"Devil" Trailer Premieres Online

The trailer for the newest M. Night Shymalan production has gone viral. I know what you’re thinking: M. Night Shymalan is still allowed to make movies after Lady in the Water, The Happening, and most recent failure The Last Airbender? Fortunately, Shymalan is only producing Devil while Drew and John Dowdle of Quarantine fame actually work behind the camera. Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night writer Brian Nelson penned the screenplay so there is some hope for the Devil yet.

The film is about a group of people stuck in an elevator, one of whom is actually the devil himself. Dun dun dun! The trailer actually isn’t as atrocious as you’d think one boasting “from the mind of M. Night Shymalan” would be. It’s tense, claustrophobic, and suspenseful. I would be lying if I said it didn’t pique my interest at the very least. However, we have to keep in mind that M. Night Shymalan is still attached here so we shouldn’t get our hopes too high. Since the original story is by him, I’d be willing to bet there’s some ridiculous plot twist that makes all the exciting stuff we’ve just seen null and void.

Having all of the action take place in an elevator is a risky move. This movie better have either a pretty short runtime or enough tension to disguise the fact that these characters are in a space the size of my walk-in closet for an hour and a half. Rigoberto Castanèda’s Blackout set the bar pretty low for elevator-based thrillers so hopefully Devil improves on the concept.

The Dowdle brothers proved to be competent enough behind the camera with their shot-by-shot remake of Quarantine. However, my real faith in this movie (miniscule as it is) relies on Brian Nelson’s writing abilities. Hard Candy was edgy and thought-provoking and 30 Days of Night presented real bloodthirsty vampires that don’t sparkle.

So what do you think of the Devil trailer? Will you be checking this out on the big screen, picking it up from 99 cent video on a slow Friday night, or bypassing it altogether?