October 31, 2025 • 21 mins
M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 “Devil” tops our countdown to Halloween list! It could be considered a controversial pick when it comes to the critical review of the movie, but we think this is the perfect horror movie for everyone and anyone! Hear why it tops our list and what to pair it with to set up the perfect spooky Halloween night, then let us know what you think about “Devil” and the entire list of our not-so-obvious horror hits.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hey there, folks. It is Friday, October thirty Firth Halloween.
We made it to the top of our list. Are
number one on our horror hit list of movies we
love that maybe you don't know about. And this one,
number one on our list comes to us from none
other than M Night Shamalan, but you probably never heard
(00:33):
of it. And with that, welcome to this episode of
Amy and TJ. Deep Cuts, wrapping it up with a
number one here. Everybody thinks they know every M. Night
Shamalan movie for the most part, don't they.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
That's right. But when you say this word, or at
least it's a one word title, a lot of folks
will say, huh, what never saw that one?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
If you even give people an opportunity to start naming
his movies, how long before they come up with this one?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I think it would be a while. If ever so.
The movie our number one movie on our Halloween Horror
hit list is Devil from twoenty ten. People are going, huh,
it's just an hour twenty minutes and oh my goodness,
it's rated PG thirteen.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I don't know what to say, folks. I I yes,
I very early in the countdown, I railed against PG
thirteen horror movies. I just I usually just don't watch them.
I don't stop.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Two in our top five and three in the top
ten are PG thirteen two.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I mean, so I got an egg on my face.
I completely in real time. That just went out the window.
But this is a PG thirteen thriller.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yes, that is pretty much what it is. It is
a we have gone like, can we be fully honest
here and talk about our We have gone back and
forth because when we started making this list, we hadn't
looked at any of the critical reviews. We didn't consider
any of that when we made this list, and we
came up with our top five pretty quickly, and we
(02:12):
agreed on our number one without any debate. Then when
we started to research the movies, we actually question whether
or not we should move this from the number one spot.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Because it wasn't that well reviewed. People didn't know a
whole lot about it, and it just seemed to be
a dud of an m Night Shyamalan movie. No, no, no, no,
we're standing by it. I asked you.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You said nope, Because when we came up with this
list just based on our feelings and our reactions to
movies that we watch a lot of. We felt like
both of us this was the number one movie. We
have questioned that now that we've read what other people
think of this movie, so you know, but we're gonna
stand by what our original decision was, which was to
(02:57):
make Devil number one. Even my oldest Eva, who loves
horror movies, when she found out what our number one was,
she said, really.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Hey, it was before it's time. Okay, this is a
wonderful little film, and we will explain why it's so wonderful.
And one more tease here. The whole thing takes place
in an elevator.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yes, there's very little other action. I mean, they do
have some scenes they cut back and forth from, but
mostly all the horror is happening in an elevator. So
here's the synopsis. Five Strangers Day begins with an elevator
ride in a Philadelphia office tower, but what happens next
is anything but ordinary. The elevator gets stuck, and the
trapped passengers, who expected to be together for just a
(03:43):
few minutes, now face the revelation of their secrets and transgressions.
Frightening events turn annoyance into terror as they begin to
realize that one of their number is Lucifer himself.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Wow. They I appreciate that they that that was the
snap they gave that out. So that is what we're
dealing with. How many in the elevator was five?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
There was five strangers? Yes, and I you know, a
lot of the complaints that I saw from folks and
critics was that there wasn't enough character development. But I
actually really was invested in who which one was the devil,
what their past transgressions were that got them in this elevator,
because you realized that they were all there by design.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Character development is what they had issue with. Yeah, I'm
reacted to everybody, so did I.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And look the box office. It did better than I thought,
sixty two point six million internationally. But M Night Shyamalan
has a draw. When you see his name attached to
a movie, a lot of folks will go check it
out just because it's M Night Shyamalan and the cast
Chris Messina, you know his face, you might not know
his name. He was in Boogeyman, most recently a Big
Lawn Order guy. He was an argo. Ben Affleck loves
(04:54):
to put him in his movies and then Jenny O'Hara
is also in the elevator. Again, these are folks. When
you see their faces, you know them. You just don't
necessarily know their names.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
You know, there's an act. I never knew his name
for sure, Bokeem would bind. Okay, he you will immediately
recognize him. He was being in a lot of black movies,
frankly Jason's lyric Dead Presidents, and he played in Life
with Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy. He has been all
(05:26):
over the place.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Another really familiar face.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Oh you knew him as soon as you saw his face.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yes, security guard.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Oh yeah, he was great. But you had an emotional
reaction to him. The old lady I had a reaction to,
the young girl was annoying to me. And the guy
in the suit, like everybody in there. In a very
short amount of time. As far as character development goes,
you get them.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
You have a feeling towards them, Yes, immediately, and it's visceral.
