Devil

Forget fire and brimstone: According to the gospel of M. Night Shyamalan, Satan has no greater wrath than spooking a group of people stuck on an elevator in a Philadelphia office building. At least, that’s what he spends his time doing in Devil, a pocket-size supernatural thriller that plays a bit like Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians retold by an unstable Sunday School teacher. As low-ambition horror pics go, this one deserves credit for an efficient premise (for which Shyamalan takes a ”Story by” credit) and confident pacing by director John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine) and screenwriter Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night). But go in expecting, say, cogent characters or a clever plot, and you’ll have a devil of a time staying in your seat. C+