The Film: The House of the Devil
The Director: Ti West
The Cast: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Greta Gerwig
Release Date: October 30, 2009
Yesterday I said that Dawning was one of my favorite horror films of recent memory. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty sure that The House of the Devil is my very favorite horror film of recent memory. A slow burning horror tale about a young college girl (Donahue) who takes a babysitting job in a secluded house. The residents of said house are an older couple played by veteran awesome people Tom Noonan and Mary Wornov, and there's no baby to be found.
One of the most tense films I know, The House of the Devil is an exercise in build up that is punctuated by a bucketload of carnage. The cast does a fantastic job of filling West's minimalist story, and the film pays homage to the horrors of the 1980s beautifully. This isn't your average hack and slash horror, but make no mistake about it - The House of the Devil is gripping horror entertainment at its finest.
On a trip to the Vatican on July 22nd, 2001 former president George W. Bush said: "I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe -- I believe what I believe is right." This cryptic message of genius...this little nugget of insight into the human condition we all experience known as belief can be evidently found in the film Get Him to the Greek. Writer/director Nicholas Stollar vividly portrays a firm belief in doin' chicks, mixing narcotics, and rock and roll. George W., I would surmise by his previous "sniffage" of coke bombs, would love this movie.
Aldous Snow (played by Russell Brand) plays a down and out rock star coming off a flop of an album about an African child/futuristic African Space Jesus. His wife, model and singer performing tunes about sexual positions (played by Ross Byrne), leaves him to be with LARS from Metallica. Meanwhile, Capitol Records exec (played by Sean P. Diddy Combs) needs to make a buck and sends a peon to England (played by Jonah Hill) in order to get Aldous Snow's band to a theater to perform a live show of a very famous album at the Greek Theater. Here is what happens through the whole movie from this point: 1) Puking 2) Drug Use 3) Ladies are plowed 4) More Drug Use 5) Heroin Muling 6) A mixing of drug use and heavy petting on a furry wall 7) A threesome with a suicide attempt 8)More puking and drug use. Somewhere in there P. Diddy eats little P. Diddy floating heads. That is the movie.
When it comes to movies, I am pretty open minded friends. I can watch just about anything anytime, Outside of Gone Fishin' and Angels in the Outfield (both Danny Glover films ironically). The awkwardly forced constant drug use and weak "trip out hallucinating" scenes were heavily annoying. The film sets up this nice fun lovin peon that we all can side with. Then, he nails some random skore (a skank + a whore) in a bathroom. I lost interest at that point. Somehow, Aaron Green's (Jonah Hill) indiscretions get related back to a threesome between Aldous Snow, Aaron Green, and his girlfriend. I don't know what else to say except this movie sucks for pure failure of comedy. Unfortunately, Jason Segal (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) co-wrote this fine cinematic adventure to crap town...I mean to the "Greek." Overall, don't waste your time.
Martin Luther King, Junior once said: "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." If you square the darkness from destructive selfishness and multiply it by the stupidity of Sarah Palin, you get this gem of a film. Pretty sure MLK, Jr. would be pissed by this movie and that the scariest part of every town seems near or around a street named after him.