So I yes, I disagree with that. Produced and written
by M Mike Shamalan. The director was John Eric Dowdell.
But get this. The Rotten Tomatoes score there are forty
nine percent. Wow, I haven't seen it from the critics,
and the audience score is even lower at forty three percent.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Come on, folks, we got to get these numbers.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Up all right now. The critics consensus actually was pretty
good when you consider what that Rotten Tomato score just was.
It's better than many of the other films M Night
Shyamalan has been associated with. But Devil never gets more
than a few low budget thrills out of its fingdishly
promising premise.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
It is a promising premise. I am never going to
say I wish they had done this or wish they
had done that. I can maybe understand why someone might
say that, but this thing works still perfectly to me.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I actually loved the fact that it was low budget
in the sense that there weren't huge special effects. There
wasn't some big dramatic action scene. This actually the tension
and the fear and the horror slowly and creepily develops
in a way that I thought was so good. The
subtlety of it.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
It so brilliant tension throughout. I mean, you start with that, right,
just start with it was what was the other movie?
I said, just by the fact just the setup itself,
the scent, Yes, in the cave like this, just the
scenario adds or the terror. What don't we every time
we go in an elevator, don't we fear two things?
One it getting stuck, two getting stuck with a couple
(07:21):
of assholes in.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Here or the devil.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, they usually don't have to worry about that, but
it does. It plays on those fears. Even if the
elevator doesn't get stuck, you worry about who might get
on with you. And it is even that for me
set a stage.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
And maybe because we live in New York and we're
in elevators every single day of our lives, it struck
a higher horror level for us because think about it,
maybe a lot of people who live in suburbia or
whatever don't ever or rarely get into an elevator if
maybe they're in a hotel or a high rise. But
some people probably aren't in elevators very often.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Well, it is a horrible sceni we have to face
and make decisions about every single day of exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So, yes, we are very hyper aware of elevator issues.
Some critic reviews here for you, and I did find
some good ones that I put in here, and I
did put a bad one in as well. If most
of Shyamalan's films take a long time to get laughable punchlines,
Devil is quite the opposite, rushing headlong through all manner
of crazy plot points and red herring characters, an ideal
(08:23):
streaming time passer, short and packed with twists.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
That's a good one. That's a good way to put it.
We're not trying to say this should have been nominated
for an Oscar. We're trying to say this is an intelligent, tense,
feel little nugget of a film.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yes, here's another one. A taut, expert and engrossing thriller
with a sense of visual restraint that is refreshing in
this age of a borrent overexposure.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You know what, and m Nighthemalan has done some creative
things with cinematography before, this ain't one of them. Ye,
he was confined in an area in putting this film together.
I didn't think about it that way. That's a good so.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I actually love yes, what some of these critics said,
because it made they articulated why we loved it better
than I could. Here's another one. The dialogue is terse
and convincing given the premise and doubtell who's the director,
ratchets up the suspense with economical efficiency. The final twist,
while a stretch, is highly satisfying.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It is you're like, okay, okay, they got me kind
of a thing. Would you still like it? Yes?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yes, And I would urge anybody who hasn't seen this
don't google it because pretty quickly they give it away.
It's really annoying. And my Shamalan's twists are the best
part about his movie. So please, please, please, if you
haven't heard of this movie, if you haven't read anything
about it, don't do it. Now. Watch the movie first.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Okay, we should. We will make sure we should put
that in the description of this episode that do not
look this film up. For this thing to work, you
have to go into it not knowing how it's going
to end.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yes, if you already know the final twist, it's okay.
Obviously we've rewatched this movie multiple times, so we love it.
But it's so much better if you don't know the twist.
Here's a negative review. Devil features nothing new, exciting, or suspenseful. Instead,
it gives us shallow, we developed characters and an ultimately
forgettable story.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Couldn't disagree more, Okay, fine, shallow we developed it's five
people who have an hour and twenty minutes. Yes, you
can't go to everybody's.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I thought it was really cool how we learned about
how each of those people, each of those characters ends
up in the elevator, because you'll learn this isn't giving
away too much that they were chosen.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, by the devil.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Here's some audience reviews, one of the best. And by
the way, even though the audience review scores were lower
than the critics review, I found so many more positive reviews,
and a lot of them recent. So this was out
in twenty ten. What I love about Rotten Tomatoes is
that obviously people watch it streaming or they purchase it,
and then they put new reviews in which are I
(11:00):
think viewed through the lens of perhaps the perspective that
when you initially saw the movie you might not have.
