One of the best reviewed horror films of all time, Ti West’s THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL will return to the big screen this October to mark its 10th anniversary. Becoming an instant cult classic upon its release in 2009, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL will receive a nationwide re-release in 27 markets ten years later, beginning October 8th at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown Los Angeles, with a special in-person appearance by Ti West.
THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL will play single-showing engagements at Alamo Drafthouse cinemas and independent theaters in 27 major markets.
Cities include:
October 8 – Alamo DTLA/Los Angeles – 35mm; Ti in attendance
October 15 – Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn – 35mm
October 15 – Alamo Drafthouse Sloans Lake/Denver, CO
October 15 – Alamo Drafthouse Tempe/Tempe, AZ
October 16 – Alamo Drafthouse Westminster/Westminster, CO (Denver market)
October 18 – Alamo Drafthouse Lubbock/Lubbock, TX
October 22 – Alamo Drafthouse New Mission/San Francisco, CA – 35mm; Ti West in attendance
October 22 – Alamo Drafthouse Raleigh/Raleigh, NC
October 22 – Alamo Drafthouse Denton/Denton, TX (Dallas/Ft. Worth market)
October 23 – Alamo Drafthouse Lake Highlands/Dallas, TX
October 24 – Frida Cinema/Santa Ana, CA
October 26 – Alamo Drafthouse Omaha/Omaha, NE – 35mm
October 26 – Olympia Film Society @ The Capitol Theatre/Olympia, WA
October 28 – Alamo Drafthouse Cedars/Dallas, TX
October 28 – Alamo Drafthouse Woodbridge/Woodbridge, VA (Wash. DC market)
October 28 – Alamo Drafthouse North Richland Hills/North Richland Hills, TX
October 29 – Alamo Drafthouse Park North/San Antonio, TX
October 29 – Alamo Drafthouse Corpus Christi/Corpus Christi, TX
October 29 – Alamo Drafthouse Laredo/Laredo, TX
October 30 – Philadelphia Film Center/Philadelphia, PA – 35mm
October 30 – Alamo Drafthouse Littleton/Denver, CO
October 30 – Alamo Drafthouse Loudoun/Ashburn, VA (Wash. DC market)
October 30 – Alamo Drafthouse Montecillo/El Paso, TX
October 30 – Alamo Drafthouse Richardson/Richardson, TX (Dallas/Ft. Worth market)
October 30 – Alamo Drafthouse Woodbury/Woodbury, MN (Minneapolis/St. Paul market)
October 31 – Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane/Austin, TX
October 31 – Alamo Drafthouse Charlottesville/Charlottesville, NC
Upon its initial release in October 2009, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL was hailed by critics everywhere. The New York Times‘ Manohla Dargis said West “has come up with a period pastiche that mimics the low-res vibe and look of early-1980s horror. And he’s done it with more shiver than splat. … Mr. West doesn’t just rise to the horrific occasion, he also revels in its simplicity, squeezing chills by turning on the lights, squeaking the floorboards and, in a heart-thumping scene, sending his heroine up the unavoidable stairs. … After years of vivisectionist splatter, here is a horror movie with real shivers.”
A creaky Victorian mansion, a graveyard, a lunar eclipse and a pretty college girl: filmmaker West brought back all the elements of classic ’80s horror – with a modern twist – in THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL. West (The Innkeepers, In a Valley of Violence) set his tale in the early 1980s and created an old-school atmosphere of dread and “satanic panic” that rivaled the best of that classic era of shockers.
The film has a classic, deceptively simple set-up. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue, Dead Awake, He‘s Just Not That Into You), a pretty college sophomore, needs to come up with extra cash to pay the rent in her new apartment. She accepts a babysitting job from Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan, Manhunter, The Pledge), a tall, creepy man who lives in a gloomy old house near a cemetery in the woods. Samantha soon learns that Ulman and his wife (Mary Woronov, The Devil‘s Rejects, Eating Raoul) don’t even have a child, but Ulman explains that he simply needs Samantha to keep an eye on his elderly mother-in-law while he and his wife go out to celebrate the lunar eclipse. Also in the cast is the then-rising indie It Girl, Greta Gerwig.
Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that West is “an admirer of classic horror films and understands that if there’s anything scarier than haunted house, it’s a possibly haunted house.” The Los Angeles Times‘ Roger Abele said West “shrewdly uses our entire sense memory of horror movie experiences to bring his seen-it-all audience to a jittery state of unnerving, shoe-dropping anticipation.”
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