The Devil Inside Review

Posted by Joseph Lee on 01.10.2012

Look closely at the ending, and you can see the filmmakers driving away with your money and laughing.



*Fernanda Andrade as Isabella Rossi
*Simon Quarterman as Benji
*Evan Helmuth as David
*Ionut Grama as Mike
*Suzan Crowley as Maria Rossi
*Bonnie Morgan as Rosalita

Story:In Italy, a woman becomes involved in a series of unauthorized exorcisms during her mission to discover what happened to her mother, who allegedly murdered three people during her own exorcism.

Trivia: This film actually was shot at the Vatican, where portions of it take place.

I've said a lot of things about a lot of bad movies, but I don't think I've felt like I wasted money on any recent film until this one. For all the negativity one could express about 2011 horror films like The Human Centipede 2 and Dream House, at least they had a beginning, middle and end. The Devil Inside gives up before any big climax, robbing its viewers of any chance to see any kind of story resolution. Maybe they thought it was clever. Maybe they just couldn't think of a way to end it, so they just let it stop before they had to write a real one.

Another found-footage exorcism film that got criticism for its ending was The Last Exorcism. But again, that film actually had an ending. Whether or not it was preposterous or earned is not really the point. It can't be repeated enough. If you go into The Devil Inside expecting some sort of payoff for the plot threads and characters it sets up, you're going to be disappointed. That's all that can be said without spoiling anything. But while there is a lack of a film ending, it only hurts what was already a fairly disappointing exorcism film.

The film opens just like the trailer, with a woman calling 911 and explaining that she murdered three people. Like the trailer, it's an effective way to open the film. Why did this woman kill these people? Was she possessed, and if not, how could she manhandle two full-grown adult men and one nun? The movie then fast-forward years later as her daughter, Isabella travels to Italy to visit her mother and explore exactly what happened to her all those years ago.

This film is presented, like so many low-budget horror films lately, as a found footage mockumentary. This one is more of the documentary side than the found footage tale, as it's presented more like The Blair Witch Project than Paranormal Activity. There are short interview segments interspersed with the "real" footage (that itself is another probably, due to some erratic editing), and even some faux news reports in the beginning. It should be noted that the opening of the film, all five minutes of it, is the most interesting section of The Devil Inside. It all goes downhill from there.

As the movie progresses, Isabella meets some priests and takes some classes at the Vatican's school for exorcisms. We get to sit inside of a classroom as we learn the signs of an exorcism and how to tell the difference from mental illness. It's when the priests take Isabella on some rogue exorcisms (unsanctioned by the bureaucratic Church) that the movie begins to pick up at all, but even then it's exorcism film 101.

The exorcism sequences (there are two major ones, but later interactions with the entity) are as standard and cliche as it gets. If I had one hope for any future exorcism films, it would be that someone tries to do something different. Each exorcism film follows a pattern. A priest spouts passages from the Bible and the demon-possessed individual speaks in tongues, says things it couldn't possible know and utters a plethora of curse words. There may also be random screaming to elicit a jump scare out of the people next to the speakers.

There are some few positives about this film. Suzan Crowley provides a fun performance as Maria Rossi. She puts her all into the performance and would definitely be getting more appreciation if she were in a better film. While I bemoaned the lack of any originality in the exorcism scenes, I should note there were glimpses of some unique efforts to scare the audience. I must say that I never saw someone bleed from that area spontaneously in The Exorcist. Whether it was necessary is up to the viewer, but it certainly was shocking.

One final contention point is the amount of plot threads that are brought up and dropped. For example, there is a moment in the film when the priests, Isabella and her cameraman Mike are beginning to show signs of strain after spending time together and fighting off demons. Is the demon causing this or are these people just not suited for such levels of stress? But before it could get a payoff, it's dropped as we have to continue to the next possession. It's not the only time the film does that, and it's exactly one of the things that stops it from being better than it is.

While this review has been more negative than positive, it's important to note that there is a good exorcism film somewhere within The Devil Inside. Perhaps if it went the route of The Last Exorcism and really focused on the mental illness angle. Maybe if it spent more time on the exorcism school and what it takes to be an exorcist. If it didn't devolve into yet another standard priest vs demons film with an unresolved climax, it could have been something decent, instead of a film that will be easily forgotten.

The 411: The Devil Inside is a poorly executed found footage exorcism film that fails in nearly every attempt to scare. It starts various plot threads only to drop them and it doesn't explore anything that could make it a more engaging film. When you add the incredibly anticlimactic ending to that, it's easy to see why this film is already a strong contender for worst horror film of the year.

Final Score:  2.5   [ Very Bad ]