It’s ironic that M. Night Shyamalan has a new movie titled Devil, because that’s who it seems he sold his soul to in order to keep making big-budget films. Devil is a psychological thriller about five strangers trapped in a high-rise elevator. Sounds boring enough, but wait… there’s a twist. Ya see, it’s M. Night, so there has to be a twist. It might be stupid or implausible, but make no mistake, there will be a twist. In this case it’s that one of the five is in fact, wait for it… the devil. DAH DUM!

Sounds like like Sam Raimi meets Speed, which was probably the pitch. But if the Dark Prince was going to visit Earth just to eff with folks, for some reason I don’t think he’d pick an elevator as the place. Why not just get inside a phone booth with Colin Farrell? I guess the suspense of being trapped inside such a confined space and all the claustrophobia that goes along with that, not to mention the fear of heights with the elevator being inside a skyscraper, would make for an enjoyable day for old Lucifer.

The good news is Shyamalan didn’t write the script or direct the movie, so it stands a chance to not totally suck. As for the trailer, it looks decent, what with the weird angles and repeated shots of the elevator shaft. However, like most trailers today, it should’ve been shortened by at least a minute. Whatever happened to teasers that teased without giving away most of the plot? Devil opens September 17th.

Here’s the trailer. We’ll let you guys decide whether you want to give the devil his due on this one. Sorry, couldn’t resist.