So I think some of them are really interesting. One
of the best stories of m Night, A little bit
like Stephen King's style, low budget but very intriguing. Only
the ending could be different, in my honest opinion, very
good anyway, I but I the ending was perfect.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Still, the whole thing was intriguing. That was a mystery
in there that I love it, guessing couldn't figure it out.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Help. Here's another one. A total underrated movie.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Great cast, amazing soundtrack, and wonderful direction make this a
must see.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Don't believe the ratings. Just watch it and decide for yourself.
You will thank me later. We could have written that.
Here's another one. This movie is severely underrated. It has
pretty decent acting, a good plot, lots of love and care,
and a very good twist ending with many good kills
and jump scares.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah there's no bad acting as well. Yeah, there's no
bad acting in this movie.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Agreed. Okay, here's an fun another good one. It's fun,
honestly a fun movie, very nice idea, and even though
it could have been developed more, it makes for a
cute thriller. The ending is isn't the poetic justice we expect,
but a more realistic take on forgiveness and moving forward.
There were larger themes. Am I is pretty good with that.
Yes you have horror, Yes you have thrills in a twist,
(12:16):
but he usually does have heart and a reason for
why he's writing this story and selling it.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And you do have a moment that you do stop
and think and reflect. There is a moment that they
built into the again, the bigger moral It does have
a bigger moral thing.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah, and I liked that because there was real storytelling involved.
Sometimes horror movies are just slashers. This isn't about the kills.
This is about the story, and that's what I think
one of the reasons why we loved it. Now here's
a bad review from an audience member. Devil has to
be one of the most stupidest, which I thought was
ironic that that was the phrase used. Devil has to
be one of the most stupidest but funniest movies I've
(12:55):
ever watched. The movie tries so hard to be scary,
but it ends up being too funny. And there are
also so too many characters throughout which aren't that interest
interesting and they are pretty pointless characters. Overall, Devil is
a movie that tries too hard to be scary but
ends up being hilariously stupid.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Okay, it's it's okay, fine if you have that opinion,
but if going into it, I just heads up, homie,
it's PG. Thirteen. It's trying to be scary, No it's not.
If it were, it was, it would be a great
r It's not trying to be scary.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It's such a good point. You have to go into
it with the right mindset. All right. When we come back,
we're gonna talk about why this is our number one,
not just that it made our list, but why we
chose this movie to be number one, Who it's for,
who it's not for, what to pair it with, and
where to watch it. Continuing now with our number one
(13:53):
movie on our Halloween Horror hit list, we have been
counting down all month long to our number one movie, Devil.
Why was this your number one movie?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Babe? It was a surprise. It was a surprising film
when I first saw it and then left an impression.
I don't know what my expectations were going into it,
but generally speaking, I mean, I respect m Night Sheemalan,
but I'm not running to see an Night Shremalan movie.
Usually signs I loved Village, I get and it all
(14:23):
of his movies. I've appreciate it, but I'm not some
hardcore m Night fan, and so seeing this one, I
this made me a big time m Night Cemalan fan.
I don't think I saw it when it first first
came out. I think I was a couple of years late,
but I think this turned the corner for me as
for M Night C. Shemalan, because it's just these are
(14:44):
the types of things when you consider a scenario and
you can't figure it out, like, how are they going
to reveal this thing? There are five characters, somebody is
in control of this thing, how are we going to
figure it out? And then members start falling off into
still you can't figure it out. I love that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I agree this. I remembered this movie because of how
it made me feel. I was absolutely in a movie
that had very little action, on the edge of my
seat trying to figure out where the evil was coming
from and not being able to do so. I appreciated
that so much. I have been an M Night fan.
I love the sixth Sense, I love the Village, I
(15:25):
love Signs, all of those movies. The visit, I will
go out and see M Night. Oh well, yeah, that
was the most disappointing of them all. But I will
go out to see an M Night movie if I
see it's in the theaters, I will go. They're not
all great.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
We went to that one we saw trap and everything
that happened in that arena. It was classic m night.
