I Trapped the Devil (2019)

May 11, 2024 6:24 PM

A man descends into paranoia after trapping what he believes to be the devil in his basement, but things take a dark turn when his family unexpectedly arrive for Christmas.

For me, firmly in the "better than you'd think" category, with some very solid acting (the actor playing Steve in particular, and some great VO work from the titular trapped 'devil'), a good premise (apparently also covered in an OG Twilight Zone episode called "The Howling Man," which I haven't seen), and effective use of effectively a bottle movie in a single location.

It toes the line between lingering shots of not much happening being "atmospheric" or padding a good 60-minute feature out to almost standard movie length; and the movie takes a massive leap of faith in kind of jumping over the "just call the cops" instinct off the top. But I liked it a lot, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the director gets up to next.

posted by Shepherd (2 comments total)

"The Howling Man" is one of the classic Twilight Zone episodes, written by the late great Charles Beaumont. Beaumont was a helluva writer; I hope one day he comes back into fashion.
posted by Kitteh at 7:04 PM on May 11 [5 favorites]

I hope one day he comes back

Oh I don't know, then we'd have to lock him in the basement, and I've already got someone down there.
posted by Literaryhero at 2:04 AM on May 12 [7 favorites]