That was an excellent one.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Devil is the result of M. Night Shyamalan coming up with a story, and then letting other people write the screenplay and direct the film - and it works. This surprisingly clean horror movie has some well-done creepy moments and interesting twists. Don't expect an Oscar winner, just expect a fun Twilight Zone/X-Files episode and you won't be disappointed.

This movie is to redevelop your belief if you're pessimistic about religion and everything else. Everything happens for a reason. A cop that lost his wife and son from an irresponsible driver who hit and ran and never got caught for 5 years, even if he left a regret and sorry note.Somehow, that driver got caught into the same place with other sinners by a devil who wanted to punish him and transformed into old woman, one of the people trapped in the elevator. The old woman died first (or acted to die first), making us not suspect her as the culprit.After everyone almost died, she rose again and you could see her black eyes, trying to scare the driver. Luckily the driver admitted his sin and wasn't afraid to be taken away with the Devil, making her leave him alone.I feel that the moral lesson, there is always second chance and nothing is impossible unless you regret and want to believe. Great story, wish that every horror can be as good as this.

This suspense film revolves around a group of people, unknown to each other, who are trapped inside an elevator of a skyscraper, unaware that one of them is actually the demon in disguise, willing to drag them to Hell and punish them for their sins. Screenplay is based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan, director of "Sixth Sense" among other films. In fact, the concept idea is good, intriguing and succeeds in grabbing the public attention, having been decently developed in the script. "Who will be the next victim?", "who is the devil?"... these two questions are the skeleton of the film from a given moment and this makes everything more predictable from then on because they're limited to a set of options and conclusions. The film is too fast and doesn't have a very good pace. We cannot appreciate the suspense when everything is happening so quickly. The actors' work was decent enough, particularly Chris Messina, but most of the characters weren't particularly good. Jacob Vargas, in particular, played a Latin with strongly stereotyped and absurd characteristics. Cinematography is good, visual and sound effects were well used to densify the environment at the exact moments. The film has quality. However, it lacks some unpredictability and a deeper story, with stronger characters.

"Devil" is a horror film by director John Dowdle. It watches as a group of characters enter an elevator. These characters, we later learn, are all "sinners" and "bad people". They're thus deemed "deserving of punishment". This punishment is dished out by "the Devil", the supernatural entity that personifies evil in many religions.As these characters are tortured and killed in the elevator, police detective Bowden (Chris Messina) watches with disbelief. Though everything he witnesses points toward supernatural intervention, Bowden refuses to believe. Afterall, he's an atheist. Why? Because when his wife died due to a hit and run accident, Bowden renounced God and opted to instead believe in a totally chaotic, callous and cruel universe. The universe of Nietzsche. Of Schopenhauer.Eventually, of course, Bowden comes to believe in the Devil and so the Judeo-Christian God. He also learns that one of the characters in the elevator was the man responsible for killing his wife. Rather than condemn this man, Bowden opts to "forgive him". The film then lays its final message on thick: "bad stuff" happens to "evil people", "those who deserve it" and "those for whom God has a plan". To avoid "bad stuff" happening to us we must thus "be Christlike" and "kind" and "forgiving". Via this we will have "salvation" and "protection" from the "far-reaching arms of the devil"."Devil's" spiritual and emotional blackmailing should come as no surprise. It was based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan, a fervent Christian. Indeed, the film shares many similar themes/moments with Shyamalan's "Signs". Shyamalan typically gets away with such clunky philosophising because his aesthetic - controlled, stylish and tasteful - often closely emulates that of Alfred Hitchcock. But Dowdle is no Hitchcock. Where Hitch turned tight spaces ("Lifeboat", "Rear Window", "Dial M for Murder") into clever cinematic playgrounds, Dowdle mostly fumbles.5/10 – Worth one viewing.