Josh Lobo’s indie thriller ‘I Trapped the Devil‘ officially hit limited theaters and VOD platforms this weekend and his debut film focuses on a man’s psychological unraveling as he comes to terms with whatever is locked in his basement.
Scott Pothress, Susan Burke, and A.J. Bowen star in the film set in the Christmas season, but centers on what appears to be a demon trapped behind a door in a man’s basement.
The movie is painfully slow to get rolling and takes a rather challenging road of trying to convey terror and suspense without relying on visual scares, jump scares or any real terrifying moments.
For the most part, this terror is implied, and forces the viewer to decide for themselves if this is simply one man’s mental breakdown into insanity, or something paranormal.
The intent of the film is respectable, as it ventures into a creative sector that not many horror films take to, which makes the interest of watching it palpable.
However, the film lacks any “meat” beyond the bones of it’s premise, and when it’s coupled with a slow-developing plot, a tactical slow delivery of dialogue, and is void of any true scares, it stumbles to establish itself as anything significant.
Lobo’s job behind the camera is solid, despite the underwhelming delivery of the story. Solid acting keeps things afloat, but the film simply has an uninteresting script and the story fractures into confusing, and overly boring, scenarios that seem intended to speed up a film to a panicked, frightful conclusion.
Unfortunately, the film didn’t challenge my thinking, but challenged my attention span and an underwhelming impact of an ending was further softened by the weak substance the film consisted of.
