This largely successful return to the horror genre by Roman Polanski features sardonic wit, subtle suspense tricks and razor-sharp irony. Johnny Depp plays the rare books expert hired by billionaire Frank Langella to authenticate his copy of an ancient tome that was supposedly written in conjunction with the Devil. Based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte's bestseller El Club Dumas, this satisfying gothic chiller has moody atmosphere, a stunning score (from Wojciech Kilar) and sinister unease to spare as it leads the viewer up numerous garden paths to a disappointing hallucinatory climax.

A rare book dealer finds himself at the heart of a string of paranormal events when he is hired to find the last two copies of a text, The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, capable of summoning the Devil.