House of the Devil (2009)

The House of the Devil is a 2009 horror film directed by Ti West. It premiered on April 25th, 2009 at the Tribeca Film Festival and had a limited theatrical release on October 30th. The film takes place in the 1980s and centers around a teenage college student named Samantha. Samantha accepts a job as a babysitter, but comes to discover that she has been targeted by an evil, Satanic cult.

Plot
It is the 1980s and a girl named Samantha is looking for a place to live outside of her college dormitory. She rents an apartment, but is tight for money. The landlady takes pity on Samantha's plight, noticing how much she reminds her of her own daughter. She agrees to waive all of the deposit fees, so long as she can promise to get her the first month's rent the following Monday.

Returning to school, Samantha now looks for a job. She finds an ad for a babysitter and calls the number. The man on the phone seems odd, but polite. He is very interested in hiring her and agrees to meet Samantha outside the student affairs building at school. Samantha goes to meet him, but the man never arrives. Frustrated, she goes out for pizza with her friend Megan. Megan is angry to hear how her friend had been stood up by her prospective employer and says they should go around campus and tear down all of the other ads so nobody else can call him. Samantha balks at the idea and Megan drives her back to school.

Entering her dorm, her roommate tells her that someone left her a message. She gets back in contact with the man, whose name is Mister Ulman, who apologizes for failing to meet her. He is desperate for a babysitter and tells her that he almost found someone, but they had cancelled at the last minute. He asks if Samantha is still interested in the job. She tells him yes, and Ulman says that he needs her for that evening.

Later, Sam meets up with Megan who drives her out to the Ulmans' spacious manor, located some distance away in the middle of nowhere. Megan is still angry at the way Ulman stood her up and is against the idea of her accepting the job. Sam tries to keep her calm and they come to the house. Ulman greets both of them at the door and invites them inside. He is a tall, elderly man with a white beard and a cane. Ulman takes Samantha into a separate room, leaving Megan by herself in the living room. He explains that he can only hire one woman and Sam tells him that Megan is only her ride and will be leaving soon. Ulman then explains that he was a bit deceptive with his ad. What he really requires is someone to watch over his elderly mother who is an invalid. Sam has reservations about this and admits she has no knowledge of how to care for the elderly. Ulman apologizes profusely and tells her how he was unable to find suitable care for her on such short notice. The first woman he attempted to hire refused to accept the job after learning the truth. Ulman offers to pay Sam twice what he originally intended on giving her if she agrees to stay. He stresses the notion that his mother requires very little care and that Sam would not really have to do anything. The two haggle with one another over price and ultimately, they settle on the hefty sum of four-hundred dollars for four hours worth of work.

Sam and Megan go outside and she tells Megan the deal. Megan doesn't like this idea at all and feels that Ulman is too abnormal, but Sam really needs the money. Sam goes back inside and Megan goes out to her car. She fumbles about trying to light a cigarette until a man named Victor approaches her and offers her a light. He asks if she is the woman the Ulmans hired to watch over their mother. When she says no, the man pulls out a gun and shoots Megan in the head.

Inside, Sam meets Mrs. Ulman. The older woman is quite fond of Sam and feels that she will be perfect for the job. Mister Ulman comes downstairs and the two prepare to leave. They are both dressed in formal attire and they give no indication as to where they are going, other than that their affairs are somehow tied to the pending lunar eclipse. Mister Ulman gives Sam half of her pay up front as well as the number to a local pizza place should she get hungry. With everything settled, the couple leave the house.

Sam is instantly bored and tries calling Megan to see if she had gotten home yet. When Megan fails to answer the phone, Sam then call in a pizza order. She sits on the couch and tries to do some homework until the pizza arrives. The man delivering the pizza is named Victor. Though Sam doesn't know it, it is the same man who only an hour ago murdered her friend Megan.

After eating, Sam begins listening to her walkman. She starts dancing about the house and accidentally knocks over a vase. While searching for something to clean it up with, she comes upon an old photo album in a closet. Inside is a photograph of another family standing in front of the Ulmans' red station wagon in front of the Ulmans' house. Sam begins to suspect that these people are not who they pretended to be. A few moments pass and Sam begins to feel ill. The pizza had been drugged. She collapses to the floor and passes out. When she awakens, she finds herself in an upstairs attic. She is tied down to the floor atop the painted sigil of the pentagram. Mister and Mrs. Ulman and Victor enter the room wearing Satanic robes. Accompanying them is an eerie, dwarfish figure with stark, albino features. This demonic presence paints a blood pentagram across Samantha's stomach then pours blood into her mouth via an animal skull. The Ulmans indicate that once the eclipse ends and the ritual is complete, Satan will arrive on Earth.

Samantha struggles against the bonds and eventually breaks free. She injures Mister Ulman with the cult's sacrificial dagger and runs downstairs. Horrified, she stumbles upon the faceless body of her friend Megan. Victor chases after her with the intent of shooting her, but Sam fights back, slicing Victor across the throat with the dagger. She then picks up his gun and continues running. As she scrambles to get out of the house, her body is wracked with pain, and her stomach begins to cramp up. Her mind is swirling with Satanic images.

Once outside, she races towards an adjacent cemetery. Mister Ulman chases after her and tries to calm Samantha down. Feeling as if there is nowhere else to go, Samantha turns the gun on herself.

Miraculously, she survives. She is taken to a hospital where a nurse addresses her, saying that everything is going to be all right - for "both of them". The implication is that Samantha is pregnant.

Notes & Trivia

 * In addition to standard DVD and Blu-ray release, The House of the Devil was also released in VHS format as an homage to the 1980s.