I Trapped the Devil (2019)

Mark and his wife Karen decide to visit his brother Steven. They haven’t seen him in a while and have been unable to get in touch. When they show up, the house is a mess and he’s tells them to leave.  Mark says he has as much right to be there as Steve does and they’ve driven all this way to see him.  Steve relents and lets them stay the night.

Mark feels like something is off and after dinner Steve takes him down to the basement.  There is a closed door and Mark hears a man asking to be let out. But Steve says it’s not a man. It’s the devil.   When Mark tells Karen, she says they can’t be involved in this, but Mark thinks if they let the man go and pay him money, then they can get Steve some help.

Mark and Steve argue about if the man is the devil. Steve shows mark the attic which is covered with a string graph.  Meanwhile Karen contemplates letting the man out of the basement and worries because the gun she saw in the bedroom is now missing.    

The main question is what does Mark do? What if he lets him out and he’s made the wrong choice? But I also had other questions that are not addressed.  How did Steve trap him? Why does he think he’s the devil? If he is actually the devil, shouldn’t he be smarter than to be trapped in a basement? And most importantly, shouldn’t the devil be able to escape from a locked room, or are locks his one weakness? He’s the king of darkness but as long as you can keep a door locked, you’ll be safe.

Overall I liked it. It’s more a psychological piece with a slow burn rather than straight horror. But while I liked it, I wasn’t fond of the ending.  At first I thought, oh that’s it? But the more I think about it, it’s making me question some things.