Youve got to feel a little bit sorry for M. Night Shyamalan. With The Sixth Senses legendary twist, he had the world watching agape eager to see what hed come up with next. Following it up with an incredible, bold take on the now over-saturated superhero genre in Unbreakable, it seemed as if this guy was a talent that was sure to impress for a long and healthy career. While Signs wasnt quite up to the high standard of its predecessors, it was still pretty good fun. But then things went tits up. The Village came along with its creaky pacing and daft plotting, then he spewed out Lady in the Water which was even worse, and so it continued until were now at a stage where the dross of his resume vastly overshadows his superb early work.
Thankfully, Devil has seen the once great storyteller return to his roots with a frantic, creepy little flick that will keep audiences glued to their screens thanks to the gripping plot, as opposed to looking out for an inevitable twist in the tale. The first in the Shyamalans Night Chronicles (where hes taking on producing duties and coming up with the stories, as opposed to directing), Devil follows a group of five people as they find themselves stuck in a lift. As claustrophobia and general mistrust begin to play on the individuals minds, it soon becomes apparent that theres something a bit more sinister going on than a simple mechanical malfunction one of the gang is actually Old Nick himself.
What follows is a tense 80 minutes of pure, teeth-gnashing drama, with a few healthy dollops of nerve-shredding horror chucked in for good measure. In fact, its a story so compelling that youre more than willing to forgive the film for its deficit of any really decent acting. Elsewhere though, theres really nothing to moan about. The effects are simple enough to be convincing and the score compliments the terrifying situation that one would associate with being stuck in a confined space with Satan himself the result being a hair-raising, unsettling atmosphere.
As for the high def transfer, theres nothing about the image to have any qualms over. Its colourful, sharp and deals with deep dark shades well. Sure, it doesnt quite make the film pop out of the screen, but then this is a small scale film with little going on in terms of blockbuster spectacle. As it stands, its a perfectly acceptable high def transfer that wont disappoint. However, where the disc really shines is in the DTS HD Master Audio track. Really coming to life whenever the lights go out and someone snuffs it at the hands of the Devil, its impossible not to feel as though youre stuck in the lift along with the poor sods. Its all thanks to a crystal clear track that effortlessly handles the elevators muffled acoustics, the bloody awful Muzak, the haunting score and the blood-curdling screams. Its lovely stuff.
As for the features however, theyre a little thrown together. We get a trio of deleted scenes that introduce some of the lift-mates and a few featurettes – one on the South American folklore that inspired M. Night Shyamalan and a couple on the production of the flick. And thats your lot! None are exclusive, none reach three minutes in length and none are particularly interesting either. Still, at least theres a bunch of standard BD Live, D-Box crap that youve seen a thousand times before. Nevertheless though, it still doesnt stop Devil from being a great package if you have a sweet sound setup you want to show off.
Overall Verdict: Hopefully a sign that M. Night Shyamalan is back on track, Devil is gutsy, spooky and an altogether thrilling descent into psychological horror that sounds amazing in HD.
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes
The Story Featurette
The Devil’s Meeting Featurette
The Night Chronicle Featurette
Reviewer: Jordan Brown