Devil

In director John Erick Dowdle's unconvincing Devil, based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan, five strangers—an ex-Marine (Logan Marshall-Green), a claustrophobic temp security guard (Bokeem Woodbine), a sultry fashion plate (Bojana Novakovic), an unscrupulous salesman (Geoffrey Arend), and a salty old broad (Jenny O'Hara)—are trapped in an elevator stuck in a Philadelphia glass tower. As security personnel watch in horror from their computer console, the passengers descend into paranoia, turning on one another as the lights flicker. A detective (Chris Messina) investigating a suicide at the site takes over the effort to extricate them after they start being mysteriously killed. Is one a murderer? Or could the killer be … Satan? A religious observer opines that the quintet are playing out a purgatorial scenario in which sinful people are gathered together by the devil so that he can publicly torture them in this world before sending them to fire and brimstone in the next. The script tries to keep the audience guessing about whether the gruesome events are clever murders or supernatural occurrences, but the conceit wears thin since the obligatory twists are as old as Agatha Christie and way too coincidental, especially when two characters suddenly display an unexpected connection. A would-be parable of repentance and forgiveness that is mired in sheer silliness, this is not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes (4 min.), production featurettes on “The Story” (3 min.), “The Devil's Meeting” (3 min.), and “The Night Chronicles” on upcoming projects by writer M. Night Shyamalan (2 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus digital copy of the film, and the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a lame horror flick.] (F. Swietek)