October 12th, 2014 
Drew Caruso 
Of all the holidays celebrated worldwide, no single day is more loved by the UTG staff than Halloween. With the arrival of the year’s best month, the time has finally come to begin rolling out a plethora of features and special announcements we have prepared in celebration of our favorite day, including the one you’re about to read.
Now in its third year, 31 Days Of Halloween is a recurring feature that will run throughout the month of October. The hope and goal of this column is to supply every UTG reader with a daily horror (or Halloween-themed) movie recommendation that is guaranteed to amplify your All Hallows’ Eve festivities. We’ll be watching every film the day it’s featured, and we hope you’ll follow along at home.
[Warning: the material within is likely NSFW]
Day 12: The House Of The Devil (2009)
There is something inherently refreshing about Ti West’s The House Of The Devil, and I find that quite interesting considering The House Of The Devil is pure love for horror films of the 1970s and 1980s. You can sit, relax, and enjoy a film without hand-held footage, without being tied into realistic aspects for greater horror scares, and just get lost in a cinematic experience that pays homage to an expansive and rich era of horror filmmaking. All of this, while attesting to satanic panic, a personal favorite cultural phenomenon explored in film.
Meet self-reliant college girl Samantha, played by Jocelin Donahue, who is attempting to find the perfect apartment to rest her solitude in. Starved for cash, Samantha responds to an ad simply titled “BABY $ITTER NEEDED.” Responding to the ad by calling Mr. Ulman, who is wonderfully played by Tom Noonan, Samantha lands the one-night gig. As most babysitters do not have a good time with whatever task they are charged with, Samantha finds that her babysitting task is not what it was originally. Posed to watch over Mrs. Ulman’s mother, for there actually is no child, the circumstances of Sam’s presence begin to shift. With an abrupt and brutal death that leads into the introduction of sinister dealings with the Ulmans, The House Of The Devil truly begins to shine.
What makes the film interesting with a fairly simplistic or overused plot, is the work’s admiration for the preceding era of chilling and unsettling filmmaking. Away with the overused gore and jump scares, The House Of The Devil embraces the unknown, the unsettling, and the fear of lurking behind a door you know not to go through.
But, there is something special about Satanism. An area of horror films that sits close to my heart are those of human interactions attempting to mend those of inhuman interactions. From Rosemary’s Baby to The Exorcist, The House Of The Devil embraces the notions of ritualistic followers of the Devil.
But, in a sea of horror films on this subject matter, why bother with this one? Ti West’s homage to the horror glories of decades past reminds us of a time when pure gore or sparse subject matter wasn’t what defined a good horror film. It was the thought of what could happen, rather than what is actually happening. When Sam finds herself mixed into the depths of the Ulman household, we as an audience, just like Sam, know nothing of the story or how it got there. This notion makes the possibly haunted house all the more creepier.
Featuring as organic filmmaking methods as possible, CGI is at an all-time low, handmade effects are at an all-time high, and the eeriness is turned all the way up. Follow Sam through each doorway, and do your best to piece together the origins of the Ulman family, and their beloved mother.
Editorial written by: Drew Caruso
Last year’s Day 12 film: Urban Legend
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