by Alex Amaru

M. Night Shamylan is responsible for some of the best and the worst screenplays of this generation. Having said that, going to see his newest movie Devil felt like more of a risk rather than a guaranteed good night at the movies.

Devil is about how a group of people end up in an elevator with the devil and it is directed by John Erik Dowdle (Quarantine). The cast consists of mostly up-and-comers including Chris Messina (Away We Go, Greenberg) and Bokeem Woodbine ( Black Dynamite, Poker House). Even though it is not that difficult of a task, this movie was a lot better than The Happening. (In case you don’t know the plot of The Happening, it is about how an evil wind makes people commit suicide. It was even nominated for a “Razzie”).

The Devil starts out with an upside down camera shot of a city. The eerie and creepy tone was set right from the start and it maintained that way throughout the movie. The anxiety of the movie was also very well portrayed in the elevator scenes. John Erik Dowdle was able to make the main setting of the movie in an elevator without making it seem to claustrophobic.

It could be very easy to turn this movie into a joke and M. Night Shamylan did a good job with the screenplay by balancing the devilish elevator scenes and with the rest of the story. This movie is packed with surprises and twists and I recommend seeing it.