Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I liked "Devil." The involvement of M. Night Shyamalan had me wondering if I wanted to watch it (because, let's face it, after some really good movies Shyamalan's recent work has left a lot to be desired) but in the end I'm glad I did. The plot is very simple. Five people with some questionable pasts get stuck on an elevator. That in itself could have led to a decent enough movie - a study of group dynamics as strangers in close quarters have to deal with a stressful situation. In fact, to be honest, I'd almost have preferred to have seen it made that way. It could have turned into a sort of "Twelve Angry Men" environment as those on the elevator started turning on each other. But M. Night Shyamalan was involved. So there had to be something of a supernatural element added on to the story. And it turned out to be the presence of the devil himself. Apparently, according to a story that one of the building security guards used to be told as a child (strange choice of bedtime stories, but ...) the devil sometimes takes on human form and embeds himself with a group of sinful people. So, someone on this elevator is the devil himself. What's the end result going to be?This is probably Shyamalan's best movie in some time. In fact, the last movie of his that I actually liked was probably "Signs" - and that was over 15 years ago. The cast wasn't especially well known, and the sets weren't fancy - but they didn't have to be since the whole thing was basically set in an elevator - but the story was interesting and there were definitely some "shock" moments embedded throughout. Enjoyable enough. (7/10)

I tend to avoid anything even remotely associated with Shyamalame, and did the same to this after seeing his writing credit. I'm happy to say I took the plunge on this one.The premise is simple. A random group of people get stuck in a lift. The tag lines give away the supernatural element, as does the title of the film. I can understand why they did that, but it would have worked better being left unknown.It doesn't ruin it though. The mystery of who the devil is works well, and the daft plot is made to work by some great performances. This is a very watchable film with elements of horror and suspense, held together by solid characters.

It was mildly entertaining while it lasted, but did not show anything really scary, nor it did develop some interesting psychological drama between the characters. The routine was rather standard - turn off the lights, play spooky sounds, kill someone, turn on the lights. It tries to push the message that suicide is really, really bad, which is IMO unfair towards people in desperate situations, and it ends up with a piece of typically broken Christian logic: "If the devil is real, then the God must be too."No, it does not. We may live in a world where only devil is real, stalking people and killing them in unnecessarily elaborate ways, or we may live in a world where gods are just a bickering, jealous bunch living on a top of some Greek mountain, or we may live a world of Lovecraftian Void gods that absent-mindedly swallow and chew whole planets, or it's just a plain Descartian clockwork machine of cause and effect. Either way, we have no way of knowing, but at least the honest ones among us do not try to convince themselves and those around them otherwise.

When my brother first brought home this movie from the library, I had to look at him kind of funny. He said that he wanted to check it out before he passed judgment, so I caved and joined him. From the moment that he turned it on, my eyes never left the screen and neither did his. Even though it was produced by M. Night Shyamalan, you would never have known it.Five strangers are in an elevator of an office building, each one going to points unknown. One by one, each of them dies mysteriously. The poor security guy has to sit in the office and watch as everyone dies off. Then comes the ultimate twist. When another member of the security team looks through the sign-in logs and sees that one of the people from the elevator didn't sign in, it is discovered that the devil is......the old woman. I cannot say that I was surprised and neither was my brother. Usually I am very good at guessing things when it comes to mystery/horror movies, but I will be the first to admit that I did not see that one coming. I will say that it was a perfect twist. I am a big fan of twists in certain movies but not to the point of where my head starts to ache. As the title of my review states, the devil can be anyone. An older man/woman, younger boy/girl, teenage boy/girl, anyone. You may never know. In short, this great film will have you scratching your head and looking over your shoulder because you never know if the devil is in your presence, hence the plot of the movie. Enjoy.