We were on the edge of ours so good.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
The first half of it was amazing. I do think
that's where oftentimes his stories sometimes fall apart, is the
twist isn't that grade or it's kind of an annoying twist,
Like I remember in Signs it was that the aliens
couldn't turn a doorknob and water destroyed them. I'm like, really,
they're going to go to a planet that's three quarters
water when that's their kryptonite. Anyway, I've had issues with
(16:09):
even movies that I like about his twist. This twist
was awesome, and I think I loved this twist the
most out of any twist I've seen, or at least
it got me. And I always just think this is
a fun movie to watch and to introduce to people.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I think that's it. This was a twist maybe that
I like. I didn't mind the twists and Signs about
the water and the can't turn a doorknob and all that.
I mean, you had a problem with that, but you
do realize that aliens were coming and making crop circles. Yes,
that part you had no problem with it.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
They were communicating to the mother ships. That made total
sense to me, but no I do. And so this
movie is fun because I have recommended this movie. I
don't know if you have to to folks who have
never seen an m Night movie, who don't really like
horror movies. I just think this has a universal appeal
because again, it's more of a thriller. It's still a
horror movie for sure. You've got supernatural, you've got deaths,
(17:02):
you've got mystery entury, but there's a thriller element to this.
Like even my parents that don't like horror movies, they
love this movie. It's that good. So who was it for?
It's for everyone.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Wouldn't you say, there's no one. I wouldn't recommend this
movie to hardcore horror movie fans. There's something there for you.
If you hate horror movies, there's something in here for you.
I just I can't even give my heads up to
people who don't like blood and gore. And it's not
going to be a problem. Anybody can watch this movie
and it's PG.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Thirteen, So it's fun for the whole family. Who is
it not for? I guess anyone who's going to be
critical and go into it with some sort of expectation
that it has to be this, that and the other,
and really other than that, I can't I can't imagine.
I was shocked reading people's reaction to it, saying it
(17:52):
was stupid. I just didn't think it was stupid at all.
I thought it was super smart.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Of course, to pull that off is in the writing. Yeah,
I appreciate a good story, but yeah, some people. I
think some people are going to have to take issue
with this or go what or I didn't see that,
or I don't know. People to be critical, it's what
people do.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
It's fine, that's fine, it's fine, that's okay. We stand
by our number one and in terms of I love
this about the movie, to food, drink, and how to
watch it, where to watch it. You can watch this alone,
You can watch this in the day or at night.
To me, this can be watched anywhere, anytime, with anyone
or no one.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yes, and then again we always note this, but it
can be watched in the day for a reason because
it happens in a lit elevator the whole movie, so
you can see without the glare of the sun if
you're watching.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yes, and so in terms of what to pair with,
you know what, go lean in hard with the devil theme.
You know, it's Halloween, so just like be all in
deviled eggs, red velvet cake, fireball shots. Those are my suggestions.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Jesus crime Ay, well, at my party, we're gonna serve
healthy snacks. No, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
It might be a hell of a morning the next
day after your deviled eggs, red velvet cake and fireball shots.
I didn't even think about that. But you know, it's
a hell of a good time enjoying the movie, so
have fun.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Where do you find this didn't we have a hard time.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
We could not find it, and so we went ahead
and purchased it on Apple TV. I think Fandango at
Home you can also purchase it. So for me, this
one was so good that this is when we'll go
back to. We've gone back to enough times so we
didn't even want to wait. Look, it's great when you
can get it on Netflix or something that most people
(19:32):
have a streaming service. But I think this one costs.
You can run it for three ninety nine or you
can buy it for fourteen ninety nine, which we chose
to purchase it you.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Use the word cute earlier in somebody's review. I think
that's a it's a weird I've never thought about it
that way. This is a cute little movie. This is
a cute little packaged film for you to like. It's
so digestible, So yes, even for Halloween. If you're not
looking for ghosts and ghouls and sl and girls running
(20:02):
through the forest and scantily clad type of thing you
want to get away from that, this is a good
one that can as an absolutely digestible movie for everybody
at night.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I agree, So everyone check out Devil and thank you
for listening along with us here for these thirty one
days listing our top thirty one not so well known
Halloween horror movies. But you know, we could probably put
a list like this together once a year and still
be able to fill it with movies that aren't that well.
(20:32):
There are so many horror movies to consume, so we
hope you guys, if you have been into them, great,
keep watching them. But maybe this brought some more people
onto our favorite genre we are recruiting.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
We want everybody to be a horror movie fan. Been
a huge year for horror movies, and here We are
wrapping it up all around horror movie time, so enjoy
your movies. Hope you all take in If you don't
like Devil, maybe you can take in another one of
the others that are on the list. There are thirty there.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
For you to choose, all right, And with that everyone,
thanks for listening. Hope you all have a happy Halloween.
