VALDOSTA —
“The Devil Inside” (Horror/Thriller: 1 hour, 23 minutes)
Starring: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Ionut Grama, Evan Helmuth and Suzan Crowley
Director: William Brent Bell
Rated: R (Gore, violence, thematic elements, sexual references and profanity)
Movie Review: My last review regarding a movie involving exorcisms garnered a few responses after I noted these types of movies trivialize the entire theory of exorcisms. This is because recent moviemakers make these horror pictures so ridiculous that they are often far from believable. Well, my viewpoint has not changed. “The Devil Inside” makes this aspect of religion still unconvincing.
Directed by Bell (“Stay Alive,” 2006), this movie follows a story, told in documentary style, about Maria Rossi (Crowley), who killed three people during what appeared to be an exorcism in 1989 in the United States. Twenty years later, her daughter Isabella Rossi (Andrade), along with cameraman Michael (Grama), travel to Rome to visit her mother who has been transferred to a medical facility for treatment.
Two priests, Ben and David (Quarterman and Helmuth), decide to help Isabella by performing an exorcism on her mother. All is not as it seems, and the events are documented on camera.
This film is similar in many aspects to last year’s “The Rite” (Director Mikael Håfström), except the “The Rite” was more sensible but equally over the top. These movies are over-the-top productions because they have to be to get modern audiences’ attention. Mostly young people, teens and college-aged people, make up the audiences of horrors, thrillers and slasher flicks. The rest of us prefer for our heart rates to stay the same while viewing a movie.
Modern-day audiences prefer tons of special effects and plenty of action. These concepts also trivialize the stories. The story must compete with visual effects, good make-up and fancy, dangerous stunts. Current films must be energetic to obtain attention.
While this aids in making movies more entertaining, they often distract and cover up flaws within films. The story can be messy and not well-acted. However, if viewers have some energetic moments every few minutes, they appear to forget the caliber of the acting or the merits of a good plot.
As a current student of mine put it, “I thought it was a good movie, but it made no sense.”
This is the case with “The Devil Inside.” The plot does not make sense. The characters’ actions are unbelievable, and the ending may anger.
Still, a few good concepts exist among the plentiful bad. The film is intense during a few scenes, especially when Isabella meets her mother in a mental facility. Also, the settings present a creepy feeling well. The plot engages by reeling you in with a fictitious murder. Also, the use of contortionist Bonnie Morgan to portray a possessed person is brilliant. It makes certain scenes authentic.
Conversely, audiences may be unhappy about the ending. When this film ended, many in the audience may curse; they did when I attended. Even more, several people, just having seen the film, immediately started questioning moments that lacked logic, and the moments are plentiful.
Religions call the Devil the ultimate deceiver. Movie producers follow him a close second.
Grade: D (Tell him to stay outside.)
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