The Devil’s Hour: A Haunting Thriller of a Drama

There’s a reason the Amazon Original The Devil’s Hour is generating a lot of buzz and praise. It’s fresh and yet also familiar. Both Amazon and IMDB categorize it as a “Drama,” but also as “Suspense” and a “Thriller.” But it’s more than that. There’s a mind-bending supernatural component with a twist of horror that meshes together the best parts of movies like The Sixth Sense and The Babadook.

Although, part of the reason those two movies, in particular, come to mind is that they also have unusual little boys that the plots revolve around. However, I don’t remember feeling annoyed by Haley Joel Osment’s character. If anything, he summoned a lot of sympathy, something the boy in The Babadook did not. Too. Much. Crying. I was ready for the monster to eat him.

Isaac (Benjamin Chivers), the little boy in The Devil’s Hour, inspires something in between sympathy, frustration, and fear. He doesn’t say much, but some of what he says when he does speak is downright freaky!

I won’t spoil anything, partly because I can’t. I’m well into the six-episode series, but I haven’t finished it all yet. But I will give you an example of one of Isaac’s most chilling moments. It demonstrates one of the ways this series oozes with spooky tension.

What does Isaac see?

One night his mom, Lucy (Jessica Raine), is sitting on the end of his bed reading to him. He’s not looking at her, though. He’s staring intently at a corner of his room.

Now, one thing that’s important to know about Isaac is he’s not normal. He’s neither special needs (in the traditional sense we know it) nor autistic. But he never laughs or cries or gets mad. He never wants to play or have fun. And forget being affectionate. He will hug his mom back if she initiates it, but he doesn’t seek out cuddles.

Another thing he never does is lie. He’s simply not capable of it. Everything is very by the books in Isaac’s world.

Anyway, curious what Isaac is looking at, Lucy asks him as she looks over her shoulder to see if she can answer her own question. That’s when Isaac says, “There’s a man.”

Alarmed, she spins around to have another look but doesn’t see anything. Laughing, she tries to reassure Isaac (and herself) that no one’s there, it’s just them. But Isaac keeps staring.

Frustrated (and a bit freaked out) when he keeps staring, she repositions herself from the end of the bed next to Isaac. Probably a good idea just in case someone is lurking behind her.

But before she resumes reading, she notices Isaac’s focus slowly panning across the room. She asks what he’s looking at now, and Isaac answers, “He’s moving.”

She gets visibly annoyed and admonishes him for pretending because it scares her. Isaac insists the invisible man is not pretend.

The trouble is, this isn’t the first time he’s stared at a man Lucy couldn’t see. A few days before this incident, Isaac insisted he was looking at a man in the garden. Lucy asks if it’s the same man. Isaac shakes his head that it’s not.

She asks Isaac what the man’s doing. “Watching,” Isaac says.

When Lucy asks what he’s watching, Isaac says he doesn’t know.

Lucy is very freaked out by this point. She whispers, “How about now?”

Isaac says, “He’s right next to you.”

Holy hell, talk about one of the most goosebump-inducing scenes I’ve seen in a long time!

The Devil’s Hour Synopsis

Plagued by bad dreams, Lucy wakes up every night at 3:33, a time known as the Devil’s Hour. But are they dreams or half-remembered memories —or perhaps even premonitions of things to come? Caught between caring for an aging mother and her son, both of whom exhibit challenging mental issues, Lucy struggles to make sense of their fantasies and reality in her waking life, never imagining a trail of brutal murders will finally provide her answers.

It stars Jessica Raine, Peter Capaldi, Nikesh Patel, Alex Ferns, and Benjamin Chivers.

The Devil’s Hour Season 1 Trailer

For More Info

The Devil’s Hour is available on Amazon Prime Video and is included with Prime membership. Watch here: https://amzn.to/3EFhRXv.

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Have you ever woken up during the Devil’s Hour?