THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (2009) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Ti West
Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Greta Gerwig,
Mary Woronov, AJ Bowen, Dee Wallace
A college student who's low on cash answers an ad for a babysitter in a big house way out of town. The setup seems sketchy, but it'll pay a lot and she needs the money, so she takes the job. The first 30 minutes are mostly the girl exploring the house (as you do in a movie like this), opening doors and peering into dark rooms, her curiosity and fear touched off by the sounds she hears (or doesn't hear when her Walkman's plugged in). Then, as the saying goes, all hell breaks loose. (It's called "The House of the Devil", after all.) An early feature from Ti West, who made "X" and "Pearl" and has a real instinct for how to make this genre stuff work. Greta Gerwig has a scene-stealing supporting role as the heroine's best friend.
