Damn you and your effective marketing!
Paying money to watch The Devil Inside is kind of like giving myself a week off from my hobby. I could just as easily start and end this review with ‘Just watch any other exorcism flick from the last few years. You’ll see everything in this one plus benefit from being able to watch a superior film – regardless of what you choose’.
I found it hilarious that the filmmakers thought it would have impact by prefacing the ‘action’ with a statement clearly informing us that the film was ‘not endorsed or assisted by, the Vatican’. I mean which films are? I can’t recall specifically but maybe Angels and Demons listed the Pope as Best Boy…
Even without holy guidance The Devil Inside manages not to be entirely awful, just wholly unremarkable in every way and completely unnecessary. It is yet another mock-doco following Isabella on a journey of self-discovery.
Isabella’s childhood wasn’t a typical one, her mother Maria was feared possessed and managed to kill three people as they attempted an exorcism. She was understandably remanded in custody and taken to Italy for examination.
Now nearly thirty years later Isabella decides to travel to Italy to visit her and see if there is any vestige of her maternal self. Might as well take a documentary crew along then eh, and while there stop in at ye olde exorcism school?
Three decades of study and observation have only convinced the Vatican that Maria isn’t at all possessed, not one little bit. But she is nuts and capable of violence. Nevertheless when introduced to her dear old triple homicide committing – and now committed – extremely volatile Mum for the first time in her adult life the warders and nurses can’t think of a single reason to provide any protection to her whatsoever.
In fact Isabella enters the ward unaccompanied and Maria is unrestrained.
Of course it isn’t doesn’t go totally to Isabella’s plan, but she isn’t giving up. Upon informing her new exorcist 101 classmates of the unpleasantness they encourage her to see what a real possessed person looks like and attend a bona fide exorcism herself.
And why not?
The Devil Inside is blissfully short and scare free. It contains all of the usual speaking in tongues, different otherworldly voices, mood snaps and of course calisthenics – it seems every demon is also a gymnast – like it follows the exorcism movie handbook faithfully.
Above all it needs to be said that for a bunch of amateur exorcists these characters aren’t too bright or even aware of the usual rules that apply to demonic possession. There are a couple of events where as a viewer you immediately think ‘oh this just happened’, yet it is several minutes or even hours before anyone in the film twigs.
It’s one thing to be dumber than your audience, but another when you are supposed to be pre-eminent exponents of your craft. That said, whoever made this film is likely dumber than their audience, and from the evidence in The Devil Inside they are hardly masters of cinema. But they are now wealthy on the back of this dross while we (at least me) are poorer for having seen it. And paid for it.
Until I and many others learn to avoid obvious rubbish like the plague, we will continue to be fleeced by these purveyors of the pathetic.
So who is really the dumb one? *Raises hand*
Final Rating – 5.5 / 10. The only thing that this film is possessed by is idiots, in front of and behind the lens, and in the audience expecting more.
