New Release Review - The Devil Inside

Directed by: William Brent Bell
Starring: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, Ionut Grama, Suzan Crowley

Yet another found footage movie fails to hit the mark.

The movie opens with footage filmed by police at the scene of a triple murder, the victims being two priests and a nun. Twenty years later, Andrade, daughter of the killer, sets off to Rome with documentary film-maker Grama to finally meet her mother, who it seems is possessed by a demon. Why she was transferred to a psychiatric facility in Rome is never quite explained, but I guess Rome is a better setting for a horror movie than Philadelphia.
The reason the found footage genre has such a low success rate is because it attracts so many hacks. Film-makers think they can make it look as amateurish as possible and this will excuse their lack of talent. They're wrong of course as this is a genre that requires a serious attention to detail in order to pass it off as reality. It's a quality Bell is severely lacking. For instance there's a scene inside Crowley's cell with three characters, one of whom is the cameraman. When we cut to footage from the CCTV camera in the cell however there are now only two characters, the cameraman now nowhere to be seen. "Chronicle" succumbed to similar mistakes. This is a genre that has it's own unique set of rules and if you don't understand them you'll be easily caught out.
The exorcism scenes are exactly what we've become used to, contortionists standing in for possessed girls with potty mouths. Crowley's idea of speaking in tongues only seems to stretch as far as a dodgy cockney accent.
After a dull first hour the movie does start to get into interesting territory but just as our curiosity  is peaked the movie (quite literally) crashes to a halt and we're left feeling cheated and frustrated.
The European release of this has been delayed quite a while, strange considering it was quite a hit Stateside, taking $33 million for a $1 million budget. American audiences were furious at the ending which told viewers to visit a website to continue the story. This has been erased for the European release but the movie's climax still leaves us hanging in its abruptness.
The best thing about this endeavour is Andrade. I hope she goes on to bigger things as I could happily spend more time looking at her stunning face.
3/10

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