1983. Struggling college student Samantha Hughes (an excellent and appealing portrayal by Jocelin Donahue) takes a high-paying gig looking after an elderly woman in a big old house located deep in the woods on the same night a lunar eclipse is occurring. Naturally, something sinister is afoot in said house.

Writer/director Ti West relates the absorbing story at a deliberate pace, offers a bang-up flavorsome evocation of the 80's period setting (the whole funky 80's aesthetic is spot-on right down to the clothes, music, and hairstyles),takes time to develop the hugely personable main character, adroitly crafts a supremely spooky and unsettling atmosphere that's rife with dread, tension, and unease, and pulls out the harrowing stops for the freaky, gruesome, and terrifying climax. The topflight cast rates as another substantial asset: Donahue radiates tremendous charm and vitality in the lead, Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov are perfect as the eccentric owners of the house, Greta Gerwig contributes a delightful turn as Samantha's spunky gal pal Megan, AJ Bowen makes a strong impression as brutish lackey Victor, and Dee Wallace has a nifty small part as a friendly landlady. Both Eliot Rockett's rough-hewn shadowy cinematography and Jeff Grace's gracefully shivery score are smack dead on the money. But it's the artful way West plays the slow game with a welcome emphasis on mood and people over excess gore and cheap scares that makes this frightfest so chillingly effective and satisfying.

THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL is by director Ti West who made a name for himself in the horror genre a decade or so ago with his low budget slow-burning supernatural movies like this and THE INNKEEPERS. HOUSE OF THE DEVIL follows a student called Samantha, who, desperate to earn enough money to pay rent on her new home, accepts an evening babysitting job from creepy Mr. Ulman (MANHUNTER star Tom Noonan). While in the house alone that night she begins to suspect that all is not right with either the house or the Ulmans...

I'm aware that this film is highly regarded and I did want to like it but it just didn't do it for me. It's a real slow-burner with only one major surprise in the first 70 minutes, the rest just consisting of the protagonist going through the motions of her job: dancing around in the kitchen, talking on the phone, the usual non-cinematic stuff. A bit like WHEN A STRANGER CALLS but without the tension. I didn't think much of the boring Samantha character at all and I was twiddling my thumbs throughout the first hour. West throws in some mildly ominous music but the rest is so low key that I felt it had no atmosphere at all. The end goes for something different, all shaky cam and gore, but I found this part largely predictable and the ending ridiculous.

This is more Horror Drama, then straight Horror movie. And the build up time takes ... well it's time! There is more build up time here, then actually payoff time. In other words, if you are a gore hound, you should look for other movies to get your blood pumping (or whatever else it is you want it to do).

This movie though is based on an actual fear that was spreading around in the 80s in America. People were very afraid of certain things (depicted in here) and Ti West captures that mood in every detail. You could be excused, if you thought this movie was actually shot in the 80s! But it isn't and even if some hoped for more scares in the movie, I think this movie is balanced very neatly! You just have to be patient enough to wait until the end ... and the payoff is there for everyone to see!