Case Study: Devil (2010) Opening Scene and Use of the Lift Throughout the Film

This is as much detail as I could recall after seeing it in the Cinema a week ago.( I plan to go see it again and take notes)

Director: John Erick Dowdle

Writers: Brian Nelson (screenplay) and M. Night Shyamalan (story)

Devil is a supernatural thriller, my aim is to look at at least one of every type of thriller in one way or another.

It is about five people who go into a lift, one by one they die in the lift because one of them is the devil. Each character has committed at least one sin and they are being punished for what they have done.
The Opening Scene:

The film opens with this sentence on a black background, "Be sober,be vigilant; because your adversary the Devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Peter 5:8". This sentence is a warning to the audience, it could entice the audience to believe what is going on. Then it is a black screen while Ramires (Jason Vargas) talks about a story that his mother used to tell him about the devil roaming the earth, he says that someone commits suicide when the Devil is going to appear. A shot of New York city appears upside down with the title of the film, the camera drifts over New York upside down. This camera shot is very risky and rare but it works wonderfully, it connotes disorientation,confusion and upsets the audience. I think the point that Dowdle was trying to get across was that when the Devil is around, the world is upside down and out of place. At the end of the film the camera is hovering over New York but the right way up, telling the audience that the Devil has left and everything is normal again for now. As the camera is panning across New York there is a loud,shocking and jumpy soundtrack in the background, it creates fear and is meant to scare the audience. The camera then dips down from the skyline to a skyscraper and has a bird's eye view of the elevator shaft, the camera travels down the shaft fast and violently to keep the audience on their toes. The lift is a prime signifier of the classic thriller film and this tells the audience straight away that it is a thriller.When the camera reaches the bottom it pans round a corner to see a janitor cleaning the floor with headphones in. The shot is a long shot and this is used to convince the audience to focus on the janitor but in the background a worker from the building flies into the roof of a truck. The janitor is used to distract the audience and then shock them when the worker commits suicide. This makes the audience feel mixed emotions because within the first 4 minutes there is a death.

The main aspect of this film I wanted to look at was the way the lift is used. The lift is a perfect thriller location, it is extremely claustrophobic,can be crowded and cramped as well as the possibility of it breaking down. All of these things scare people and make them fear lifts in thriller films, that's what makes it so effective. But this lift is even worse because it becomes inhabited by the Devil.

Dowdle utilises this aspect of a thriller by trying to make it worse than possibly imaginable, when the lift breaks down in the film everything is calm but then as time passes it adds pressure and anxiety on the audience as they have no idea what is going to happen.

 When the deaths and injuries start occurring the lights flash on and off, this is very effective because it creates a feel of mystery which causes the audience to really engage in the film and try and look for details on who killed who. The use of flashing lights also surprises the audience as well as confusing them. The lift blacks out several times during the film for suspense throughout the film. 

Close ups of each of the characters faces really shows the tension between the characters and their emotions. Throughout the film there are high angle shots that connotes that the characters are are being watched and looked down upon because of their sins.

User Reviews:

The 'Night' chronicles!, 17 September 2010

Author: sravanth gajula from United States 

"I say Night Syamalan is back with a bang. After watching 'The last Airbender', I took a pledge that would be the last time I'm ever gonna pay to watch any movie, Night Syamalan is involved in. But today I broke my promise as I watched 'Devil'. And actually, I was not at all disappointed. In fact, I liked it. All right, I would say it...I loved this movie.

Night Syamalan has come up with a strong and interesting story. The plot looks so simple at the beginning, but it moves on, suspense unveils in a scary, yet logical fashion. The linking between all characters is portrayed in a very effective way. Nothing is ever a coincidence.

Direction is good. Acting is decent. Cinematography is appreciable, especially the wide variety of camera angles and frames attempted to portray a simple elevator as some claustrophobic scary machine. Sound effects are captivating.

I'm already waiting for the next 'Night' chronicle!"

This review of the film demonstrates the effect that the film has on the audience, it seems to convince the audience of its aspects of the thriller genre and excite the audience but scare them at the same time.

To Be Continued...