There’s an old quote by French poet Charles Baudelaire, made popular in Christopher McQuarrie’s The Usual Suspects, that goes something like, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” It’s a sentiment that comes up time and again in genre fare, like a season 2 episode of The Twilight Zone, “The Howling Man”. The premise saw an American man seeking refuge in a European monastery from a storm, much to the reluctance of the monks who have imprisoned a man howling for freedom. The monks claim their prisoner is the Devil himself, and the American is torn on who to believe; the man begging for help or the steadfast monks. I Trapped the Devil takes this concept and transfers it to a more intimate setting over the Christmas holiday, turning a well-intentioned family gathering into a paranoid nightmare.
Matt (A.J. Bowen) and his wife Karen (Susan Burke) show up unannounced at the home of Matt’s estranged brother Steve (Scott Poythress) to celebrate Christmas. The holiday is supposed to be a joyful time for family and reunions, after all. Instead, they’re greeted with an anxious Steve and signs that his mental state might be unraveling. Though the house and yard are aglow with Christmas lights, the windows are boarded, bullet casings are found in the driveway, and Steve’s skittish behavior isn’t like the brother Matt remembered. But when Steve reveals that he’s trapped the Devil in his basement, Matt and Karen find themselves in a serious moral dilemma. Is Steve mentally ill or is there something far more sinister afoot?
Writer/director Josh Lobo’s feature debut is one steeped in ambiguity and psychological tension. The glow of Christmas lights become far more sinister here. Much rests on the shoulders of this very small cast, confined to one location as tensions mount. Lobo revels in keeping easy answers out of reach, opting instead to really ramp up the uncertainty. The more we get to know Steve, the less we’re sure of who might be locked away in the basement. He’s plagued by weird phone calls, but we never hear who’s on the other line. Through the white noise of his older television we get glimpses of a woman, but Lobo isn’t interested in providing too much background on her either. He gives just enough for the viewer to piece together the clues, but keeps his focus on the atmosphere and palpable dread.
It’s a quiet movie sparse in dialogue, but the quiet moments are filled with captivating performances by Poythress, Bowen, and Burke. Bowen and Poythress are able to build a heartfelt sibling camaraderie with a lengthy history all without uttering a word. Burke’s growing concern and desire to protect her husband from his brother’s mania is written all over her face. The nonverbal performances in I Trapped the Devil are vital to selling this conceit, and the cast more than delivers. Even when we’re not entirely sure who to believe, we still care.
The deliberate pacing in this mood piece of mounting tension will likely be off-putting to those that like their horror faster paced with less vagueness. For those that don’t mind ambiguity, this yuletide thriller has a lot to offer. I Trapped the Devil is a slow-burn tale of paranoia and familial obligation that does crawl out of the gate but crescendos in one satisfying ending. It may be small scaled in terms of setting and characters, but Lobo’s debut is ambitious in effort with an ability to craft effective tension and pose challenging questions.
I Trapped the Devil releases in theaters and VOD on April 26, 2019.
