The Devil’s Hour
Lucy (Jessica Raine) jerks awake in terror every night at 3:33am (in the middle of the titular devil’s hour) with fragmented nightmares that seem more like disturbing premonitions mixed with interrogations of a mysterious man named Gideon (Peter Capaldi). Meanwhile, her troubled young son, Isaac (Benjamin Chivers), has started sleepwalking and insisting that he sees people around the house. Running alongside that are two detectives (played by Nikesh Patel and Alex Ferns) who’ve begun investigating a serial killer, with the two plots soon intertwining.
With its intriguing premise, The Devil’s Hour creates an alluring air of mystery where everything isn’t as it seems. But with the opening two episodes acting as an introduction to the plot and main themes, it’s impossible to tell how successful Amazon’s creepy chiller will be in delivering its thrills.
From the creepy child who’s an amalgamation of the kids from The Sixth Sense and The Ring to hints of ghostly intruders and traumatic pasts, the show is loaded with horror tropes. While none of these inclusions are particularly scary, there is enough curiosity there for viewers to want to see what direction these ideas are heading in. This is especially the case in relation to themes of trauma and child abuse that the opening episodes frequently touch upon. If the script can effectively weave them into the overarching drama, there’s real potential for this to become something great.
While Capaldi frustratingly doesn’t get much screen time thus far (he’s even shot predominately from behind), Raine’s performance is more than enough to draw viewers into this strange world. She has the task of bouncing between the roles of the troubled horror-movie mother (think Rachel from The Ring) and a caring social worker who wants to make a difference without missing a beat. And amongst all that she conveys someone with her own trauma and secrets in a constant battle to stop the cracks from showing.
The Devil’s Hour has everything it needs to be a chilling thriller this Halloween. However, it still remains to be seen how successfully it can stitch its collection of ideas and horror tropes together.
Andrew Murray
The Devil’s Hour is released on Amazon Prime Video on 28th October 2022.
Watch the trailer for The Devil’s Hour here:
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