Skimpy, poorly shot and incoherent entry in the exorcism stakes
(15)83min
Horror has a new home in the ‘found footage’ genre that spawned The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, with The Devil Inside the latest low-budget effort to conjure up huge box office returns with the aid of heavy studio marketing that’s far more creative than the film itself.
Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade) is obsessed with possession; her own mother Maria (British actor Suzan Crowley) murdered three priests during an exorcism. Isabella travels to find a distressed Maria in a high-security asylum in Rome and befriends two priests, Ben (Simon Quarterman) and David (Evan Helmuth), who believe the Vatican isn’t doing enough to help people like her. So, with film crew in tow, the unholy trio hit the exorcism trail, with bloody results.
Covering similar ground to last year’s The Rite, The Devil Inside has a wide-eyed credulity that recalls the faux gravity of The Exorcist, but fails on every other point, notably an ending that makes a shaggy dog story of the entire enterprise. Even the most gullible sensation seekers should avoid this skimpy, poorly shot and incoherent entry in the exorcism stakes.
General release from Fri 16 Mar.