Writer-director Josh Lobo makes a sturdy if painfully slow and overly mysterious debut with the slow-burn horror feature I Trapped the Devil. Its strongest asset is its set-up: Matt (AJ Bowen) and his wife Karen (Susan Burke) arrive at Matt’s brother Steve (Scott Poythress)’s house for a surprise holiday visit only to discover that Steve has a man who he believes to be the devil locked in his basement. However, I Trapped the Devil relies too heavily on this strong set-up, choosing to milk as much out of the tension of the scenario as possible rather than spend any time on character development.
Bowen, Poythress and Burke do a great job of relaying the mix of fear, confusion and suspicion that this scenario conjures. Steve is desperate to be believed and is terrified of the man he has locked up, while Matt and Karen worry that Steve has gone crazy and kidnapped an innocent person while also worrying that Steve isn’t crazy and that something evil lurks just one room away. Though they are asked to deliver some stiff dialogue, the three leads are all believable even when unsympathetic, particularly Burke, who is asked to be both the primary skeptic and the most convincingly converted.
Though Lobo is clearly influenced by the slow, mumblecore horror of Ti West and Patrick Brice, he doesn’t stick the landing as well as those directors. When it comes time for the big reveal, or at least to pay off some of the tension, Lobo’s writing and directing both stay too distant. I Trapped the Devil would have been much stronger if he’d turned up the heat in the final moments, but either a lack of confidence or a misplaced desire for subtlety undermine the effective set-up.
There’s also a framing device involving police officers arriving at Steve’s house, which is perhaps meant to be an homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or an attempt to rope in some fans from the found-footage boom. But it’s very confusing, which is the exact opposite of what you want a frame narrative to do.
Despite the relative anticlimax and the poor framing, the film still has a lot going for it. It is lensed attractively by Bryce Holden (making his feature-length debut), the brooding shadows mixing nicely with the lurid yuletide lighting necessitated by the film’s Christmastime setting. And the sound, so important in purposefully paced horror such as this, is excellent, particularly the score by star indie composer Ben Lovett. As mentioned before, the central trio are all very good, but smaller, significant turns by Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil) and Chris Sullivan (TV’s “This is Us”) are flashier and similarly well done.
I Trapped the Devil shows how polished indie horror can be, and it really does put many of its peers to shame. With a combination of committed performances, smart production design and elegant direction, Lobo’s film looks and sounds much more expensive than it probably is. If his script had been as deep as these other elements, the movie could have really been something. As things stand, it is still an impressive debut.
The post I Trapped the Devil appeared first on Spectrum Culture.