I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Holmes.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
We will talk to you soon.
Hey there, folks. It is Friday, October thirty Firth Halloween.
We made it to the top of our list. Are
number one on our horror hit list of movies we
love that maybe you don't know about. And this one,
number one on our list comes to us from none
other than M Night Shamalan, but you probably never heard
(00:33):
of it. And with that, welcome to this episode of
Amy and TJ. Deep Cuts, wrapping it up with a
number one here. Everybody thinks they know every M. Night
Shamalan movie for the most part, don't they.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
That's right. But when you say this word, or at
least it's a one word title, a lot of folks
will say, huh, what never saw that one?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
If you even give people an opportunity to start naming
his movies, how long before they come up with this one?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I think it would be a while. If ever so.
The movie our number one movie on our Halloween Horror
hit list is Devil from twoenty ten. People are going, huh,
it's just an hour twenty minutes and oh my goodness,
it's rated PG thirteen.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I don't know what to say, folks. I I yes,
I very early in the countdown, I railed against PG
thirteen horror movies. I just I usually just don't watch them.
I don't stop.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Two in our top five and three in the top
ten are PG thirteen two.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I mean, so I got an egg on my face.
I completely in real time. That just went out the window.
But this is a PG thirteen thriller.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yes, that is pretty much what it is. It is
a we have gone like, can we be fully honest
here and talk about our We have gone back and
forth because when we started making this list, we hadn't
looked at any of the critical reviews. We didn't consider
any of that when we made this list, and we
came up with our top five pretty quickly, and we
(02:12):
agreed on our number one without any debate. Then when
we started to research the movies, we actually question whether
or not we should move this from the number one spot.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Because it wasn't that well reviewed. People didn't know a
whole lot about it, and it just seemed to be
a dud of an m Night Shyamalan movie. No, no, no, no,
we're standing by it. I asked you.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You said nope, Because when we came up with this
list just based on our feelings and our reactions to
movies that we watch a lot of. We felt like
both of us this was the number one movie. We
have questioned that now that we've read what other people
think of this movie, so you know, but we're gonna
stand by what our original decision was, which was to
(02:57):
make Devil number one. Even my oldest Eva, who loves
horror movies, when she found out what our number one was,
she said, really.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Hey, it was before it's time. Okay, this is a
wonderful little film, and we will explain why it's so wonderful.
And one more tease here. The whole thing takes place
in an elevator.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yes, there's very little other action. I mean, they do
have some scenes they cut back and forth from, but
mostly all the horror is happening in an elevator. So
here's the synopsis. Five Strangers Day begins with an elevator
ride in a Philadelphia office tower, but what happens next
is anything but ordinary. The elevator gets stuck, and the
trapped passengers, who expected to be together for just a
(03:43):
few minutes, now face the revelation of their secrets and transgressions.
Frightening events turn annoyance into terror as they begin to
realize that one of their number is Lucifer himself.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Wow. They I appreciate that they that that was the
snap they gave that out. So that is what we're
dealing with. How many in the elevator was five?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
There was five strangers? Yes, and I you know, a
lot of the complaints that I saw from folks and
critics was that there wasn't enough character development. But I
actually really was invested in who which one was the devil,
what their past transgressions were that got them in this elevator,
because you realized that they were all there by design.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Character development is what they had issue with. Yeah, I'm
reacted to everybody, so did I.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And look the box office. It did better than I thought,
sixty two point six million internationally. But M Night Shyamalan
has a draw. When you see his name attached to
a movie, a lot of folks will go check it
out just because it's M Night Shyamalan and the cast
Chris Messina, you know his face, you might not know
his name. He was in Boogeyman, most recently a Big
Lawn Order guy. He was an argo. Ben Affleck loves
(04:54):
to put him in his movies and then Jenny O'Hara
is also in the elevator. Again, these are folks. When
you see their faces, you know them. You just don't
necessarily know their names.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
You know, there's an act. I never knew his name
for sure, Bokeem would bind. Okay, he you will immediately
recognize him. He was being in a lot of black movies,
frankly Jason's lyric Dead Presidents, and he played in Life
with Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy. He has been all
(05:26):
over the place.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Another really familiar face.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Oh you knew him as soon as you saw his face.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yes, security guard.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Oh yeah, he was great. But you had an emotional
reaction to him. The old lady I had a reaction to,
the young girl was annoying to me. And the guy
in the suit, like everybody in there. In a very
short amount of time. As far as character development goes,
you get them.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
You have a feeling towards them, Yes, immediately, and it's visceral.
