The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009)

Saw this one for the first time few years ago because Larry Fessenden had mentioned it in an interview. I remember being totally blown away by his Habit and Wendigo and decided to watch House of the Devil just because he was its producer. Good thing I did because it’s really fucking cool and it was no brainer to go see it again when Hollywood Babylon film club in Dublin put together its screening in a local pub. 

Like most of the next-to-none budget indie horror flicks it’s all about atmosphere build-up. Since the 1940s and thanks to Jacques Tourneur we all know that horror images can be very, very, very effective (=horrifying) when director leaves them to audience's imagination instead of force-feeding you with his/her vision of scary shit. Skilful director will lead you just by using tools like solid script, intelligent narration, photography, editing, music, sound effects and you will seat on the edge of your seat for an hour. No special effects are needed.

And director Ti West obviously knows these things. And I’m pretty sure he has good knowledge and respect of horror genre. And was also lucky with his choice of leading actress Jocelin Donahue. 

And you should definitely check it out!

8/10