Devil

DEVIL (Blu-ray)

Release date: January 24th 2011
Certificate (UK): 15
Running time: 80 minutes

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Chris Messina, Logan Marshall-Green, Bojana Novakovic, Jacob Vargas, Matt Craven, Bokeem Woodbine, Jenny O’Hara

M. Night Shyamalan Exclusive Devil Interview

I’ve always enjoyed the way M. Night Shyamalan weaves his stories together. Supernatural elements and ideas about responsibility go hand in hand for the director of The Sixth Sense (1999) and Signs (2002) who was raised as a Catholic at school and a Hindu at home.

The story begins to unfold one morning with the suicide of an employee who works in a high rise office block in Philadelphia. As detective Bowden (Chris Messina) begins to investigate, he is called away to another incident in the same building with 5 strangers trapped in an elevator.

With no way to get to them, the unlucky 5 are forced to endure the claustrophobic confines while the lights flicker on and off and the elevator music plays, but very soon that becomes the last of their worries as they are about to fall victim to a malevolent force. One of them isn’t who they seem to be. Ramirez (Jacob Vargas), a security guard on the outside, believes that it’s the Devil’s work, but Bowden refuses to agree, saying that “People are bad all by themselves”.

At times Devil is very Hitchcock, especially with the opening intro and the way the camera moves down the elevator shaft. There’s also the way the story takes you from one character to the next as you try to figure out who’s behind it all, heightening the sense of mystery. It also comes as no surprise that it contains a strong blend of religion, suspense and moral responsibility.

Shyamalan spoke with us earlier about the film and said:

There are only 3 deleted scenes; Salesman Intro, Old Woman Intro and Mechanic Into. They allow us to see too early on that they are people who haven’t taken responsibility for things in their lives and it’s probably for that reason they were deleted form the final cut.

I was expecting the Blu-ray release to include a wider variety of interviews and behind-the-scenes footage along with alternate footage but what’s included are very, very short pieces.

The Story is a 2 minute 32 second featurette with M. Night Shyamalan and Drew Dowdle talking Devil and how it is tied to the idea of taking responsibility for one’s own life. The Devil’s Meeting is 2 minutes 26 seconds long. Shyamalan, along with Drew Dowdle and John Erick Dowdle talk about the Devil walking among us on Earth. The final piece, The Night Chronicle is 2 minutes and 16 seconds long and has Shyamlan talking about doing three movies in this series and getting other directors to bring them to the screen.

Patrick Samuel

The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is an emerging artist with a philosophy degree, working primarily with pastels and graphite pencils, but he also enjoys experimenting with water colours, acrylics, glass and oil paints.

Being on the autistic spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome, he is stimulated by bold, contrasting colours, intricate details, multiple textures, and varying shades of light and dark. Patrick's work extends to sound and video, and when not drawing or painting, he can be found working on projects he shares online with his followers.

Patrick returned to drawing and painting after a prolonged break in December 2016 as part of his daily art therapy, and is now making the transition to being a full-time artist. As a spokesperson for autism awareness, he also gives talks and presentations on the benefits of creative therapy.

Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and science fiction, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.

Patrick Samuel ¦ Asperger Artist

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