Deep Cuts Horror Hit List #1: “Devil”

Hey there, folks. It is Friday, October thirty Firth Halloween. We made it to the top of our list. Are number one on our horror hit list of movies we love that maybe you don't know about. And this one, number one on our list comes to us from none other than M Night Shamalan, but you probably never heard of it. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Deep Cuts, wrapping it up with a

That's right. But when you say this word, or at least it's a one word title, a lot of folks will say, huh, what never saw that one?

If you even give people an opportunity to start naming his movies, how long before they come up with this one?

I think it would be a while. If ever so. The movie our number one movie on our Halloween Horror hit list is Devil from twoenty ten. People are going, huh, it's just an hour twenty minutes and oh my goodness, it's rated PG thirteen.

I don't know what to say, folks. I I yes, I very early in the countdown, I railed against PG thirteen horror movies. I just I usually just don't watch them. I don't stop.

Two in our top five and three in the top ten are PG thirteen two.

I mean, so I got an egg on my face. I completely in real time. That just went out the window. But this is a PG thirteen thriller.

Yes, that is pretty much what it is. It is a we have gone like, can we be fully honest here and talk about our We have gone back and forth because when we started making this list, we hadn't looked at any of the critical reviews. We didn't consider any of that when we made this list, and we came up with our top five pretty quickly, and we

Because it wasn't that well reviewed. People didn't know a whole lot about it, and it just seemed to be a dud of an m Night Shyamalan movie. No, no, no, no, we're standing by it. I asked you.

You said nope, Because when we came up with this list just based on our feelings and our reactions to movies that we watch a lot of. We felt like both of us this was the number one movie. We have questioned that now that we've read what other people think of this movie, so you know, but we're gonna stand by what our original decision was, which was to make Devil number one. Even my oldest Eva, who loves horror movies, when she found out what our number one was, she said, really.

Hey, it was before it's time. Okay, this is a wonderful little film, and we will explain why it's so wonderful. And one more tease here. The whole thing takes place in an elevator.

Yes, there's very little other action. I mean, they do have some scenes they cut back and forth from, but mostly all the horror is happening in an elevator. So here's the synopsis. Five Strangers Day begins with an elevator ride in a Philadelphia office tower, but what happens next is anything but ordinary. The elevator gets stuck, and the trapped passengers, who expected to be together for just a few minutes, now face the revelation of their secrets and transgressions.

Wow. They I appreciate that they that that was the snap they gave that out. So that is what we're dealing with. How many in the elevator was five?

There was five strangers? Yes, and I you know, a lot of the complaints that I saw from folks and critics was that there wasn't enough character development. But I actually really was invested in who which one was the devil, what their past transgressions were that got them in this elevator, because you realized that they were all there by design.

Character development is what they had issue with. Yeah, I'm reacted to everybody, so did I.

And look the box office. It did better than I thought, sixty two point six million internationally. But M Night Shyamalan has a draw. When you see his name attached to a movie, a lot of folks will go check it out just because it's M Night Shyamalan and the cast Chris Messina, you know his face, you might not know his name. He was in Boogeyman, most recently a Big Lawn Order guy. He was an argo. Ben Affleck loves to put him in his movies and then Jenny O'Hara

You know, there's an act. I never knew his name for sure, Bokeem would bind. Okay, he you will immediately recognize him. He was being in a lot of black movies, frankly Jason's lyric Dead Presidents, and he played in Life with Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy. He has been all over the place.

Another really familiar face.

Oh you knew him as soon as you saw his face.

Yes, security guard.

Oh yeah, he was great. But you had an emotional reaction to him. The old lady I had a reaction to, the young girl was annoying to me. And the guy in the suit, like everybody in there. In a very short amount of time. As far as character development goes, you get them.

You have a feeling towards them, Yes, immediately, and it's visceral. So I yes, I disagree with that. Produced and written by M Mike Shamalan. The director was John Eric Dowdell. But get this. The Rotten Tomatoes score there are forty nine percent. Wow, I haven't seen it from the critics, and the audience score is even lower at forty three percent.

Come on, folks, we got to get these numbers.

Up all right now. The critics consensus actually was pretty good when you consider what that Rotten Tomato score just was. It's better than many of the other films M Night Shyamalan has been associated with. But Devil never gets more than a few low budget thrills out of its fingdishly promising premise.

It is a promising premise. I am never going to say I wish they had done this or wish they had done that. I can maybe understand why someone might say that, but this thing works still perfectly to me.

I actually loved the fact that it was low budget in the sense that there weren't huge special effects. There wasn't some big dramatic action scene. This actually the tension and the fear and the horror slowly and creepily develops in a way that I thought was so good. The subtlety of it.

It so brilliant tension throughout. I mean, you start with that, right, just start with it was what was the other movie? I said, just by the fact just the setup itself, the scent, Yes, in the cave like this, just the scenario adds or the terror. What don't we every time we go in an elevator, don't we fear two things? One it getting stuck, two getting stuck with a couple of assholes in.

