wikipedia synopsis of THE DEVIL (story by m night shymalan)

just in case you don't want to see the film

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The movie begins with Ramirez (a security guard and narrator throughout the movie) saying that, as a boy, he was told stories by his mother about the Devil's Meeting, which is when the Devil appears and tortures sinners before taking them to Hell, and that it would always start with suicide.

We then see the building where the movie takes place, and someone walks off the edge of the roof of the building and lands on a truck, and the person buffing the floor notices nothing. Eventually, after having a conversation to someone about forgiveness, Detective Bowden gets a call about the suicide.

At this point, 5 people enter an elevator: Tony (an ex-soldier), Sarah (a heiress who planned on seeing her lawyer), Ben (a temporary security guard), Jane (an old woman), and Vince (a salesman).

The elevator gets stuck and only Ramirez and fellow security guard Lustiq notice. Dwight, a handyman, is sent to fix it and while he does so, Sarah claims to have been bitten. The other 4 people think it was Vince because he has blood stains on his hands and, even after Vince says he didn't do anything, become distrustful of him. At this point, Ramirez realizes the similarities between the current events and his mother's stories and then notices a face on the security feed but Lustiq tells him to forget about it.

After Bowden realizes that the man who killed himself in the beginning of the movie killed himself in the same building that the group is stuck in, he is informed of what is currently happening with the 5 people stuck in the elevator. Ramirez tells Bowden that the Devil is with the people in the elevator but Bowden says he doesn't believe in the Devil and that he lost his wife and son in a car accident and the person who killed them left and only left a note on the back of a car wash coupon that said "I'm so sorry" and that people are evil enough without the Devil.

Back in the elevator, the lights flicker, and Vince dies with broken glass in his neck, scaring the group in the elevator and freaking out Bowden and the security guards. Bowden assumes someone in the elevator is a murderer and calls the firemen and some people to figure out how to get the elevator working. Ramirez continues narrating by saying that innocent people die when they interfere with the Devil's meeting.

Dwight tries to fix the elevator by rappeling himself down to it via harness, but it breaks and he falls on top of the elevator and dies, the group in the elevator think someone is there to save them but then they quickly realize that he is dead. The lights flicker again and this time its Jane who dies, hung by the light's wires. At this point only Tony, Sarah, and Ben are alive and Bowden tells them to go to different corners of the elevator (Bowden can talk to them through the speakers in the elevator). Bowden then realizes that some people in the elevator have secrets: Jane was a thief, Sarah blackmailed men for money, Ben used to physically assault people, and Vince ran a Ponzi scheme. Ramirez tells Bowden that they cannot be saved because of their past sins. Bowden eventually realizes Sarah's husband owns the security company of the building and that Ben might've been told to be at the building to kill Sarah.

The firemen arrive and try to open the elevator, Lustiq tries to turn off the gas so the firemen can do their job, but he ends up electrocuted because the Devil thinks he is interfering. The lights flicker again and Ben tells Sarah to get away from Tony and near him but when the lights turn back on, it is Ben who ends up dead, leaving Tony thinking that Sarah is the killer and vice versa. Bowden convinces the two to stand down and the lights flicker again. Sarah's throat ends up slashed and Tony is the only one currently unharmed. Tony's fiancée shows up and informs Bowden that he was at the building for a job interview and that he signed in and realize that only one person who is in the elevator did not sign in.

At this point, Jane's body reanimates and we realizes that she is the Devil and she asks Tony if he is ready to go to Hell. Tony realizes that Sarah is still barely alive and asks if Jane/the Devil can take him instead of Sarah. The Devil gets angry at Tony for trying to make a deal and makes the elevator drop.

Bowden is shocked at what is happening and Tony takes Dwight's walkie talkie, that fell in the elevator, and confesses to killing two people in a car accident and he left the scene due to feeling extremely guilty. Bowden realizes that it was Tony who killed his family. The Devil tries to take Tony just as Sarah finally dies but then decides not to, and tells Tony that he wanted to take him too and disappears.

The elevator then opens and Jane's body is gone. Bowden, surprised, tells everyone to check the whole building but no body was found. Tony tells his statement and Bowden takes him in due to committing a hit and run. Bowden tells Tony that he's waited for this moment for five years for revenge, but decides to forgive Tony, which might've been the reason Tony didn't die.

We then hear the final narration from Ramirez saying that after his mother told him stories about the Devil, she would assure him that if the Devil did exist, God would exist too.

this is the actual m night shymalan story, right?

tl;dw

Ramirez tells Bowden that the Devil is with the people in the elevator but Bowden says he doesn't believe in the Devil and that he lost his wife and son in a car accident and the person who killed them left and only left a note on the back of a car wash coupon that said "I'm so sorry" and that people are evil enough without the Devil.

this sentence just blows my mind

i was trying to figure out which pitchfork review he was writing about there

"We then hear the final narration from Ramirez saying that after his mother told him stories about the Devil, she would assure him that if the Devil did exist, God would exist too."

oh man, this is one of those movies that stays with you

she would assure him that if the Devil did exist, God would exist too.

*nods slowly, strokes chin*

"We then hear the final narration from Ramirez saying that after his mother told him stories about the Devil, she would assure him that if the Devil did exist, God would exist too."

The movie begins with Ramirez (a security guard and narrator throughout the movie)

Almost tempted to make this a handle.

if there's one thing an m. night shaymalan project needs, it's heavy-handed narration.

