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At once a sly tribute to '80s-era grind-house cinema and a remarkable exercise in suspense, writer-director Ti West's House of the Devil is a terrific--and terrifying--horror film that can be enjoyed by genre fans and outsiders alike. West's premise hinges on the "Satanic panic" that gripped America during the ReaT
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At once a sly tribute to '80s-era grind-house cinema and a remarkable exercise in suspense, writer-director Ti West's House of the Devil is a terrific--and terrifying--horror film that can be enjoyed by genre fans and outsiders alike. West's premise hinges on the "Satanic panic" that gripped America during the Reagan era--in a nutshell, the urban legend posited that secret devil cults were kidnapping and sacrificing individuals by the thousands--and melds it with the tried-and-true babysitter in an old dark house scenario. The house in question is the property of the Ulmans (cult faves Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov), and the babysitter (newcomer Jocelin Donahue) is needed to simply keep an eye on things--and an unseen mother upstairs--until midnight, when, coincidentally, a total eclipse will occur. But the chills that ensue--and there are plenty--are driven more by slow-building atmosphere than by the bloody effects that sum up '80s shocks. That's not to say that there isn't gore on display, but it's not the film's raison d'être; neither are the nostalgic trappings, which are kept to a tasteful minimum. The end result is a genuinely unsettling horror effort that brands West as an indie director who's more than capable of moving up to the majors. The disc includes two informative commentary tracks, the first by West and Donahue, and the other with West, producers Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter) and Peter Phok, and sound designer Graham Reznick; there's also a pair of making-of featurettes and three deleted scenes, one of which, involving the Ulmans' mother, is worth a look. The original trailer for House of the Devil, as well as spots for other Dark Sky releases, round out the extras. --Paul Gaita
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