The House of the Devil

2009

1h 35m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

801

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3 Videos

54 Images

Horror

Mystery

A young college student who’s struggling financially takes a strange babysitting job which coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.

Directors

Ti West

Writers

Ti West(writer by)

Stars

Jocelin Donahue

Tom Noonan

Mary Woronov

See production, box office & company info

Videos3

Photos54

Top cast

Samantha

Mr. Ulman

Mrs. Ulman

Megan

Victor Ulman

Landlady

Heather

Random Guy

Nurse

Favorite Teacher

Ted Stephen

911 Operator (voice)

Mother

Elaine Cross

Local DJ (voice)

Dead Child

Dead Husband

Dead Wife

Directors

Ti West

Writers

Ti West(writer by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews4

Review

Featured review

7/10

This one night changes everything for me. Ti West seems destined to be one of those horror film directors who forever will polarise opinions. For those of us who love the slow burn approach and admire his evident adoration of retro horror, then he hits the mark. Reference The House of the Devil and latterly The Innkeepers. If those two things don't strike a chord with you then it's very likely that The House of the Devil will drive you nuts - but not in a good way. Plot is simple, Jocelin Donahue plays student Samantha Hughes, who has found the ideal apartment to live in, but needs funds to pay the deposit. Sooooo, answering a flyer advertising for a babysitter, she winds up at some spooky house out in the sticks, where the job isn't exactly what was as expected, and, well the night isn't as expected either... It's her own fault really, if you ring the bell at a spooky isolated house and Tom Noonan answers the door, well then you should know better than not to run away! But I digress. West's film taps into the satanic panic that gripped certain parts of the states in the 70s and 80s, set in the early 80s the film is a vibrant homage to that era, with a real sense of time and place pulsing away as Samantha is set up for a night of god knows what. The house is a splendid old creaker and within it Samantha always looks to be one cat's whisker away from being in peril. West doesn't go for continuous boo-jump scares, he lets us and Samantha use our imaginations to unnerve all parties. The screw is slowly turned until hell comes to the party, moving things swiftly to a frenetic finale that closes with a final denouement that old nick himself would approve of. Dee Wallace Stone does a cameo to add more to the retro flavours, while Noonan and Donahue are superb. It's a film that is patient and asks you for your patience, so those of that ilk, and retro horror hounds too, will love it. Others, not so! 7/10

John Chard26 Oct, 2015