Analysis of the film Devil

Film: Devil

Year: 2010

Director: John Erick Dowdle

The film is about a group of people who are trapped in an elevator and the Devil is mysteriously amongst them.

The film starts with a chapter from the Bible. “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whim he may devour” peter 5:8. This indicates that tell will be some kind of inconsistency between the Bible and the Devil.

The representations of the characters are a mixture of class, age, gender and ethnicity. Even though the film is dominated by men, few women are seen in major rules. For example, when a man was found dead, only a woman turned up for the forensic investigation. There were also two women stuck in the elevator along with 3 other men. The characters were from different ethnicity. The black man was a bodyguard in the office, the women were both business women and the Mexican man was a bed seller. There was however one mysterious character which no one knew about. He could easily be referred to as the killer from the first glance of the film.  The age range was from about mid 30s to late 50s. 

The Mise- En-Scene used was props, lighting, setting and the use of colour. In the lift, the lighting was over exposed. This hoes exaggeration and unrealism. A rosary was in the man’s hand when he was found dead. This shows the contradiction of what the film is about with the reference to Christianity. The film was rather set in a modern and lively place compared to a stereo-typical setting of a thriller which is a dark room in a basement. All the characters were dressed in black and brownish colours except the bed seller’s character.

The lighting in the film in the elevator scene was overexposed. 

overexposed lighting.

The office building is shot from a low angle. The building is responsible for the death of so many people and it is in power everyone/ thing else. In most of the scenes in the lift, most all the characters are seen at the same time. No character is prominence than the other. If a character is ever on the screen alone at any time, they are always in the middle of the frame. This is because the film is building tension and putting everything in suspense. Handheld movement is used when the lift starts shaking to show realism of the situation. 

The first sound effect which is heard at the start of the film is an off-screen sound. The audience hear a male voice as the film starts. The man talks about what his mother told him of the Devil when he was a child. The non diegetic sound is sharp and unnerving. The audience is immediately aware that something bad is going to happen. The first scene talks about death which could predict more deaths as the film progresses. Diegetic sound is also use to predict danger in the future. When a woman walks into the office, she is told to sign in the book by the guard. She said “I mean, do I look like such a threat?” this shows that they might be danger to come involving her character.

                                                 A scene of the Devil in the lift.