So I yes, I disagree with that. Produced and written
by M Mike Shamalan. The director was John Eric Dowdell.
But get this. The Rotten Tomatoes score there are forty
nine percent. Wow, I haven't seen it from the critics,
and the audience score is even lower at forty three percent.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Come on, folks, we got to get these numbers.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Up all right now. The critics consensus actually was pretty
good when you consider what that Rotten Tomato score just was.
It's better than many of the other films M Night
Shyamalan has been associated with. But Devil never gets more
than a few low budget thrills out of its fingdishly
promising premise.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
It is a promising premise. I am never going to
say I wish they had done this or wish they
had done that. I can maybe understand why someone might
say that, but this thing works still perfectly to me.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I actually loved the fact that it was low budget
in the sense that there weren't huge special effects. There
wasn't some big dramatic action scene. This actually the tension
and the fear and the horror slowly and creepily develops
in a way that I thought was so good. The
subtlety of it.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
It so brilliant tension throughout. I mean, you start with that, right,
just start with it was what was the other movie?
I said, just by the fact just the setup itself,
the scent, Yes, in the cave like this, just the
scenario adds or the terror. What don't we every time
we go in an elevator, don't we fear two things?
One it getting stuck, two getting stuck with a couple
(07:21):
of assholes in.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Here or the devil.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, they usually don't have to worry about that, but
it does. It plays on those fears. Even if the
elevator doesn't get stuck, you worry about who might get
on with you. And it is even that for me
set a stage.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
And maybe because we live in New York and we're
in elevators every single day of our lives, it struck
a higher horror level for us because think about it,
maybe a lot of people who live in suburbia or
whatever don't ever or rarely get into an elevator if
maybe they're in a hotel or a high rise. But
some people probably aren't in elevators very often.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Well, it is a horrible sceni we have to face
and make decisions about every single day of exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
So, yes, we are very hyper aware of elevator issues.
Some critic reviews here for you, and I did find
some good ones that I put in here, and I
did put a bad one in as well. If most
of Shyamalan's films take a long time to get laughable punchlines,
Devil is quite the opposite, rushing headlong through all manner
of crazy plot points and red herring characters, an ideal
(08:23):
streaming time passer, short and packed with twists.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
That's a good one. That's a good way to put it.
We're not trying to say this should have been nominated
for an Oscar. We're trying to say this is an intelligent, tense,
feel little nugget of a film.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yes, here's another one. A taut, expert and engrossing thriller
with a sense of visual restraint that is refreshing in
this age of a borrent overexposure.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You know what, and m Nighthemalan has done some creative
things with cinematography before, this ain't one of them. Ye,
he was confined in an area in putting this film together.
I didn't think about it that way. That's a good so.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
I actually love yes, what some of these critics said,
because it made they articulated why we loved it better
than I could. Here's another one. The dialogue is terse
and convincing given the premise and doubtell who's the director,
ratchets up the suspense with economical efficiency. The final twist,
while a stretch, is highly satisfying.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It is you're like, okay, okay, they got me kind
of a thing. Would you still like it? Yes?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yes, And I would urge anybody who hasn't seen this
don't google it because pretty quickly they give it away.
It's really annoying. And my Shamalan's twists are the best
part about his movie. So please, please, please, if you
haven't heard of this movie, if you haven't read anything
about it, don't do it. Now. Watch the movie first.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Okay, we should. We will make sure we should put
that in the description of this episode that do not
look this film up. For this thing to work, you
have to go into it not knowing how it's going
to end.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yes, if you already know the final twist, it's okay.
Obviously we've rewatched this movie multiple times, so we love it.
But it's so much better if you don't know the twist.
Here's a negative review. Devil features nothing new, exciting, or suspenseful. Instead,
it gives us shallow, we developed characters and an ultimately
forgettable story.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Couldn't disagree more, Okay, fine, shallow we developed it's five
people who have an hour and twenty minutes. Yes, you
can't go to everybody's.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I thought it was really cool how we learned about
how each of those people, each of those characters ends
up in the elevator, because you'll learn this isn't giving
away too much that they were chosen.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, by the devil.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Here's some audience reviews, one of the best. And by
the way, even though the audience review scores were lower
than the critics review, I found so many more positive reviews,
and a lot of them recent. So this was out
in twenty ten. What I love about Rotten Tomatoes is
that obviously people watch it streaming or they purchase it,
and then they put new reviews in which are I
(11:00):
think viewed through the lens of perhaps the perspective that
when you initially saw the movie you might not have.
