The Devil Inside
Director: William Brent Bell
Cast: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth
Running time: 83 minutes
Age restriction: 16 LV
Genre: Horror (or at least it tries to be)
A Movie so cheap, they couldn’t even finish it…that’s a lie, with a budget of a million dollars (which probably all went into shooting on location in Rome), The Devil Inside hasn’t earned the right to be considered a cheap piece of crap. Rather this blair witch exorcism is just an unholy abomination that rose from the same pit of hell that the plot’s demons did – all captured in glorious found footage film style.
Isabella travels to Rome with a camera assistant to visit her commited mother who murdered three priests during her exorcism back in 1989. They plan to document the visit by attending classes at the exorcism school in Rome and visiting the asylum that houses her disturbed mother. After discovering that her mother is indeed possessed (due to the antichrist symbols etched into her person) Isabella approaches some of the studying priests who then reveal that they are in fact vigilante exorcists practicing without permission of the Church. What follows could barely be counted as an exorcism.
Characterised by incapable acting and infuriatingly unbalanced pacing, Devil just doesn’t have a single redeeming element whatsovever. Adding to the garbage heap is that this film, despite being a horror, isn’t scary at all – no cheap tricks, nothing that goes beyond speaking in tongues and contorting bodies – every feeble attempt director Bell makes to bring the scare does a pathetically executed swan dive into a concrete pavement that is neither scary nor funny, just a sturdy reminder that horror is no joke unless you’re Sam Raimi.
All that said, Devil Inside’s most notable feature is it’s ending – it’s about two minutes long and leaves a bitter taste after the 83 trudge before it. It’s almost as if 15 minutes of the final scene just didn’t make it into the film instead replacing it with a 15 minute credit roll that is just as dull and painstakingly slow as the feature. I have to admit that I have never seen an ending like this, it’s original yes but it’s the cruddy cherry on the top of this dismal attempt at storytelling.
The Target
Nobody should see this, horror fans won’t find any scares here and exorcism fans won’t find any good demonic extraction rituals either. The Devil Inside is just one big boring tragedy from start to its absurdly terrible ending.
The Bottom Line
It’s a miracle that this unscary schlock horror even made into cinema, everything from its neglectful
writing to the lopsided pacing is an insult to the medium – it’s an early candidate for worst film of the year. Don’t be coaxed by its skulduggery, there is no devil in this film unless you count the demon in the directors chair that produced this ungodly, chaotic, boredom marathon.
At the start of the film it states the the Vatican didn’t endorse this film – well neither do I.
Recent Comments