IMITATION ’70s cinema is starting to get hackneyed, but the hor ror flick “The House of the Devil” has a sure feel for suspense as it whips up a “Rosemary’s Baby Sitter” plot.
A college sophomore (Jocelin Donahue) desperately needs some cash to pay the deposit on an apartment, so she takes a baby-sitting job at an isolated house in the woods. Her best friend (Greta Gerwig) thinks the whole thing sounds sketchy, so she volunteers to come along.
The baby-sitting job turns out not to be quite as advertised — there’s no baby. On the other hand, who would turn down $400 for four hours of work? Also: There’s free pizza.
Writer-director Ti West expertly slathers on the dread as the movie goes long stretches without dialogue or much of anything else happening. Although the payoff is creepy, it takes a little too long to arrive — and when it does, it’s about as worn-out as the movie’s title.