So I think some of them are really interesting. One
of the best stories of m Night, A little bit
like Stephen King's style, low budget but very intriguing. Only
the ending could be different, in my honest opinion, very
good anyway, I but I the ending was perfect.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Still, the whole thing was intriguing. That was a mystery
in there that I love it, guessing couldn't figure it out.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Help. Here's another one. A total underrated movie.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Great cast, amazing soundtrack, and wonderful direction make this a
must see.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Don't believe the ratings. Just watch it and decide for yourself.
You will thank me later. We could have written that.
Here's another one. This movie is severely underrated. It has
pretty decent acting, a good plot, lots of love and care,
and a very good twist ending with many good kills
and jump scares.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah there's no bad acting as well. Yeah, there's no
bad acting in this movie.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Agreed. Okay, here's an fun another good one. It's fun,
honestly a fun movie, very nice idea, and even though
it could have been developed more, it makes for a
cute thriller. The ending is isn't the poetic justice we expect,
but a more realistic take on forgiveness and moving forward.
There were larger themes. Am I is pretty good with that.
Yes you have horror, Yes you have thrills in a twist,
(12:16):
but he usually does have heart and a reason for
why he's writing this story and selling it.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And you do have a moment that you do stop
and think and reflect. There is a moment that they
built into the again, the bigger moral It does have
a bigger moral thing.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah, and I liked that because there was real storytelling involved.
Sometimes horror movies are just slashers. This isn't about the kills.
This is about the story, and that's what I think
one of the reasons why we loved it. Now here's
a bad review from an audience member. Devil has to
be one of the most stupidest, which I thought was
ironic that that was the phrase used. Devil has to
be one of the most stupidest but funniest movies I've
(12:55):
ever watched. The movie tries so hard to be scary,
but it ends up being too funny. And there are
also so too many characters throughout which aren't that interest
interesting and they are pretty pointless characters. Overall, Devil is
a movie that tries too hard to be scary but
ends up being hilariously stupid.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Okay, it's it's okay, fine if you have that opinion,
but if going into it, I just heads up, homie,
it's PG. Thirteen. It's trying to be scary, No it's not.
If it were, it was, it would be a great
r It's not trying to be scary.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It's such a good point. You have to go into
it with the right mindset. All right. When we come back,
we're gonna talk about why this is our number one,
not just that it made our list, but why we
chose this movie to be number one, Who it's for,
who it's not for, what to pair it with, and
where to watch it. Continuing now with our number one
(13:53):
movie on our Halloween Horror hit list, we have been
counting down all month long to our number one movie, Devil.
Why was this your number one movie?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Babe? It was a surprise. It was a surprising film
when I first saw it and then left an impression.
I don't know what my expectations were going into it,
but generally speaking, I mean, I respect m Night Sheemalan,
but I'm not running to see an Night Shremalan movie.
Usually signs I loved Village, I get and it all
(14:23):
of his movies. I've appreciate it, but I'm not some
hardcore m Night fan, and so seeing this one, I
this made me a big time m Night Cemalan fan.
I don't think I saw it when it first first
came out. I think I was a couple of years late,
but I think this turned the corner for me as
for M Night C. Shemalan, because it's just these are
(14:44):
the types of things when you consider a scenario and
you can't figure it out, like, how are they going
to reveal this thing? There are five characters, somebody is
in control of this thing, how are we going to
figure it out? And then members start falling off into
still you can't figure it out. I love that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I agree this. I remembered this movie because of how
it made me feel. I was absolutely in a movie
that had very little action, on the edge of my
seat trying to figure out where the evil was coming
from and not being able to do so. I appreciated
that so much. I have been an M Night fan.
I love the sixth Sense, I love the Village, I
(15:25):
love Signs, all of those movies. The visit, I will
go out and see M Night. Oh well, yeah, that
was the most disappointing of them all. But I will
go out to see an M Night movie if I
see it's in the theaters, I will go. They're not
all great.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
We went to that one we saw trap and everything
that happened in that arena. It was classic m night.
