The House of the Devil

...keeps you guessing which way the sneaky plot is going, all adding up to a satisfying shocker.

The film may provide an introduction for some audience members to the Hitchcockian definition of suspense: It's the anticipation, not the happening, that's the fun.

This is more a movie for genre cultists, who want to immerse themselves in all the throwback details...

...an assuredly sinister and faithful re-creation of late-Seventies/early-Eighties horror that succeeds (mostly) in lulling the audience into thinking they know what's going on (...) before amping up the claustrophobic atmosphere...