The House Of The Devil

[MikePizzoff]

WOW! If only more modern horror film makers could take the direction this guy did for this movie. (I've never seen any of his other movies, but I'm pretty sure they're trash.)

Put this movie on for someone, and skip the text card in the beginning that speaks about the 80's, and they'll never know it was made last year; looks like it's straight out of 1983. It was pretty mind-blowing. I'm not just talking the set design, wardrobe, or make-up; the directing and script writing were spot-on as well.

It had the pacing of a 1960s/1970s horror film. IE: Suspense is built up through the whole film, and it all comes to a climax in the final few minutes of the movie. This won't be for all, obviously. The ADD-riddled people will find this movie slow and boring and will end up watching the remake of The House On Sorority Row :barf:.

Final verdict: I give it an 8 out of 10.

(keep in mind, they cleaned up the trailer to pull in more audiences - the film itself is very grainy and dirty which is awesome)
NHvSkTDWFfk

[MinionZombie]

I've been meaning to check this flick out. I think it's pretty cheap now, so I should nab myself a copy of it.

I remember seeing what they did for promo copies - they put them on VHS and did them like rental copies ... so kudos to the folks for that, cos that got my attention seeing the photos of those online. There is just a certain vibe that 80s horror had that can never be regained ... it was as much about society at the time, and viewing styles and habits, than it was about the actual movies.

Back then it was 4:3 vhs tapes and a 14" telly, the sound turned down low so as not to alert your parents (my version of this came in the mid-to-late 90s personally, as I'm only 26) ... now it's all iPods, downloading, DVDs or Blu-Rays, iTunes and all sorts.

It's also about industry/societal respect - horror has never been so accepted as a genre, not like in the 70s/80s when it was every studio's dirty little secret.

[fulci fan]

I saw this at my buddy's house and I think it is one of the shittiest films I have ever seen. The music in the begging is the best part. I don't know if it was the disc, but the film seemed sped up slightly. The quality looked like video and the whole movie is just her looking out of windows and eating pizza. The ending was silly too. Just a very annoying film all around. :annoyed:

[JDFP]

I saw this at my buddy's house and I think it is one of the shittiest films I have ever seen. The music in the begging is the best part. I don't know if it was the disc, but the film seemed sped up slightly. The quality looked like video and the whole movie is just her looking out of windows and eating pizza. The ending was silly too. Just a very annoying film all around. :annoyed:

Fulci hated it. For the rest of us that means that "House of the Devil" is a coherent film with a plot that makes sense with characters that do things that seem plausible and/or logical. :D

I thought it was very well done although I'll agree it was a bit slow (even for a more 'traditional' film where something doesn't have to be happening every 10 seconds). Reminded me quite a bit of "Rosemary's Baby". And the 80's soundtrack is, of course, wonderful and refreshing to my jaded ears. No matter how bad I feel, a good 80's tune will always help me cheer up.

j.p.

[slickwilly13]

The dude from Robocop 2 is in it.

[MikePizzoff]

the film seemed sped up slightly. The quality looked like video

It must have been the version you had [downloaded?]. In the version I saw, the film was a normal speed and the quality was that of 16mm film.

[LouCipherr]

I'm kinda pissed someone put my house in a movie without my permission. :mad:


:D

[blind2d]

This looks decent. I'll give it a look.

[Mr.G]

It's ok. I had high expectations from reading reviews and it didn't exactly meet those expectations. I agree with JDFP with the pacing and to me the ending was a little off. BUT it was something unique and I'll always support a movie trying something different.

[clanglee]

Oh yes indeed, This movie was a great watch.

[MikePizzoff]

As far as pacing goes, it's not really something to watch with a large group of friends drinking beers or whatever. My girlfriend and I watched it in bed on a rainy morning - that was the perfect setting. You gotta be in a fairly mellow mood.

[MinionZombie]

Got the DVD today, so I'll hit back with my thoughts on it when I've had the chance to check it out.

[Mr.G]

For anyone interested, Best Buy has the DVD on sale fro $7.99 (at least in Indiana).

[AcesandEights]

Well, thanks for the heads up! I just queued this for Netflix, so I'll see it...eventually.

[JDFP]

Well, thanks for the heads up! I just queued this for Netflix, so I'll see it...eventually.

Ah man, you had me laughing pretty hard at this. It's the mantra of all we Netflix customers. New releases are the worst. If it's something that just came out that's popular I'll take the new release date and add 6 weeks until I'll be able to actually get it. Three weeks at "Very Long Wait" -- two weeks at "Long Wait" -- and then one week at "Short Wait". Depending on how popular the item is you can make it 8 weeks instead of 6.

j.p.

[bassman]

Doesn't Netflix have a deal with most of the production companies that their new releases can't be rented out for a month or so after initial release? I remember reading something like that. They're trying to pursuade people into buying rather than renting.

[AcesandEights]

Doesn't Netflix have a deal with most of the production companies that their new releases can't be rented out for a month or so after initial release? I remember reading something like that. They're trying to pursuade people into buying rather than renting.

Dunno, but there are definitely exceptions, if that's the case. Then again, this sucker was listed as an '09 production according to netflix, which gels with the wiki entry I just checked for the film. So my guess is it's 'new', but not brand spanking new.

[JDFP]

Doesn't Netflix have a deal with most of the production companies that their new releases can't be rented out for a month or so after initial release? I remember reading something like that. They're trying to pursuade people into buying rather than renting.

It depends on the studio. Netflix has arrangements with some studios to wait 30 days after the original release date before allowing rental on items. In return studios give Netflix more titles for instant streaming as studios believe this will give them an extra proffit for selling the film instead of people waiting another 30 days to rent it after it comes out to purchase. They do not have this agreement with all studios but only certain ones.

Doesn't make an impact with me other than waiting an extra 30 days to get the rental of it (which doesn't bother me). I've already waited 4-5 months to see it on DVD another month won't hurt me (remember the days of VHS when we had to wait about a year?). I figure I'm not spending $10 to see it in a theatre and I sure won't spend $15+ to buy it, so another month or so to see if for less than $1 won't hurt anything. :)

j.p.

[Mr.G]

I've also noticed several of my netflix DVDs stamped or having the netflix logo on the disc itself. Anyone else see this?

[JDFP]

I've also noticed several of my netflix DVDs stamped or having the netflix logo on the disc itself. Anyone else see this?

Yes, if you look at the disc when you have one like this you'll notice a barcode on there too. The reason they do that is for people that lose their envelope to put the DVD/Blu-Ray into before mailing it back in the mailer. If you lose your envelope for the DVD/Blu-Ray you can stick it into the envelope of another mailer and in theory they can just pull it out of the envelope when they receive it and scan it as coming back (this way you can put two films in the same envelope to mail back in a mailer if you lose one of hte envelopes). This probably does great things as far as them combating shrinkage/loss as well.

j.p.

[Mr.G]

Yes, if you look at the disc when you have one like this you'll notice a barcode on there too. The reason they do that is for people that lose their envelope to put the DVD/Blu-Ray into before mailing it back in the mailer. If you lose your envelope for the DVD/Blu-Ray you can stick it into the envelope of another mailer and in theory they can just pull it out of the envelope when they receive it and scan it as coming back (this way you can put two films in the same envelope to mail back in a mailer if you lose one of hte envelopes). This probably does great things as far as them combating shrinkage/loss as well.

j.p.

Gotcha. I was thinking some were exclusive to Netflix.