Creeptober Day 3: The House of the Devil

For day 3 of Creeptober, join us as we explore The House of the Devil!

Magic Symbol: Thorn Rune updated on
Check the Creeptober announcement article to find out where to stream The House of the Devil.

It’s day three of Creeptober, and we’re really beginning to feel the atmosphere of the season. Speaking of atmosphere, have you seen The House of the Devil? It’s today’s pick for our month-long horror movie marathon, and it is overflowing with autumnal and Halloween-season vibes!

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Read on for our thoughts on The House of the Devil as well as a recap of the movie, and join the conversation on our Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

Reacting to The House of the Devil

Samantha listens while on the phone in The House of the Devil (2009).
The movie feels classic, but it doesn’t try to draw attention to its homages and references like so many other movies that attempt to emulate earlier periods of cinematic history. (pictured: Jocelin Donahue as Samantha)

I’ll be completely honest. When I first saw The House of the Devil more than a decade ago, I didn’t care for it. For years I couldn’t articulate why I didn’t like it, but I had a memory of thinking it wasn’t as good as people said it was. Well, I’m happy to admit that I was wrong. I don’t know what I was thinking. This most recent viewing of The House of the Devil changed my opinion. It’s an excellent movie, and the me of the past must have not been paying attention.

Samantha digs through her backpack while on her bed in The House of the Devil (2009).
In the commentary on the Blu-ray, Ti West reveals that the interior of Samantha’s dorm room was actually filmed in the house where the majority of the movie takes place. Also, the house was infested with ladybugs.

One of the main strengths of The House of the Devil is its fantastic atmosphere and aesthetics. It feels like a movie that could’ve been made around 1980. This isn’t nostalgia-bait cinema with recognizable movie posters all over the walls and neon-colored everything. This is lived-in 1980s with normal clothing and muted colors. The movie feels real to a point, and then at the end it feels like what the Satanically Panicking people of the time might have imagined going on behind certain closed doors.

Samantha walks up a stairway in The House of the Devil (2009).
The House of the Devil gets increasingly suspenseful as it moves along.

The film also has a great sense of pacing. It is definitely a slow burn, and it’s so good because of that. We really get to know Samantha as we hang out with her, and that makes the frantic ending incredibly impactful. It’s also the extended quiet times that make the brief loud times mean so much more. Like what happens to Megan… brutal, sudden, and genuinely unsettling.

Megan looks at Sam while they sit together in a pizza restaurant in The House of the Devil (2009).
Greta Gerwig is great as Samantha’s best friend Megan.

I also love an ominous ending, and The House of the Devil certainly has one of those. I would have been completely satisfied if the movie ended in the graveyard, but the hospital scene adds a coda that I don’t mind. Either way, The House of the Devil gets real dark, and I like that a lot.

The House of the Devil – A Recap

The House of the Devil Title screen.
The title sequence is superb, and the use of freeze frames is perfect. I’ve always loved timely freeze frames in movies.

The House of the Devil follows Samantha, a college student in desperate need of some quick cash. Sam is trying to move out of her dorm room and into her own apartment, but the first month’s rent is $300, and she has less than $100 in her bank account. So when she sees a flyer asking for a babysitter, she calls.

Mary Woronov and Tom Noonan as Mrs. and Mr. Ulman in The House of the Devil (2009).
The Ulman’s don’t seem very trustworthy, but even though Samantha knows they lied to her, she can’t pass up the money they’re offering her. (pictured: Mary Woronov and Tom Noonan as Mrs. and Mr. Ulman)

After two odd conversations over the phone and one missed meetup, Sam agrees to journey out to an isolated house and take the babysitting job. The job isn’t to sit for a baby though. Instead, the old man who greets Sam says the job is for her to stay at his house and with his wife’s mother. Ignoring all the red flags and the rightfully concerned advice from her best friend Megan, Sam takes the job.

Samantha is in for a rough night.

Over the next few hours, Sam finds ways to occupy herself alone in the house, listening just in case the man’s mother-in-law needs help upstairs. As the night draws closer to midnight and—not coincidentally—a full lunar eclipse, Sam begins to suspect that her one-night employer is hiding something terrible. Suspense builds as Sam explores and becomes increasingly spooked, leading to a horrifying finale that explodes with blood, violence, and Satanic practices.

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Meet The Author

Chris has a degree in film studies at Temple University’s campus in Tokyo, Japan. He is a renowned expert on horror cinema.