Review: The Devil Inside

If you watched Paranormal Activity and its sequels, and thought to yourself you could get rich by copying that formula (and doing it badly), you might be William Brent Bell, writer and director of The Devil Inside. This movie tries to do for possession what Paranormal Activity did with poltergeists.

Made for a miniscule sum (although it probably looks cheaper than its actual budget), The Devil Inside is at best described as inept and at worst blatantly disdainful of the audience. It is the only film I have seen where the audience as one booed and hissed as the final credits began to roll.

The Devil Inside presents, documentary-style, the story of Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade) as she attempts to uncover the truth about her mother, who is confined to a psychiatric hospital in Rome. Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley), has been confined since the death of three people during an attempted exorcism. After a brief and disturbing meeting with her mother, Isabella turns to a pair of priests who are performing unsanctioned exorcisms of victims who have been denied by the Catholic Church.

After Isabella convinces the priests that her mother is indeed possessed, the group sets out to perform an exorcism in the hospital, and hijinks ensue. Many of the biggest of them are given away in the trailer itself. It all leads up to an ending that is a shocker only for its blatant stupidity and the fact it directs the audience to a website with an address nobody will care about or even remember five minutes after leaving the theater.

The only remotely good thing in this stinker is Suzan Crowley’s acting, as she clearly revels in a role she was born to play. The scenes with her have a palpable tension, but The Devil Inside is not a film I could recommend even to the lustiest of schlock movie fans. If you have enough morbid curiosity to see this in a theater, buy a ticket for The Artist or Young Adult, and sneak into it (assuming you've already seen both of those). At least the movie is blissfully short, so if they kick you out, you won’t miss much.