Here or the devil.

Well, they usually don't have to worry about that, but it does. It plays on those fears. Even if the elevator doesn't get stuck, you worry about who might get on with you. And it is even that for me set a stage.

And maybe because we live in New York and we're in elevators every single day of our lives, it struck a higher horror level for us because think about it, maybe a lot of people who live in suburbia or whatever don't ever or rarely get into an elevator if maybe they're in a hotel or a high rise. But some people probably aren't in elevators very often.

Well, it is a horrible sceni we have to face and make decisions about every single day of exactly.

So, yes, we are very hyper aware of elevator issues. Some critic reviews here for you, and I did find some good ones that I put in here, and I did put a bad one in as well. If most of Shyamalan's films take a long time to get laughable punchlines, Devil is quite the opposite, rushing headlong through all manner of crazy plot points and red herring characters, an ideal streaming time passer, short and packed with twists.

That's a good one. That's a good way to put it. We're not trying to say this should have been nominated for an Oscar. We're trying to say this is an intelligent, tense, feel little nugget of a film.

Yes, here's another one. A taut, expert and engrossing thriller with a sense of visual restraint that is refreshing in this age of a borrent overexposure.

You know what, and m Nighthemalan has done some creative things with cinematography before, this ain't one of them. Ye, he was confined in an area in putting this film together. I didn't think about it that way. That's a good so.

I actually love yes, what some of these critics said, because it made they articulated why we loved it better than I could. Here's another one. The dialogue is terse and convincing given the premise and doubtell who's the director, ratchets up the suspense with economical efficiency. The final twist, while a stretch, is highly satisfying.

It is you're like, okay, okay, they got me kind of a thing. Would you still like it? Yes?

Yes, And I would urge anybody who hasn't seen this don't google it because pretty quickly they give it away. It's really annoying. And my Shamalan's twists are the best part about his movie. So please, please, please, if you haven't heard of this movie, if you haven't read anything about it, don't do it. Now. Watch the movie first.

Okay, we should. We will make sure we should put that in the description of this episode that do not look this film up. For this thing to work, you have to go into it not knowing how it's going to end.

Yes, if you already know the final twist, it's okay. Obviously we've rewatched this movie multiple times, so we love it. But it's so much better if you don't know the twist. Here's a negative review. Devil features nothing new, exciting, or suspenseful. Instead, it gives us shallow, we developed characters and an ultimately forgettable story.

Couldn't disagree more, Okay, fine, shallow we developed it's five people who have an hour and twenty minutes. Yes, you can't go to everybody's.

I thought it was really cool how we learned about how each of those people, each of those characters ends up in the elevator, because you'll learn this isn't giving away too much that they were chosen.

Yeah, by the devil.

Here's some audience reviews, one of the best. And by the way, even though the audience review scores were lower than the critics review, I found so many more positive reviews, and a lot of them recent. So this was out in twenty ten. What I love about Rotten Tomatoes is that obviously people watch it streaming or they purchase it, and then they put new reviews in which are I think viewed through the lens of perhaps the perspective that when you initially saw the movie you might not have.

Still, the whole thing was intriguing. That was a mystery in there that I love it, guessing couldn't figure it out.

Help. Here's another one. A total underrated movie.

Yep.

Great cast, amazing soundtrack, and wonderful direction make this a must see.

Yep.

Don't believe the ratings. Just watch it and decide for yourself. You will thank me later. We could have written that. Here's another one. This movie is severely underrated. It has pretty decent acting, a good plot, lots of love and care, and a very good twist ending with many good kills and jump scares.

Yeah there's no bad acting as well. Yeah, there's no bad acting in this movie.

Agreed. Okay, here's an fun another good one. It's fun, honestly a fun movie, very nice idea, and even though it could have been developed more, it makes for a cute thriller. The ending is isn't the poetic justice we expect, but a more realistic take on forgiveness and moving forward. There were larger themes. Am I is pretty good with that. Yes you have horror, Yes you have thrills in a twist, but he usually does have heart and a reason for why he's writing this story and selling it.

And you do have a moment that you do stop and think and reflect. There is a moment that they built into the again, the bigger moral It does have a bigger moral thing.

Yeah, and I liked that because there was real storytelling involved. Sometimes horror movies are just slashers. This isn't about the kills. This is about the story, and that's what I think one of the reasons why we loved it. Now here's a bad review from an audience member. Devil has to be one of the most stupidest, which I thought was ironic that that was the phrase used. Devil has to be one of the most stupidest but funniest movies I've ever watched. The movie tries so hard to be scary,

Okay, it's it's okay, fine if you have that opinion, but if going into it, I just heads up, homie, it's PG. Thirteen. It's trying to be scary, No it's not. If it were, it was, it would be a great r It's not trying to be scary.

It's such a good point. You have to go into it with the right mindset. All right. When we come back, we're gonna talk about why this is our number one, not just that it made our list, but why we chose this movie to be number one, Who it's for, who it's not for, what to pair it with, and where to watch it. Continuing now with our number one movie on our Halloween Horror hit list, we have been counting down all month long to our number one movie, Devil. Why was this your number one movie?

