Devil parents guide

Devil Parent Guide

Relying on a darkened screen and sounds of slaughter to help create suspense, the film offers some jump scenes and tension, but is too often overwhelmed by gruesome depictions of corpses and dying.

Overall C

Based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan, this horror film places a group of people in a broken elevator. As they spend time closeted together, each begins to realize one of the company is a really a devil that intends the others harm.

Release date September 17, 2010

Violence D+
Sexual Content B-
Profanity C+
Substance Use B

Why is Devil rated PG-13? The MPAA rated Devil PG-13 for violence and disturbing images, thematic material and some language including sexual references.

Run Time: 81 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

Audiences get a good dose of gore in M. Night Shyamalan’s movie Devil. They’re also served a strong moral message about the consequence of sin and the power of forgiveness—odd themes for a blood-splattered horror film where five seemingly random people end up together in a stalled elevator.

If Philadelphia still prides itself on being the City of Brotherly Love, it’s not evident among this crabby group of confined companions. Even before introducing themselves, the salesman (Geoffrey Arend), security guard (Bokeem Woodbine), young wife (Bojana Novakovic), mechanic (Logan Marshall-Green) and elderly woman (Jenny O’Hara) are snapping at one another, grumbling about the muzak and cussing the poor soul who last inspected the elevator.

From their vantage point in the security surveillance area, Officers Lustig (Matt Craven) and Ramirez (Jacob Vargas) try to calm the stranded passengers. However before they can get the group to exchange pleasantries, one of the five is dead on the floor, impaled by a piece of broken mirror. The sudden change in events forces the officers to call in backup from the Philadelphia Police Department.

Although Detective Bowden (Chris Messina) can’t hear what is going on inside the stuck cubicle, he can talk to the riders. And more than once he barks out instructions for the increasingly suspicious human beings to move away from one another. Yet even separation doesn’t keep the individuals in the lift from dying off one by one when the lights go out. Unfortunately, none of the deaths are pleasant and almost all of them produce great quantities of blood that gets smeared around the walls and on the hands of the survivors. Along with the trapped riders, unlucky characters outside the death trap also fall prey to an evil force.

Relying on a darkened screen and sounds of slaughter to help create suspense, the film offers some jump scenes and tension, but is too often overwhelmed by gruesome and graphic depictions of corpses and dying victims.

As the characters’ past lives come to light, it’s easy to say they’ve brought their fate on themselves. Still, this group gets more than their comeuppance when they share a lift with a devilish companion.

Directed by Drew Dowdle, John Erick Dowdle . Starring Chris Messina, Caroline Dhavernas, Bokeem Woodbine. Running time: 81 minutes. Theatrical release September 17, 2010. Updated

Devil
Rating & Content Info

Why is Devil rated PG-13? Devil is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for violence and disturbing images, thematic material and some language including sexual references.

Violence: Characters are stabbed, hung, electrocuted, and impaled after falling several stories. A man has his jugular vein slashed open. Blood is splattered and smeared over the inside of an elevator. A character is nearly crushed by a falling elevator. A man commits suicide by jumping from a high rise. A woman and child are killed in a gruesome car accident caused by a man who is drinking and driving.

Sexual Content: Characters engage in a conversation that includes a crude sexual remark. A woman wears a low cut top.

Language: The script includes less than a dozen each of scatological slang terms, profanities and terms of Deity.

Alcohol / Drug Use: A character has open alcohol in a car while driving and causes an accident as a result of trying to drink it.

Other: Devilish images appear on a computer screen.

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Devil Parents' Guide

How does the director use limited space to increase the tension among the characters in this story? Would you feel claustrophobic in a similar situation?

What can we learn about a person during stressful situations? Is his or her true character more likely to come out? Why or why not?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Devil movie is December 21, 2010. Here are some details…

Devil release to DVD and Blu-ray on December 21, 2010, with the following bonus extras:.

- Deleted scenes

- The Story: Filmmakers discuss the elements that make for a thrilling story.

- Devil’s Meeting: A look at the mythology behind the film.

- The Night Chronicles: M. Night Shyamalan discusses his vision for his new venture: The Night Chronicles.

Related home video titles:

Other filmmakers also put characters in confined spaces and let the tensions play out. In Lifeboat, a group of survivors from a sunken passenger ship discover the best and worst in each other while surrounded by miles of empty ocean. A jury of 12 Angry Men cramped in a hot courthouse struggle against one another while trying to come to an agreement on the fate of an accused criminal. When a mother wakes to find her daughter missing while flying over the ocean, she determines to search every inch of the limited space in the airplane in Flightplan.

A more gentle and inspirational lesson on forgiveness is found in the made-for-TV movie Amish Grace, based on the true story of a close-knit community that puts their religious beliefs into practice when a killer murders their children.