The House of the Devil (2009) is, as advertised, based on true and unexplainable events, and set in the early 80s, a time when 70% of American adults believed in the existence of abusive Satanic cults. I had high hopes. First of all, not only is it set in the early 80s, but it also looks like it was shot in the early 80s. This movie has an excellent retro feel to it, from the music to the film quality to the kind of suspense building found in such earlier horror classics as Black Christmas, most of which is supplied in the first hour and fifteen minutes of the movie wherein Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) explores and acclimatizes herself to the countryside mansion she’s “babysitting” at for the evening. However, that kind of intense mood can come across as slow, but I didn’t mind the pace too much. What I did mind was the pace at the end of the movie, when the action and blood rolls in, because it came and went in a flash compared to the rest of the movie, and left me scratching my head. But hey, at least there was some blood and action, so let’s get to that now.

Samantha is a college student looking to move off campus. However, she’s a poor college student and needs some quick cash in order to pay first month’s rent at her new place. She sees a flier posted at school for a baby sitting gig, so she snags the number and rings it up. The man on the other end of the line is desperate and doubles the pay, so Samantha accepts the job even though the dude seems a bit weird. As I already mentioned, the babysitting gig just happens to be at some mansion in the countryside, and Samantha gets her best friend to drive her out to the house. They’ve got bad feelings already. Oh, and I should probably mention that all of this takes place during a lunar eclipse.

The two of them meet the man who hired Samantha, Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan), and he doesn’t exactly send out the welcoming vibes. In fact, he’s quite vague and shifty about the evening that lies ahead and he finally admits to Samantha that there is no child living at the house. Time for Samantha to leave, right? As it turns out, Mr. Ulman wants Samantha to look after his wife’s mother for the evening, but promises she won’t be a bother and that there’s no nursing involved. To convince her further, he ups the pay to $300 (Samantha negotiates for $400), and so it’s all set. Samantha sends her friend on her way, telling her she’ll be all right (the friend protests), and then Mr. and Mrs. Ulman (is that a skull brooch she’s wearing?) head out for the evening. Now Samantha is alone in the house with mother upstairs.

So, this is where Samantha spends the majority of the movie checking out the house — every dark room, every dark nook and cranny — and every once in awhile there are sounds from upstairs. Could mother be moving about? Again, so long as you don’t mind the pace, this nothing happens portion of the movie is effectively chilling. Soon Samantha discovers some things that shed some light on Mr. and Mrs. Ulman and the house, and panic sets in. Then more noises from upstairs, and just as she’s about to look in on mother, the power goes out, the pizza she ordered earlier (and stopped eating because it tasted awful) makes her feel woozy, and she hits the deck. She wakes up surrounded by candles and tied down atop a pentagram with Mr. and Mrs. Ulman standing over her in black robes. This is where the movie pace quickens and the blood starts flying, but unfortunately not much is explained and it’s over way too fast to digest. It all ends with a very unlikely, open-ended scenario that’s even more perplexing than what came before it.

I dug The House of the Devil for its retro thrills and honest, nostalgic spooks, but I would’ve liked to see more attention paid to the Satanic stuff. Wouldn’t we all, right? Overall though, a nice effort by writer/director Ti West, who is quickly establishing himself as a name to watch in the horror genre.

Check out the trailer for The House of the Devil!