The Devil in the Details

You know, Eyes Wide Shut is a classic example of the kind of film that you grow into. I watched it many years ago at a very different time in my life, and while I enjoyed it, it was something of an enigma. I imagine my first experience was the same as a lot of people’s; I was sold a conspiracy horror film and ended up with something more akin to a psychosexual noir film, one with very little actual sex depicted despite its reputation, then and now. An early edited version of the film claims to insert extra CG people into shots to “cover genitalia” but this is a lie: there is no genitalia shown in any version of the film. You can see pubic hair a few times, but nothing beyond that. So the near-pornographic qualities the film is often associated with are bogus, and really, so is the whole conspiracy plot (if that’s all you’re here for, at any rate) So, what exactly does that leave us with? Well, what we do get is a Kafka-esque noir that examines a number of very adult themes in strange...

In the light of the November home-video release of Ti West's Pearl, I figured it was about time I go back and cover a few of the horror auteur’s previous works. Now, I’m aware that The Roost and Trigger Man came out before this, and I do intend to cover those eventually, along with 2013’s The Sacrament and that one western he did with Ethan Hawke and John Travolta. But first, let’s talk about his first true cult hit, 2009’s The House of the Devil. Little known outside of true horror hounds, it follows a young college student named Samantha as she struggles to find a way to scrape up the money to pay for a modest apartment in the city while she attends university. Luckily, a mysterious Mr. Ullman has been hanging up flyers in the area, searching desperately for a babysitter. After a series of strange run-ins and cold shoulders, Sam assumes she’s been passed over in favor of someone else, only for Mr. Ullman to suddenly call back, more desperate than ever and offering to pay just...