Even more than the title, what intrigued me about the film Devil was how they would make a movie out of five people stuck in an elevator. Of course, those of you familiar with any of M. Night Shyamalan's work (he only has writing and producing credit for this film) know that he prides himself on making the mundane seem enthralling. As a fan of his (despite some flops) and of horror films in general, I know my critique will be a little biased. That said, I think most viewers would find this film decent and pretty entertaining. I would say it is an okay film, but has a great message. It is the first of three films known as The Night Chronicles.

A suicide jumper leads Detective Bowden (Chris Messina) to an office building in a busy city. At the same time, five strangers enter an elevator which gets stuck somewhere around the twenty-third floor. Even though the callout function does not work and all the cell phones are out of service, the building's security quickly learns of their predicament. After the repair man is unable to alleviate the problem, the lights begin to flicker and chaos begins to ensue.

The group on the elevator consists of a temp worker new to the building's security team named Ben (Bokeem Woodbine), an older woman (Jenny O'Hara), a salesman named Vince (Geoffrey Arend), a pert young brunette named Sarah (Bojana Novakovich), and an ex-marine named Tony (Logan Marshall-Green). The audience quickly becomes privy to the fact that all of these people have a guilty secret. During one of the blackouts in the elevator, one the five is murdered! This is when Detective Bowden is called up into the building, the same one he is presently at investigating the jumper.

They all become suspicious of each other and the suspense in the tiny room understandably elevates (pardon my pun). Bowden attempts to calm the group down through the broken and now only one-way intercom system. SMALL SPOILER: More people die, but I'll tell you that there is at least one survivor who is connected in some way to one of the rescuers.

More than the movie itself, what I appreciated was the message conveyed. If I told you this movie was about forgiveness, openness, and letting go of the things that bind us, I'm not sure you'd believe me. However, this film is laced with religion throughout. In fact, Christianity specifically is not just the most-represented religion in this film; it is the only religion represented in this film. It opens up with 1 Peter 5:8 written on the screen: "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (Ironically, I just happened to read this verse in my devotion today before the movie.) The story is narrated by one of the security guards (Jacob Vargas) who retells the story he heard from his mother about the devil coming to Earth in human form to wreak havoc as he pleases. This old wives' tale seems to set the rules for the movie we are watching. It is no surprise to me that a Latino Catholic (based on his crucifix) drives the supernatural aspect of the story because my guess is the creators of the film found someone from a different culture openly talking about his faith more believable. At one point he is actually praying for those on the elevator in Spanish.

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