You’d think a title like “The House of the Devil” would tell you everything you need to know. It does tell you a few things; this is, indeed, a story that involves evil people and hapless victims, who of course are young and female. But on the whole, this movie plays against everything you would probably expect, which in this case is a compliment. Instead of the usual gory camp fest, where idiotic teenagers are a dime a dozen, “The House of the Devil” is a quiet, slowly paced exercise in suspense, where apprehension comes not from bad things happening but from the idea of bad things happening. It’s the kind of film where story plays second fiddle to style, the first hour spent on virtually nothing except establishing mood. This is good because, when there finally is a startling moment, we really do feel it.

The mood is so thoroughly established that one can’t help but be somewhat disappointed by the final ten minutes, when all is explained (as best as can be explained, anyway). That’s the inherent flaw with suspense: What leads up to the ending is always more frightening than the actual ending. Fortunately, the last major scene is amped up with a final shot so unnervingly ambiguous, you may find yourself clutching onto your armrest waiting for something to happen.

In spite of its fresh approach, the story effectively makes use of familiar horror movie themes. Taking place sometime during the 1980s, it tells of Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue), a young college student trying to make it on her own but in desperate need of cash. Lo and behold, she spots on a bulletin board a want ad for a babysitter, and when she calls, she’s immediately offered the job. As is always the case, the house she goes to is old, ornate, and located deep in the woods, far, far away from any other house. The occupants are Mr. and Mrs. Ulman (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov), an older couple who dress in attire that might have been in fashion fifty years earlier. They’re soft spoken and accommodating, yet there’s always an uncomfortable air of mystery surrounding them.

As they get ready to leave for the evening, Mr. Ulman confesses that he and the missus have no young children for Samantha to look after. Instead, he wants her to stay in the house just in case Mother needs any help. Mother, who lives somewhere upstairs, is quiet and should be no problem at all; in all likelihood, Samantha won’t ever have to go up and check on her. Samantha agrees to the job if her pay is increased to $400 (if that sounds ridiculous, keep in mind that the original offer was $100). Mr. Ulman, in dire need of someone for the night, agrees. He and his wife then depart, leaving Samantha with a list of phone numbers, including a local pizza joint in case she gets hungry. We don’t exactly know where the Ulmans are going, but we do know that there will be a lunar eclipse around midnight.

What follows is a carefully paced buildup of tension. At first, it seems like absolutely nothing will happen; Samantha goes up and downstairs checking out various rooms, and that’s it. Uneventful? Yes, but at least we get the chance to take in the ambiance of the house, which gives one the feeling of having stepped back in time by at least seventy-five years. At a certain point, things start to get creepy. For one thing, she keeps calling her best friend, Megan (Greta Gerwig), but gets only the answering machine. She then orders a pizza, and the guy at the other end seems a little too friendly. She turns on the television, where “Night of the Living Dead” is being broadcast on the weekly horror show. When she has to use the bathroom, she takes a butcher’s knife with her for protection. And what exactly is Mother doing upstairs? Is anyone even up there?

I suspect the vast majority of today’s audiences will be bored out of their minds by “The House of the Devil,” a film released at a time when the success of a horror movie is measured by masked killers and teens wandering off alone and getting naked before dying elaborate, bloody deaths. Writer/director/editor Ti West has the ambition to avoid such clichés and go for something much subtler, relying on dim hallways, eerie shadows, and phantom noises emanating from faucets. Even the final scenes, which aren’t as strong as the scenes that came before them, don’t follow the conventions of the typical horror movie; they explain certain things, yet they still leave much to the imagination. As we all know, what we see is never as scary as what we don’t see.

When we leave the theater, we think not about the plot or the characters but about what has been experienced – the suspense a quiet room can generate, dangers that may or may not be hiding behind a closed bedroom door, terror brought on by what we can’t actually see or hear. What evils lurk out of sight? Will they ever be seen? And if they are seen, what will they do? Even if “The House of the Devil” is founded on a premise that’s all too familiar, it manages to be frightening because it exposes some of our most basic fears, none more powerful than being alone in a house. If you’re tired of the typical teen slasher film, if you find slow and steady buildups more satisfying than back-to-back pop out scares, then I would recommend you go and see this film.

- Chris Pandolfi

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