Devil is a 2010 American supernatural horror film directed by John Erick Dowdle from a screenplay by Brian Nelson based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Chris Messina, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green and Jenny O’Hara.
Devil was released on September 17, 2010, and is the first of The Night Chronicles trilogy, which involves the supernatural within modern urban society.
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Ramirez (Jacob Vargas) speaks in a voice-over about stories that his mother told him about the Devil sometimes actively seeking out individuals who have sinned, while they’re still alive on Earth. While taking human form, he traps them in a confined place only to turn them against each other, before killing them one at a time.
Ramirez explains that the last victim will die in front of his or her loved one to make cynics of them all, and in the end, all will die. He says that the signs are set in motion with a suicide, as that is when the Devil first makes his presence known.
This story is abruptly interrupted by a violent suicide of a man who had fallen from the thirty-fifth floor of a Philadelphia office building; the truck he landed on rolls silently away from the scene.
Detective Bowden (Chris Messina) is a recovering alcoholic who is assigned to the case of the suicide. He later explains that the reason for his alcoholism was the hit and run death of his wife, and toddler son, five years prior, in which the perpetrator was never apprehended, leaving behind only a coupon ticket for a car wash with the words “I’m so sorry” written on the back. When he investigates the suicide, he determines that the truck originated from an office building down the block from where the victim was found.
Meanwhile, five strangers board an elevator, which becomes stuck between floors just shortly after starting up to the upper floors. When security finds them, they notice that there is CCTV and a radio with which they can call into the elevator, but they have no way of hearing the passengers in return.
Bowden takes the investigation regarding the elevator as it is the same building from which the suicide victim jumped. Ramirez is revealed to be one of the security guards and is disturbed by an image of what looks like a screaming face frozen on the video monitor that flashes away…
Cast and characters:
- Chris Messina as Detective Bowden
- Logan Marshall-Green as Mechanic (Anthony “Tony” Janekowski)
- Jenny O’Hara as Old Woman/Devil
- Bojana Novakovic as Young Woman (Sarah Caraway)
- Bokeem Woodbine as Guard (Ben Larson)
- Geoffrey Arend as Salesman (Vince McCormick)
- Jacob Vargas as Ramirez
- Matt Craven as Lustig
- Joshua Peace as Detective Markowitz
- Caroline Dhavernas as Elsa Nahai
- Joe Cobden as Dwight
- Zoie Palmer as Cheryl
- Vincent Laresca as Henry
