Remember M. Night Shyamalan? He made some decent films once. Signs possibly being his last decent one. Some eight and a bit years ago. Perhaps the bad reception of the films since then is why he’s decided to take a step back with The Night Chronicles. Which is where other people make the films based on his ideas.
The first of Night Chronicles films is Devil. The plot of this film is simple. A group of five strangers get trapped inside a building elevator and one of them is, well, the Devil. Shit hits the fan and it’s up to a police detective and security staff to try to get the people out of the elevator before they are all killed.
To be honest I was expecting this to be a load of rubbish. But in a Shyamalan-style twist I was actually pleasantly surprised by what I watched. It wasn’t spectacular but I did quite enjoy the film. I liked the idea and the way it was all concentrated in the same location. That, the fairly unknown cast and the relatively short running time (80 minutes) made it feel more like an episode of a decent mystery programme than a film. Like a supernatural Jonathan Creek.
On the downside there was very little in the way of scares and it was somewhat predictable. Well I successfully predicted the main plot points anyway. Despite this I would appreciate more films in the same style as this so hope the rest of The Night Chronicles can live up to, and better, this film.
It’s a tight, atmospheric mystery thriller that is worth giving a go. A post-Signs M. Night Shyamalan-associated film that isn’t awful? Well that’s certainly a twist.
7/10
365 Film Challenge 