M. Night Shyamalan is an enigma. He wrote a decent movie called “The Sixth Sense” back in 1999 and it was met with praise and had one of the most annoying one-liners that would plague dialogue in film and everyday life alike for years to come…something about seeing dead people… Anyway, so he makes this film –and in all fairness it was a respectable outing that left audiences shaken and satisfied. Instead of continuing to make quality films however, he has ridden the coat-tails of his early success by making terrible movies and by an incomprehensible backing from Hollywood somehow manages to milk audiences for more money every time he releases a film with his name stamped on it. His films have grown increasingly worse and in the past three years he has put out three of the worst films I have ever seen, including the latest: “Devil”.
Like all of his other films it promises to be scary, intelligent and leave audiences with wet underpants but instead brings a terrible story narrated by a superstitious security guard. It is riddled with little-known actors, (all the big names seem to have lost interest), which is not a bad thing but everyone over-acts their part. From the cocky and overbearing mattress salesman to the old lady who is afraid of anything that moves, everyone forces their role on you like vegetables into a child’s mouth.
The story of the film itself follows the story of a story (yes I just used that word three times) that was told to the security guard as a young child, one of the devil presenting itself as one of us to punish the souls of wrong-doing people. The concept is okay and could have provided a decent film with proper writing but stumbles from the get-go. M. Night desperately wants you to question everyone from the beginning as to who the devil could be, but in doing so it comes off as hokey and annoying because once something starts to elaborate you are yanked in another direction with random and convenient information about someone else.
In classic M. Night Shyamalan fashion the film ends in anti-climactic glory –this time by “surprising” audiences with the secret antagonist (which by the way I called from the beginning-score it!). However corny and overacted this film is, it is not as bad as “The Happening.” If you have seen that then you can sit through this, but be warned that the only scary part is when it says M. Night Shyamalan wrote it. It is another film that states: “From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan” like he is some sort of prodigy when in reality he is just abusing America’s fond memories of one movie and making rubbish that promises to deliver, all while raking in your hard-earned dollars…it is our fault, people, we are the reason this crap is still being made.
2/10 – I’ve seen better made for TV movies
