The 7 Movies Frankensteined Into The Devil's Hour

It’s fitting that The Devil’s Hour features characters with supernatural déjà vu, because viewers have definitely seen this show before. The six-part miniseries, which premieres today on Prime Video, is essentially built from the pieces of earlier thrillers, right down to the way the scenes are shot and the characters speak. But that’s not necessarily a dealbreaker! In fact, there’s something comforting about seeing a remixed version of the genre’s tropes. It almost makes the show feel like an old friend. So if you like any of the following films, then The Devil’s Hour might be an ideal, low-commitment watch. It may not surprise you, but it’ll be a pleasant companion all the same.

• Minority Report: In Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster, which is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, police officers in the Precrime division rely on “precogs” to predict murders before they actually happen. In The Devil’s Hour, social worker Lucy Chambers (Jessica Raine) can “remember the future,” meaning she can frequently see how her clients are going to hurt each other before they do. She doesn’t quite understand her gifts, but she still does her best to help the people in her care.
• Silence of the Lambs: Lucy is connected to a shadowy criminal named Gideon (Peter Capaldi), who also seems to possess psychic powers. In flashforward scenes, we see him sitting across from her in an interrogation room, where he’s chained up and saying mysterious things. This is very Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, and Capaldi’s glowering performance only adds to the menace.
• The Babadook: Meanwhile, there’s something amiss with Lucy’s young son Isaac (Benjamin Chivers). He never laughs or cries, he sleepwalks every night, and (most disturbingly) he seems aware of something terrible that’s about to happen to the kid next door. Lucy loves her boy, but his spooky behavior wears her down, not least because it forces her to look at her own repressed powers. It’s not unlike The Babadook, about a monster who may be the physical manifestation of a mother’s frustration with her difficult child.
• Se7en: While Lucy contends with her family and her job, detective Ravi Dhillon (Nikesh Patel) hunts a murderer who’s driving around in an old red van. As he works the case, he discovers a hideout filled with the standard serial killer array of disturbing notes, creepy drawings, and damning photographs. For the audience, it’s quickly apparent that Gideon is the culprit, which adds extra terror to his self-serving grandstanding in the flashforwards. This is reminiscent of Se7en, where the villain also keeps elaborate records and uses a trumped-up philosophy to justify his crimes.
• Mercury Rising: Prime Video only made the first two episodes of The Devil’s Hour available for review, but it seems obvious that Dhillon will eventually have to protect Isaac from some kind of danger. If that happens, then it will be a nod to Mercury Rising, where Bruce Willis has to protect a boy on the autism spectrum after he accidentally cracks a top-secret code.
• The Little Things: It’s possible that Lucy’s ex Mike (Phil Dunster) will play a bigger role in the show, but in the first two episodes, he’s mostly around to be the romantic partner whose frustration reminds us the lead character has intimacy issues. This role is in a hundred movies, though it’s usually written as a woman. In the recent thriller The Little Things, for instance, Rami Malek’s detective has a wife who stays home and frets about him while he gets sucked into a case.
• The Sixth Sense: Just like M. Night Shyamalan’s breakthrough movie, which goes for the heartstrings by showing us how much Cole and his mother love each other, The Devil’s Hour gains emotional heft in scenes where Lucy tries everything she can think of to make Isaac laugh. If it turns out Detective Dhillon was dead all along, then this comparison will be even more appropriate.

The Devil’s Hour premieres October 28 on Prime Video.

Mark Blankenship has been writing about arts and culture for twenty years, with bylines in The New York Times, Variety, Vulture, Fortune, and many others. You can hear him on the pop music podcast Mark and Sarah Talk About Songs.