Touch of the Devil, an ingenious independent film in the horror genre, utilizes psychological impulses and effects to pack a visceral, foreboding wallop. It develops the theme of home in the sense of ownership, security, legacy in an era of abundant tragic foreclosures in a horror context.
Like the Psycho house, whose tri-levels represent the ego, super ego and insanity of the id in the basement, in Touch of the Devil the house personifies the poignant malignancy of the adult son whose parents have passed on; it bleeds, it moans, just as America bled and moaned during the economic crisis.
The progression of the horror is subtle, nuanced; horror in the everyday. The ambivalence of the perpetuation of malignant at the Thanksgiving day climax is chilling and stunning. Add this film by first-time filmmakers to the pantheon of effective features in the same vein as The Innocents, the Haunting and other psychological-based horror. KAT
Like the Psycho house, whose tri-levels represent the ego, super ego and insanity of the id in the basement, in Touch of the Devil the house personifies the poignant malignancy of the adult son whose parents have passed on; it bleeds, it moans, just as America bled and moaned during the economic crisis.
The progression of the horror is subtle, nuanced; horror in the everyday. The ambivalence of the perpetuation of malignant at the Thanksgiving day climax is chilling and stunning. Add this film by first-time filmmakers to the pantheon of effective features in the same vein as The Innocents, the Haunting and other psychological-based horror. KAT
