This Week in Cinemasochism takes a look at movies that have been notoriously rejected by the mass populace, and tells you if you might perchance be missing a classic. Or not.
The Devil Inside is a quick cheapie built for a swift box office draw: the kind of horror movie that's being made more and more often since Paranormal Activity spun a few thousand dollars into 100 million. According to IMDb, Devil cost about a million to make and brought in $33 million on its opening weekend: modest for a major-studio movie, but more than enough. The reception among critics and fans, however, was not as successful; it may have gone down as the most hated movie of 2012. It scored a 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is not easy (The Oogieloves is listed at 27%), and appears to be generous at that. Let me quote from the critics who "liked" it: "Exorcism horror gets the cliched shaky-camera treatment," "The less said about that ending, the better." The bad reviews aren't just unfavorable; they're downright nasty. Peter Travers: "The Devil Inside manages not only to scrape the barrel's bottom but to drill a hole in said bottom and funnel deeper into the scum."
Ouch. I, uh, I kinda liked it.
I really don't see what all the vitriol is about. The Devil Inside is a competently made, well-acted, quickly paced and enjoyable thriller. It's unambitious, but, well, so what? Sometimes a demonic-possession movie doesn't need to be ambitious. It's certainly more entertaining than The Conjuring, a dull would-be shocker that's been heaped with praise. Will it fill you with dread? No. But if you're the kind who enjoys demonic screaming and flailing, levitating objects, crosses that burn your skin, possessed women shouting something that rhymes with "Your mother sews socks that smell," and pea soup that flows like water--all things which we hold near and dear to our hearts--then the film will not disappoint.
It begins with that old portentous signal "Based on true events," which is the second-most meaningless caption in the film. It's followed by the most meaningless, which says that the Vatican did not in any way endorse this film.
Yes, I wrote in my review of The Conjuring that the old, old based-on-true-events trick is the kiss of death for a horror movie. But that's only if the movie takes itself seriously, which The Devil Inside doesn't. Though it plays itself straight, it's content to be nothing more than a romp with the devil through a series of body-bending exorcisms.
An ominous, anonymous call is placed to 911: "Three people are dead." Police arrive to find... well, I'll leave you to discover it. Flash forward twenty or so odd years and Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade) is traveling to Rome with a couple of rogue exorcists (Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth) and the camera crew from The Blair Witch Project at her behest. Isabella Rossi (no relation to Ingrid Bergman) hopes to exorcise the demon that she believes has possessed her mother (Suzan Crowley).
The movie delivers far more guffaws than frights. Was that intentional? It doesn't matter; it does. The first scene between Isabella and her mother is a delight, in which the mother spouts ominous warnings in several different languages and accents, and boasts a body covered in markings of upside-down crosses. Since the crosses point in many directions, I don't know how the characters know they're upside-down. The exorcism scenes are actually quite well done, with some excellent stunt work from contortionist Pixie Le Knot at key moments. The performances are earnest and surprisingly good, particularly from Crowley as the possessed mum.
Director William Brent Bell works handily within the well-worn "found footage" template, and never cheats on the point of view. The quieter scenes fail to achieve the kind of brutally honest emotion that other documentary-style horror films have, such as The Poughkeepsie Tapes and Blair Witch. As a result some confessional (in the reality-TV sense, not the Catholic sense) scenes are extraneous, and the movie feels a little padded at barely 75 minutes followed by the slowest scrolling end credits you'll ever see. But the film is punctuated by some truly entertaining, gory and kinetic scenes. The ending has been much maligned, and the film doesn't so much end as it does stop, but Bell throws in a few delicious set pieces near the end. I'm thinking in particular of one memorable baptism scene in which... well, I'll just say I didn't see it coming.
** 1/2 out of ****
Is it really that bad?: Yes. Which is to say not at all.
Pain level: For horror fans, non-existent. For others, moderate.
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