devil Tagged Articles at Cinematical

What is Devil? It's a new movie directed by the Dowdle Brothers (the skillful Quarantine) with a script by Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy) from a story by M. Night Shyamalan (uh... well, you know). It is also the coolest high concept I've heard in a long time. The plot of the Shyamalan-produced project was tightly under wraps, but some online sleuthing by Slashfilm this weekend uncovered some hints, including possibly the greatest log line of all time.

The logline: "A group of people are trapped in an elevator, and one of them is the devil."

Right off the bat I should say that I have an almost irrational affection for movies that take Satan seriously as a walking, talking character. (As opposed to a tormenting spirit a la The Exorcist, which is also cool, but a whole different animal.) When The Devil's Advocate came out, I was obsessed with it for months. And I always find myself willing to tolerate a lot of crap from movies like End of Days for the same reason. My biases also include a love for claustrophobic little thrillers with a psychological bent. (This one almost sounds like something dreamed up by David Mamet.) And have I mentioned that getting stuck in an elevator is a long-standing phobia of mine?

I'm also a Shyamalan apologist, and his involvement in this isn't surprising: like all of his films, Devil is conceptually brilliant. It's the execution that's in question. The linked Slashfilm post reveals a few more details, none of them as interesting as that ridiculously beguiling conceit, which might be a bad sign.

In February, Darren Aronofsky and Eric Watson's Protozoa Pictures production company signed a first-look production deal with Universal Studios. This weekend, the happy couple annouced the birth of their first child, a supernatural horror project currently going by the name The Hunt. The story (at least according to Sci Fi Wire) revolves around a character known as "the world's greatest hunter" who sets out to challenge himself by capturing the ultimate target -- the devil. SekretAgent Productions' Dooma Wendschuh and Corey May will produce the film with Aronofsky and Watson.

It'll be interesting to see how the devil is depicted in this film. Will he be more beast-like, due to the whole hunter-prey concept, or will he be the sneaky, conniving, Prince of Lies mastermind? Both have merit as an interesting 'prey,' at any rate.