At this point, Jane's body reanimates and we realizes that she is the Devil and she asks Tony if he is ready to go to Hell. Tony realizes that Sarah is still barely alive and asks if Jane/the Devil can take him instead of Sarah. The Devil gets angry at Tony for trying to make a deal and makes the elevator drop.

like

what

I thought making deals was the devil's thing.

can u imagine if faust had been all i want to sell u my soul and the devil had been all

*elevator drop*

Someone really needs to make a great highrise horror movie. Ghostbusters doesn't count.

The Devil tries to take Tony just as Sarah finally dies but then decides not to, and tells Tony that he wanted to take him too and disappears.

this devil sounds like a confused mf tbh

Someone really needs to make a great highrise horror movie. Ghostbusters doesn't count.

Quarantine?

maybe y'all are confused cuz you didn't see the trailer -- just fyi, everything HAPPENS FOR A REASON

Gottfried Wilhelm Shymalan

Someone really needs to make a great highrise horror movie.

http://www.allankolman.com/actor/besttimesimg/posters.jpg

can u imagine if faust had been all i want to sell u my soul and the devil had been all

*elevator drop*

― p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Saturday, September 18, 2010 3:12 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark

lol

The movie begins with Ramirez (a security guard and narrator throughout the movie) saying that, as a boy, he was told stories by his mother about the Devil's Meeting, which is when the Devil appears and tortures sinners before taking them to Hell, and that it would always start with suicide.

this is such a classic shyamalan thing - a made-up fable that makes no sense and doesn't remotely sound like a real legend

the devil's meeting, where the devil would have a get-together with sinners before taking them to hell

"the Devil's Meeting [...] would always start with suicide."

Absurd. Obviously it would start with a review of the minutes of the previous meeting.

page five item two, note that where it says the bigamist was flayed it should change to say he was boiled.

Please note that Virgil's suggestion that "the marketing department be plunged up to the necks in a river of excrement" is a breach of Health & Safety rules, due to the potentially toxic waste. And the excrement.

was hoping it would end by the Devil being unmasked and Don Rickles being underneath it

and someone walks off the edge of the roof of the building and lands on a truck

What is with this guy and ppl juping off buildings.

I now have an image of the devil and perhaps a few minions giving a powerpoint presentation of how to maximise one's time in hell.

ahhh Shivers might be the best. Not really scary per se, but great.

Quarantine sux.

so is Shyamalan a drug addict? Mentally ill? What's going on here?

I have zero interest in watching this guy's movies (haven't seen anything since Signs) but for whatever reason I keep reading the wikipedia synopsis for each movie he makes and am always entertained

Would read a book of synopses for ideas that he didn't think were good enough to get made.

did you guys see the nytimes piece where rupert holmes laments how they spoil the pina colada song on wikipedia

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/business/media/18spoiler.html

just saw this movie, in some small part so i could finally look at this thread.

funniest part for me was when the guy drops his buttered toast, noting that when the devil's around your toast falls face first.

seems that detail didn't make wikipedia yet

That is amazing.

"the guy" being ramirez, whose "MIA MADRE...THE DEVIL'S MEETING" exposition bit would have been even funnier if he wasn't also handling the narration. To have this guy start dropping his toast and kissing his crucifix after a bunch of ambigious creepy shit would have been way better.

http://product.images.dreamsretail.com/47-05/47-05762-P.jpg

Dude used to do human-scale, slightly askew takes on familiar stories (talking to the dead, superhero origins, alien invasions). Now (as slocki noted) he makes up wacky new stories, has characters say they've been passed down for generations, and then has them acted out in modern day Pennsylvania so people can learn to Be Good To Each Other. Though between this and The Last Airbender I'm down for umteen more Night Chronicles.

batshit Twilight Zone episodes that seem like they're made up as they go along - sure, as long as somebody dies every 10 minutes

problem with Lady In The Water is that only the evil Bob Balaban actually bit it

oh yeah, and right after the night chronicles logo a giant number "1" flies across the screen. wonder if the studio will still put M. Night's Number Two out.

Maybe it also shows us that M Night is number 1.

the hubris of it still doesn't top Chronicles Of Riddick, though:

After the original Pitch Black (2000) proved a success on DVD, Universal became interested in making a sequel. Writer/director David Twohy wrote the screenplays for not one, but three sequels. He and Vin Diesel put them into separate leather binders and presented them to Universal, along with the key for the first binder.

lololol xp

lolll

man chronicles of riddick shoulda been huge imo

it was, that's why they had to split it into 3 parts

*rimshot*

pitch black is still grebt tho

page five item two, note that where it says the bigamist was flayed it should change to say he was boiled.

irl lol

i wonder if vin d. still finds the keys to #2 and #3 in the back of his sock drawer once in a while and goes ah fuck

this was something else

man chronicles of riddick shoulda been huge imo

so near but yet

Chronicles of Riddick is a definite guilty pleasure.

I mean, Judi Dench AND Vin Diesel in the same movie, what more can you ask for?

saw dis shit last night -- think I woulda liked it about 900% more if they had just called it HELLEVATOR

THE DEVIL is an anagram of hellevator

omg so that's the twist!

also I want to give props to the girl sitting behind me who audibly gasped at the part when Jane's body reanimates and we realizes that she is the Devil -- it's people like you who make it all worthwhile

we realizes that she is the Devil

Hang on, what if we don't realizes she is the Devil? How does that affect the synopsis?

We can then rewrite the story.

still funny af
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"the Devil's Meeting [...] would always start with suicide."

Absurd. Obviously it would start with a review of the minutes of the previous meeting.

― Neil Willett, Saturday, September 18, 2010 1:08 PM bookmarkflaglink

page five item two, note that where it says the bigamist was flayed it should change to say he was boiled.

― Antoine Bugleboy (Merdeyeux), Saturday, September 18, 2010 1:13 PM bookmarkflaglink