DevilMovie Reviews

Poster art for "The Night Chronicles: Devil."

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Avg. Critic Score: 44 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 Iffy for 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Philadelphia Inquirer |

    Guaranteed to keep you on tenterhooks from beginning to end - and without much gore. Dowdle and company trade in the usual trappings of the genre for a tantalizing blend of tension, suspense, and mystery. Read full review

  • 70
    Chicago Reader |

    The great cinematographer Tak Fujimoto has the time of his life on this low-budget horror feature, playing with dolly shots, abrupt zooms, and negative space inside the widescreen frame, and the fun is infectious. Read full review

  • 60
    Boxoffice Magazine | John P. McCarthy

    There are a sufficient number of jolts thanks to quick edits and sound effects, plus the script's efficient structure. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Dennis Harvey

    Devil is nothing very special or original, but it gets the job done briskly and economically. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Adam Markovitz

    A pocket-size supernatural thriller that plays a bit like Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" retold by an unstable Sunday School teacher. Read full review

  • 50
    Orlando Sentinel | Roger Moore

    Devil is the sort of story Rod Serling would have taken for a spin in "The Twilight Zone," back in the day. Shyamalan came up with the idea, produced it and got others to script and direct this 76 minute exercise in movie minimalism. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Robert Abele

    By the time the patented Shyamalan Extra-Strength Third Act Twist is revealed, being asked to care about fate, redemption and forgiveness when a satan-in-an-elevator gimmick hasn't delivered is like getting medicinal aftertaste from what should have been a box of delectably fiery Red Hots. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | Jeannette Catsoulis

    A serviceable burst of high-end hokum, Devil classes up a flimsy, religion-themed plot (by M. Night Shyamalan) with the kind of limber cinematography only someone like Tak Fujimoto can deliver. Read full review

  • 50
    L.A. Weekly | Nick Pinkerton

    Devil is a Night Gallery reject worth experiencing only to gape at a "spirituality" that falls somewhere between Dostoyevsky and Jack Chick, and to laugh that such daring feats of narrative illogic were undertaken with a straight face. Read full review

  • 38
    ReelViews | James Berardinelli

    Devil will do little to dispel the growing belief that Shyamalan is a one-trick pony whose horse has keeled over. The laughter during the trailer was sadly prescient; the film is a joke. Read full review

View more reviews for Devil on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+ Spooky trapped-in-elevator horror tale promotes forgiveness.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this horror movie -- which was produced by M. Night Shyamalan (who also wrote the story) -- is about five people who are trapped in an elevator ... with the devil among them. There's a fair bit of blood and gore (though not as much as in some R-rated horror movies) and several disturbing images of dead or broken bodies. Expect some language (including "s--t") and a few sexual references, as well as a character who's a recovering alcoholic. Another character drives drunk, with tragic consequences. All of that said, older teens who can stomach the scares may find some thought-provoking ideas here about the power of forgiveness over revenge.
  • Families can talk about the movie's violence, blood, and gore. How did it make you feel? How does it compare to what you've seen in other horror movies?
  • Did the devil give the five people a chance to redeem themselves? What message is the movie sending about revenge? What about forgiveness?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Amid the gore, there are some ideas worth thinking about. One man manages to break the cycle of destruction by admitting his crimes and "realizing his true self." Later, another character practices forgiveness rather than revenge. Characters work together to solve problems, and they persevere in the face of death. There's also something of a spiritual message in the film's final minutes.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Detective Bowden seems to be the strongest character here. He tried to drink himself to death after losing his wife and son but is now a recovering alcoholic -- he's a member of AA and is back at work. On the job, he works hard to overcome the odds and to save lives. But most importantly, he learns to forgive rather than take revenge.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Whenever anyone dies in the elevator, the lights wink out, so viewers only see the results. But those results can be bloody and gory: There's a bloody corpse stabbed in the neck with a chunk of broken glass, a character hanging by the neck by a power cord, and a character's head twisted around backward. Viewers also see "imaginary" images of bloody corpses and a devil's face. A character falls out a window, and another is electrocuted -- again viewers mainly see the results, rather than the incidents themselves.
  • sex false1 Sex: A woman in the elevator accuses a man of grabbing her bottom.
  • language false3 Language: A few uses of "s--t," plus "ass," "butt," "jerk," "hell," "scumbag," "damn," and "oh my God."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: A cop is a recovering alcoholic. He explains how he tried to drink himself to death after the loss of his wife and child. In the movie, he's 90 days sober and meets with his sponsor. Another character causes a drunk-driving accident. Viewers see him reaching for a beer while driving.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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