Babe? It was a surprise. It was a surprising film when I first saw it and then left an impression. I don't know what my expectations were going into it, but generally speaking, I mean, I respect m Night Sheemalan, but I'm not running to see an Night Shremalan movie. Usually signs I loved Village, I get and it all of his movies. I've appreciate it, but I'm not some hardcore m Night fan, and so seeing this one, I this made me a big time m Night Cemalan fan.

I agree this. I remembered this movie because of how it made me feel. I was absolutely in a movie that had very little action, on the edge of my seat trying to figure out where the evil was coming from and not being able to do so. I appreciated that so much. I have been an M Night fan. I love the sixth Sense, I love the Village, I love Signs, all of those movies. The visit, I will go out and see M Night. Oh well, yeah, that

We went to that one we saw trap and everything that happened in that arena. It was classic m night. We were on the edge of ours so good.

The first half of it was amazing. I do think that's where oftentimes his stories sometimes fall apart, is the twist isn't that grade or it's kind of an annoying twist, Like I remember in Signs it was that the aliens couldn't turn a doorknob and water destroyed them. I'm like, really, they're going to go to a planet that's three quarters water when that's their kryptonite. Anyway, I've had issues with

I think that's it. This was a twist maybe that I like. I didn't mind the twists and Signs about the water and the can't turn a doorknob and all that. I mean, you had a problem with that, but you do realize that aliens were coming and making crop circles. Yes, that part you had no problem with it.

They were communicating to the mother ships. That made total sense to me, but no I do. And so this movie is fun because I have recommended this movie. I don't know if you have to to folks who have never seen an m Night movie, who don't really like horror movies. I just think this has a universal appeal because again, it's more of a thriller. It's still a horror movie for sure. You've got supernatural, you've got deaths, you've got mystery entury, but there's a thriller element to this.

Wouldn't you say, there's no one. I wouldn't recommend this movie to hardcore horror movie fans. There's something there for you. If you hate horror movies, there's something in here for you. I just I can't even give my heads up to people who don't like blood and gore. And it's not going to be a problem. Anybody can watch this movie and it's PG.

Thirteen, So it's fun for the whole family. Who is it not for? I guess anyone who's going to be critical and go into it with some sort of expectation that it has to be this, that and the other, and really other than that, I can't I can't imagine. I was shocked reading people's reaction to it, saying it was stupid. I just didn't think it was stupid at all. I thought it was super smart.

Of course, to pull that off is in the writing. Yeah, I appreciate a good story, but yeah, some people. I think some people are going to have to take issue with this or go what or I didn't see that, or I don't know. People to be critical, it's what people do.

It's fine, that's fine, it's fine, that's okay. We stand by our number one and in terms of I love this about the movie, to food, drink, and how to watch it, where to watch it. You can watch this alone, You can watch this in the day or at night. To me, this can be watched anywhere, anytime, with anyone or no one.

Yes, and then again we always note this, but it can be watched in the day for a reason because it happens in a lit elevator the whole movie, so you can see without the glare of the sun if you're watching.

Yes, and so in terms of what to pair with, you know what, go lean in hard with the devil theme. You know, it's Halloween, so just like be all in deviled eggs, red velvet cake, fireball shots. Those are my suggestions.

Jesus crime Ay, well, at my party, we're gonna serve healthy snacks. No, I don't know.

It might be a hell of a morning the next day after your deviled eggs, red velvet cake and fireball shots. I didn't even think about that. But you know, it's a hell of a good time enjoying the movie, so have fun.

Where do you find this didn't we have a hard time.

We could not find it, and so we went ahead and purchased it on Apple TV. I think Fandango at Home you can also purchase it. So for me, this one was so good that this is when we'll go back to. We've gone back to enough times so we didn't even want to wait. Look, it's great when you can get it on Netflix or something that most people have a streaming service. But I think this one costs.

Use the word cute earlier in somebody's review. I think that's a it's a weird I've never thought about it that way. This is a cute little movie. This is a cute little packaged film for you to like. It's so digestible, So yes, even for Halloween. If you're not looking for ghosts and ghouls and sl and girls running through the forest and scantily clad type of thing you want to get away from that, this is a good one that can as an absolutely digestible movie for everybody at night.

I agree, So everyone check out Devil and thank you for listening along with us here for these thirty one days listing our top thirty one not so well known Halloween horror movies. But you know, we could probably put a list like this together once a year and still be able to fill it with movies that aren't that well. There are so many horror movies to consume, so we hope you guys, if you have been into them, great,

We want everybody to be a horror movie fan. Been a huge year for horror movies, and here We are wrapping it up all around horror movie time, so enjoy your movies. Hope you all take in If you don't like Devil, maybe you can take in another one of the others that are on the list. There are thirty there.

For you to choose, all right, And with that everyone, thanks for listening. Hope you all have a happy Halloween. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ.

Holmes.

We will talk to you soon.