Devil

"Do I look like such a threat?"



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Plot Summary: A group of people, conveniently mixed of different genders, races, and ages, are trapped in an elevator. Weird, mysterious stuff begins to happen as not all is as it seems. The Devil himself may be among them and even the people trying to rescue them don't know what's going on.

Devil is being marketed as "from the mind of M. Night Shamalayamala," but honestly, that doesn't have the credibility it once had. Ramalamadingdong is one of the most overrated hacks in Hollywood. At least he's not directing it, otherwise it's all but guaranteed to suck. As it stands, it's only likely that it will suck. How this guy is still being given money to create movies is beyond me. Ok sure, The Sixth Sense was great and no one saw that ending coming. Then we had Signs, a mediocre film in which invading aliens are vulnerable to water, even though Earth's atmosphere is made up of 50% water vapor. Shamalama's body of work continued to decline with The Village, and then even further with Lady in the Water. People thought he couldn't sink any lower than The Happening, but then he proved them wrong with this summer's The Last Airbender. The latter being a particularly sensitive subject since the cartoon it's based off of is pretty damn awesome. After this body of crap he's produced, it's a wonder he can still find work.

On to the trailer though. Once I saw the pothead from Super Troopers in it, all I could hear in my head for the rest of the trailer was "the snosberries taste like snosberries." The movie looks a little contrived, and already the trailer hints at the potential for cheesy lines like the one above. Ooooo, could she really be a threat? I don't know, but it's suspicious she alluded to it! Ugh. Maybe I'm being overly critical since it's quite obvious I have a bias against Shmumai, but seriously how can one not?

I also gotta admit, I felt a little nauseous watching, but I couldn't tell if it was from seeing Yamalamala's name or the upside down shots of the city. Either way, I'd like to keep my lunch in my stomach. To be fair, the rest of the cinematography looked like it could be pretty decent. And there were a few moments that made it seem like there could be some good material, but so did The Happening and we all know how that turned out.

I'll still keep an eye on this when it comes out, just in case it ends up being surprisingly good. I love my horror movies, but I'm not holding my breath on this one. Especially since one of the directors is responsible for unleashing Quarantine, a remake of a Spanish film called Rec., on the masses. [Shudder]

The Verdict: Save for Blu-ray