We were on the edge of ours so good.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
The first half of it was amazing. I do think
that's where oftentimes his stories sometimes fall apart, is the
twist isn't that grade or it's kind of an annoying twist,
Like I remember in Signs it was that the aliens
couldn't turn a doorknob and water destroyed them. I'm like, really,
they're going to go to a planet that's three quarters
water when that's their kryptonite. Anyway, I've had issues with
(16:09):
even movies that I like about his twist. This twist
was awesome, and I think I loved this twist the
most out of any twist I've seen, or at least
it got me. And I always just think this is
a fun movie to watch and to introduce to people.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I think that's it. This was a twist maybe that
I like. I didn't mind the twists and Signs about
the water and the can't turn a doorknob and all that.
I mean, you had a problem with that, but you
do realize that aliens were coming and making crop circles. Yes,
that part you had no problem with it.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
They were communicating to the mother ships. That made total
sense to me, but no I do. And so this
movie is fun because I have recommended this movie. I
don't know if you have to to folks who have
never seen an m Night movie, who don't really like
horror movies. I just think this has a universal appeal
because again, it's more of a thriller. It's still a
horror movie for sure. You've got supernatural, you've got deaths,
(17:02):
you've got mystery entury, but there's a thriller element to this.
Like even my parents that don't like horror movies, they
love this movie. It's that good. So who was it for?
It's for everyone.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Wouldn't you say, there's no one. I wouldn't recommend this
movie to hardcore horror movie fans. There's something there for you.
If you hate horror movies, there's something in here for you.
I just I can't even give my heads up to
people who don't like blood and gore. And it's not
going to be a problem. Anybody can watch this movie
and it's PG.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Thirteen, So it's fun for the whole family. Who is
it not for? I guess anyone who's going to be
critical and go into it with some sort of expectation
that it has to be this, that and the other,
and really other than that, I can't I can't imagine.
I was shocked reading people's reaction to it, saying it
(17:52):
was stupid. I just didn't think it was stupid at all.
I thought it was super smart.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Of course, to pull that off is in the writing. Yeah,
I appreciate a good story, but yeah, some people. I
think some people are going to have to take issue
with this or go what or I didn't see that,
or I don't know. People to be critical, it's what
people do.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
It's fine, that's fine, it's fine, that's okay. We stand
by our number one and in terms of I love
this about the movie, to food, drink, and how to
watch it, where to watch it. You can watch this alone,
You can watch this in the day or at night.
To me, this can be watched anywhere, anytime, with anyone
or no one.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yes, and then again we always note this, but it
can be watched in the day for a reason because
it happens in a lit elevator the whole movie, so
you can see without the glare of the sun if
you're watching.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yes, and so in terms of what to pair with,
you know what, go lean in hard with the devil theme.
You know, it's Halloween, so just like be all in
deviled eggs, red velvet cake, fireball shots. Those are my suggestions.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Jesus crime Ay, well, at my party, we're gonna serve
healthy snacks. No, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
It might be a hell of a morning the next
day after your deviled eggs, red velvet cake and fireball shots.
I didn't even think about that. But you know, it's
a hell of a good time enjoying the movie, so
have fun.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Where do you find this didn't we have a hard time.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
We could not find it, and so we went ahead
and purchased it on Apple TV. I think Fandango at
Home you can also purchase it. So for me, this
one was so good that this is when we'll go
back to. We've gone back to enough times so we
didn't even want to wait. Look, it's great when you
can get it on Netflix or something that most people
(19:32):
have a streaming service. But I think this one costs.
You can run it for three ninety nine or you
can buy it for fourteen ninety nine, which we chose
to purchase it you.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Use the word cute earlier in somebody's review. I think
that's a it's a weird I've never thought about it
that way. This is a cute little movie. This is
a cute little packaged film for you to like. It's
so digestible, So yes, even for Halloween. If you're not
looking for ghosts and ghouls and sl and girls running
(20:02):
through the forest and scantily clad type of thing you
want to get away from that, this is a good
one that can as an absolutely digestible movie for everybody
at night.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I agree, So everyone check out Devil and thank you
for listening along with us here for these thirty one
days listing our top thirty one not so well known
Halloween horror movies. But you know, we could probably put
a list like this together once a year and still
be able to fill it with movies that aren't that well.
(20:32):
There are so many horror movies to consume, so we
hope you guys, if you have been into them, great,
keep watching them. But maybe this brought some more people
onto our favorite genre we are recruiting.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
We want everybody to be a horror movie fan. Been
a huge year for horror movies, and here We are
wrapping it up all around horror movie time, so enjoy
your movies. Hope you all take in If you don't
like Devil, maybe you can take in another one of
the others that are on the list. There are thirty there.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
For you to choose, all right, And with that everyone,
thanks for listening. Hope you all have a happy Halloween.
I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Holmes.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
We will talk to you soon.
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