The Devil in the Details

You know, sometimes I watch a film and find myself with a surplus of things to say, especially when I’m fairly negative on something or find another something especially strong. However, there are lots of times when I watch a film, find myself enjoying it quite a bit, and yet have little to no idea of what exactly to say about it when it comes time to put the pencil to the paper. And then there are films like The Manchurian Candidate where I honestly have no earthly idea how I even feel about the movie, much less how to describe it to others or whether or not to recommend it. You see, this film is usually considered a taut, bleak thriller with a chip on its shoulder regarding the Joseph McCarthys of the world, but to my modern sensibilities, I can’t help but feel that it resembles a surrealist film more than anything. In one legendarily bizarre scene after another, the film manages to keep topping itself until the ultra-bleak ending sends you out with a bang: dazed, confused, and unsu...

Ah, the seventies. Could it be the best era of filmmaking there’s ever been? Between the lack of codified 'rules' that strictly define how Hollywood films are supposed to work - rules that wouldn’t come along until the success of films like Jaws and Star Wars  toward the end of the decade - and the bleak mindset that seemed to dominate the decade overall, it just seems that the seventies has a higher batting average than any other decade in the history of cinema. Films like Chinatown, Coma, The Conversation, the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Soylent Green, The Tenant, and, without wishing to spoil my entire opinion right away, The Parallax View: perhaps the definitive paranoid political thriller of all time. We could go back and forth over why exactly the seventies were as bleak as they were. Was it the harsh reality check of Vietnam? Or did it have more to do with the infamous free concert at Altamont Speedway and the failure of the hippie movement in general? Watergate? ...

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...