The Devil Inside Review
The Devil Inside ReviewStarring: Femanda Andrade, Simon Quaterman, Evan Helmuth
Director: William Brent Bell
Year: 2012
So lets talk about trends really fast. When something is popular, people imitate it with new execution, and when those things become good, we have a trend. Movies seem to have all sorts of trends whether it be zombie movies, parody movies, the current comic book movie blowout, or whatever. And trends usually happen until people get sick of them, and whatever is the new opposite and contrast to those trends will feel like a breathe of fresh air, and become the new trend. Two of these trends in movies are the possession movies, where a girl gets possessed, and there’s exorcisms. (It’s always a girl for some reason, they just have to imitate the Exorcist I guess) And there is also the shaky cam cheap budget first person trend, started by Paranormal Activity. And I don’t mind trends, or hate movies that follow them, if I did I’d hate a lot of movies. I actually love the first person thing when it’s done right. But the Devil Inside combines both of them. It’s about a girl’s mother who went bat shit crazy and killed a bunch of people really long ago, and the daughter recently found out it was because of an exorcism and is apparently getting so far into it she decides to make a documentary about it. (I think) And that’s my first point, the first person thing is so unneeded. The camera guy is hardly ever shown, they make little reference to him being there, and wanting to film this is a complete coincidence. It was a huge excuse that felt unnatural. And he’s shaking it at some of the worst times. Not saying the camera was bad all the time, but at least movies like Chronicle and Paranormal Activity make it fun. And to be honest, the first time I watched this I was miserable. Let’s just say it was an uncomfortable experience where I had to watch it with a religious person, and I couldn’t turn the volume down, and it was awkward. This time, not nearly as bad, I could turn the volume down when the girl tried sucking the priest’s dick… yeah, that probably sounded weird if you didn’t see the movie. Anyway, let’s talk about all the exorcisms scenes. They were very over the top, but not as much as I thought the first time. Power of volume ladies and gentlemen. They’re creepy shit, they give you that little chill up your spine. But yeah, other than a couple of moments like that, this movie has nothing really going for it at all. The characters are the most wooden I’ve seen in awhile, and even the main chick who feels interesting, her every emotion is random. And it’s a horror flick, the characters aren’t suppose to hold the movie, but what is holding this movie up? The exorcism scenes. I might have gotten a little edge on my seat, but nothing past that. And at parts the movie gets pretty stupid. The story isn’t very good, and the ending is complete shit. Like one of the worst endings I’ve seen in awhile. And to be honest the first time I watched it I was actually so happy, because it just ended. And the movie had no real substance, and when there’s high entertainment value, that’s not a problem. But this isn’t really entertaining. It’s hardly worth a first watch, let alone two. It really just feels like a cheap cash grab, and honestly, that’s probably all it is. The actors I don’t feel were bad, the dialogue wasn’t bad, just the pacing and execution. And to be honest, this movie had some hype, a lot of people were probably disappointed. I mean, the movie is almost treating itself like it’s smarter than other possession movies. At one point it’s like, "Science can only go so far, religion at points are the only way.” But yeah, it was like trying to scare people who were atheists I think with their found footage bullshit, and they completely failed. That or they were trying to stir some religion vs. science commentary that they forgot to follow up on. It’s not a good movie by any stretch, but not exactly bad either. I could see somebody going in liking it, but you’d really have to fall for it’s bullshit. And nobody is with these movies anymore, another reason why the trend is pretty much dead. In the end, just not a good movie.
The Devil Inside gets a 2/5
Spoilers: Let’s get the ending out of the way, it was shit. It randomly ends in the car? Like a minute ago things were going normally enough, and now it’s over? It’s like they don’t change at all. The end is what you remember the product for, it’s that last little closing statement of the movie, and it’s like they don’t even give a shit.
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