot Rockett, in “It All Feels Appropriate” (13 mins), talks us through the subtler elements of HOUSE’s “look” and why shooting on film was the only viable option. Reznick, in “Writing Through Sound” (25 mins) and composer Jeff Grace in “Hiding the Seams” (15 mins) both relay the mission to make the film’s audio landscape appear to be coming from 1982.
Particularly insightful are the longer chats with character actor A.J. Bowen and Glass Eye Pix founder / fine filmmaker Larry Fessenden. In “Slowing Down is Death” (26 mins), Bowen shares very funny stories of working with an initially frosty Mary Woronov and Tom Noonan (complete with eerily accurate impersonation), while relaying having to come out as a gay atheist to his Christian mom and military Dad. Fessenden is always a fun listen, with “An Enduring Title” (28 mins) giving him time to reminisce about Reagan’s America and the rise in 80s politics of the religious right, alongside the evolution of his company, his various collaborations with Ti West and how the accommodation used for cast and crew in HOUSE ended up inspiring West’s next feature, THE INNKEEPERS.
All in all, an absolute must for THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL fans.
Steven West