The horror genre spreads suspense and fear in many forms. Whether it’s pure tension, suspense, a character-built story, or all of these characteristics combined, they can be used to create a great horror film. The horror movie, “Devil”, is about a thrilling conflict between characters, as a devil haunts them for their transgressions and crimes. I loved that the movie was always questioning us about, Who is the Devil? What is the Devil? Although I was never big into horror, I enjoyed playing scary video games. I would always get startled, even to the slightest jumpscares. Now with years of horror games and film experience, I have grown tolerant of most jumpscares, and I have learned to enjoy the horror genre. Devil isn’t the greatest example of a good horror film, but the message it shared moved me. Believing in God was just the beginning.

Devil is a film released back on September 17, 2010, created by M. Night Shyamalan, and directed by John Eric Dowdle. The movie is a film about a man named Detective Bowden, as he pushes to solve the weird anomaly that occurs in the Philadelphia office tower. When 5 strangers are stuck in an elevator, within a couple of minutes, they grow irritated, revealing their secrets, and their crimes. When things get rougher, a devil is among the 5, killing them off one by one, leaving Tony (mechanic) alive. They later reveal that Tony was also the cause of an accident in Bowden's family years ago, but has always regretted leaving them dead. Bowden ends up forgiving him and faces that there is nothing that he can do to bring them back.

Our main character, Detective Bowden (Chris Messina), was undoubtedly the main actor to sell the film. His character was just the average detective character. He didn't believe in god and thought Ramirez (office guard)was talking nonsense. The reason why I think that he is the main actor is that he is a strong character. He wanted to get down to the bottom of this anomaly, and even after Tony(mechanic) revealed that he caused the death of Bowden’s wife and kid, he still pushed on to try and save his life.

Many may also think that this movie can teach you some life lessons, and I agree. It teaches you that not only is life not a coincidence, but there is a difference between risk and regret. Why was it that 5 people who committed crimes are all to be found together in an elevator, why is it that Detective Bowden and Tony, who were in the accident with his family, met each other. Nothing is a coincidence in life, and it happens for a purpose. Why did 4 out of the 5 die, and Tony was left alive. My theory is that the other 4 never regretted their crimes, Tony had held the regret since the day of the accident and has never been able to forgive himself, so the devil gave him a chance.

This movie had its ups and downs. It was very straightforward but it was confusing to understand thoroughly. Don’t get me wrong, there are many ways this horror film could be unique, and some aspects support that, like the belief in God, mixed in with a mysterious suspicion between people. This movie had the basic need for a horror film and showed 2 big messages about life, but in my opinion, it wasn’t the greatest movie. I would rank this as a below-average film. Even if it wasn’t the most entertaining, the most scary, the most understandable, it respected the movie as it had the potential to be a good tense and character-building story. To this day, I still ask the question of, “Who is the Devil?”