Devil - Film Review

I watched a film last night and was pleasantly surprised to find it was dreadful.

My flatmate and I had carefully negotiated a movie we both liked the look of at a convenient time only to find it had been sold out. What do you do when you're with someone you don't know very well facing Saturday night together with nothing to do? You agree to watch a film in a hurry which you'd never normally consider and enter the screen with a sinking feeling.

In my case the film was Devil the latest story from M N Shyamalan although not written or directed by him this time. As Signs is one of my favourite films I suppose I was vaguely intrigued to see if he'd returned to form or still lost his way as with The Village (disappointing follow up to Signs). The problem is I don't do horror. Scary yes but gruesome no, murders aplenty not really, total gorefest no thank you, 18 rated not really my thing. So I really wasn't looking forward to a film that Cineworld 'Unlimited' magazine said to watch if you liked Paranormal Activity or Drag Me To Hell. I went in prepared to watch most of it through the cracks in my fingers.

I suppose the simple explanation is that Cineworld got it very wrong in its comparisons. That aside for a moment the film was disapppointing on a more generic level through being visually limited. Plenty of films have been set in one location - in this case an elevator- and still managed to look good (plenty of Hitchcock examples of Reservoir Dogs if that's your thing).

Also the lead characters lacked charisma, a sense of humour or anything that would make us really care about what happened to them. There was no love story, friendship or any relationship that was key to the narrative unfolding, in fact the most important relationship seemed to involve people who were already dead before the story began (maybe this is acceptable in a horror film - tell me if I'm showing my ignorance here).

However, ultimately despite not being a horror fan myself I think I know enough about the genre to declare this film a total failure on this issue alone - it just wasn't scary at all. Or grusome. To my great relief. The murders were all committed in the dark whenever the elevator lights failed. The restricted location made chase scenes, hidden killers or hiding victims impossible as well as alternative scary locations. And the ultimate reveal of the Devil is one of the most disappointing movie moments I've witnessed. Spoiler alert: When did you last watch a scary movie where the bad guy shrugged and said 'damn' before politely leaving the room and the victim alive?!

To add insult the final sequence looks like it's going to deliver a very obvious but much needed evil twist to the plot...well don't get your hopes up horror fans. In fact if you really appreciate a good horror flick do not watch this film. You will want your ticket money back, a refund on that expensive popcorn as well as an 'M Night' doll and some pins and you probably still won't be satisfied.

I wondered if Shyamalan was trying to undermine the horror genre but this is no take-off. He may have had another agenda, one revealed by the film's very last lines. This is an agenda I would normally applaud on a personal level but I'm not sure if this was the way for him to get his message across. He hasn't subverted the genre he's just made a bad film, never a good way to get people to listen to you.

Another city another life - but I'm fine!

I thought I'd be writing this first entry feeling confused and a bit lost having just left the city I've lived in for over 8 years and moved to a place where I don't know anyone. I was expecting to be a little over emotional, small things like a poster with the word 'Leeds' on it or pictures of Yorkshire would make me sad. Then there's always that feeling that you get whenever you move that this is fun and new and exciting, I like this but, when am I going to go home?

I'm not saying I don't miss my friends, that's a given. And other things too like living in a home with people I know rather than a student flat (refurbished and spacious as it might be!) I miss being able to whizz round town quickly because I know where everything is. I even miss the suburban-ness of where I used to live; the noise of the kids at the school across the road during the day when I was home alone and the rest of the street was quiet. And when I think about my friends getting up for work every day while I'm living in this cultural playground of entertainment, risk and opportunities surrounded by creative but as yet unknown people I almost miss normal adult life - almost.

The truth is right now life is sweet. I've negotiated the freshers week frenzy of excessive amounts of paperwork, events you simply can't miss, numerous things that are broken or missing from your flat, trying to find a place for all your belongings, getting your head around your course and remember you're only here for a year make the most of it go out have fun try everything once be a "student" again. And I feel I've dealt with it somewhat more deftly than I did when I was 18 :)

I know there'll be hard days to come but so far my flat mates are friendly and all is going well. I feel content, more at peace than I have done for the last 3 years in fact. I guess that's what comes of being in the right place at the right time. It's what happens when you dream about something and make plans around it for months and then those plans come to fruition and you end up where you're meant to be, after all we all love it when a plan comes together.