It didn't happen too often that the possibly most notable early silent movie director, Georges Méliès, overshoots the mark, but this is one example where he did. Nobody's perfect, I guess. This film is packed with the the diabolically supernatural as well as with Méliès' usual magic tricks, show etc. Lots of it is related to a kettle here. Unfortunately he goes for quantity over quality from start to finish and packs so much action in this short film that it's just one spectacular thing happening after the other and the story pays the price for it. I wish he had focused a bit more on precision instead of turning this basically into a showcase of 3 minutes that also lacks quality in terms of the physical aspect of the film itself. It's really almost impossible to see and understand what exactly is going on. Sometimes less can be more and this is one perfect example. Not recommended. Méliès has done better many times.
Review of The House of the Devil
