October 30, 2012 13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2012: Night #12 The House of the Devil (2009)
The House of the Devil (2009) had to be tonight's movie. It is everything that this year's list was about. It's also great to boot. Samantha is in college and getting her first apartment. She's short on cash though so when a babysitting job comes up she goes for it, even when it's not as advertised. She'll regret it soon it enough, money or no. Jocelin Donahue stars as Samantha, and she was in The Burrowers (2008). Greta Gerwig plays her friend Megan, but has no pertinent credits. Heather Robb was cast as her roommate and she was in Stake Land (2010).
Samantha goes to the job posted by Mr. Ulman played by Tom Noonan. Tom can be seen in Wolfen (1981), Tales from the Darkside (1983) (TV), Manhunter (1986), The Monster Squad (1987), Monsters (1988) (TV), RoboCop 2 (1990), Last Action Hero (1993), The X Files (1993) (TV), uncredited in Eight Legged Freaks (2002), and on The Cape (2011) (TV). Mary Woronov plays Mrs. Ulman and is no stranger to horror, showing up in Blood Theatre (1984), Night of the Comet (1984), TerrorVision (1986), Chopping Mall (1986), Amazing Stories (1985) (TV), Monsters (1988) (TV), Warlock (1989), Watchers II (1990), Babylon 5 (1994) (TV), Highlander (1992) (TV), Here Come the Munsters (1995), Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (1997) (TV), I Pass for Human (2004), and The Devil's Rejects (2005). A.J. Bowen playing as Victor Ulman was in Creepshow III (2006), The Signal (2007), Hatchet II (2010), A Horrible Way to Die (2010), Chillerama (2011), and will be in Silent Night of the Living Dead (2013) starring Tom Savini. Then last for the family is Danielle Noe as Mother. Danielle has no other credits to mention.
As if Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov weren't enough of a casting coup Dee Wallace appears as Samantha's new landlady. Dee is a horror staple going back to The Stepford Wives (1975), and continuing with the likes of The Hills Have Eyes (1977), The Howling (1981), Cujo (1983), Critters (1986), Popcorn (1991), The Frighteners (1996), Boo (2005), an episode of Ghost Whisperer (2005), The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009), and soon in The Lords of Salem (2012), Beyond (2012), Hansel & Gretel (2013), and Unhallowed (2013). Brenda Cooney from I Sell the Dead (2008), and The Innkeepers (2011) appears as the nurse. John Speredakos plays News Anchor Ted Stephen and was in Wendigo (2001), Fantastic Four (2005), I Sell the Dead, and The Innkeepers. Lena Dunham, who plays the barista in The Innkeepers is the voice of the 911 operator. Graham Reznick as the radio DJ can also be heard in Stake Land, and V/H/S (2012). Graham does sound work on different movies.
Ti West appears as Samantha's favourite teacher. Besides House of the Devil, Ti wrote and directed Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009), [also producer] The Innkeepers, [also producer] a segment of V/H/S, [also producer] The Sacrament (2013), and is making The Side Effect (20XX). Larry Fessenden is one of the producers and has also produced on I Sell the Dead, The House of the Devil, Stake Land, The Innkeepers, and Beneath. Larry also appeared in Session 9 (2001).