The Devil Inside (2012)
Tags: Horror, Film Review, Possession, Demons
I recently re-watched found footage horror movie The Devil Inside, and decided to write a review. Warning: SPOILERS and snark.
First, the plot: 20 years ago, Maria Rossi killed 3 people during an exorcism, and was declared insane, after which she was sent to the Centrino Mental Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Rome. Now, her daughter, Isabella, is going to Italy with Michael, a documentary filmmaker, to try to find out out what happened. There, they meet David Keane and Ben Rawlings, 2 rogue exorcists taking up demonic possession cases that were rejected by the Church, and whom Isabella convinces to help her mother.
The movie starts well, with the ‘real’ 911 call by Maria after the murders, and ‘archive’ footage of the police at the crime scene, showing the results of some appropriately bloody demonic violence. We get some more details about the murders, namely that the victims were 2 priests and a nun, and Maria’s trial through old news broadcasts. Then we meet Isabella, who talks about how her mother had started behaving differently before the murders. It may not be groundbreaking, but it’s a good introduction to the story, and the movie manages to look like a real documentary in progress. There’s an intriguing detail about how Isabella’s father told her about the attempted exorcism and died 3 days later, but the movie never goes back to it, not even when possessed Maria is taunting her daughter. Anyway, it’s now time to go to Rome to experience some predictable and very low budget demonic shenanigans. First stop is the Vatican’s school for exorcists, where believers and sceptics learn about demonic possession. This is where Isabella and Michael meet Ben and David. In this particular class, the teacher, Father Gallo, talks about transference, which is what happens when the demon decides to switch vessels mid exorcism. Do remember that, because everyone else just forgets all about it until it’s too late. Gallo also shows a video of a girl, Rosa, acting as if she’s possessed, though the Church refused to help her. There’s talk about the similarities between demonic possession and mental illness, which is boring and a waste of time because of course everyone in this movie is going to turn out to really be possessed.
Isabella’s first visit with her mother is disturbing, but the only real evidence that there’s something more going on is the fact that she knows her daughter had an abortion. We do get to see some old footage of Maria beating up hospital staff, but she’s a lot quieter now. Also, I thought it was funny that, after Isabella mentioned the big book of rules the hospital had sent her, she gets to sit alone with Maria and even take her bag with her. That doesn’t seem very safe. After she and Michael show the footage of the visit to Ben and David, they notice something else - Maria switched accents! This is important because since the movie doesn’t have the budget for some Aramaic, the priests get to explain how different accents totally count as much as the traditional speaking in tongues. Oh, FFS, at least have her talk backwards like in The Exorcist. To be fair, Maria later speaks in Italian and German, too, but there’s no reason for the movie not to give the audience some intelligible Latin. One creepy detail is that she has been cutting upturned crosses on her arms and even the inside of her lower lip. Ben is more sceptic than David, but they still invite Isabella and Michael to film their exorcism of Rosa, whom they’ve been helping in secret. The priests explain that some exorcisms may take years, and that it’s important to find out the demon’s name so they can see their place in the Hell’s hierarchy and determine just how powerful they are. And now it’s time for some demonic contortions, spontaneous bleeding, and lame obscenities courtesy of Berith, who’s the Master of… actually the movie doesn’t bother giving Berith any cool backstory or epithets. Since they’ve been working on Rosa for some time, he must be powerful, but he doesn’t do anything particularly impressive. He can’t even speak English without an Italian accent. Berith gets my respect for managing a semi decent wall climb, though that’s probably because it’s just a person holding onto jutting bricks. After the session ends, Ben and David declare Rosa demon-free, and Michael doesn’t sound so sceptic anymore. Clearly he’s not as demanding as I am. And why did Berith spend so much time inside Rosa? It seems really boring. What does he even do when he’s not being yelled at by priests and having bibles and crosses waved at him? Just stays in bed twisted like a pretzel?
The Church once more refuses to help Maria, but now Ben wants to do something while David worries about the consequences of performing an unauthorized exorcism outside the walls of the Vatican. Their position is so weird. They’re already going against the Church by helping the people that were turned down for an exorcism, but now David is worried about getting in trouble? As for the switch about Maria, I could see David hoping that the Church would agree to re-evaluate her, but why does Ben suddenly change his mind after being the sceptic one? Well, it doesn’t matter because it’s time to provoke whoever is inside Maria to get the proof they need. They’re ready for the worst, and even say it could be more than one demon. Except, this demon isn’t as easy as Berith, and even has his vessel fall asleep while being sprinkled with holy water. Suddenly, Maria starts screaming and it is ON! She throws stuff and David around, propels herself off the bed, and utters the immortal line ‘I’ll use your tongue to skull-fuck the baby killer’. Hmm, how would she do that exactly? I’m guessing she’d first have to melt Isabella’s flesh because sticking a soft thing like a tongue through someone’s eye doesn’t seem feasible. Maybe she’d go for the nose? It can’t be the mouth because it’s a tongue so that would just be kissing. Seriously, the best threats are the ones that don’t make you wonder how they’d be physically possible. Maria sings The Itsy Bitsy Spider, too, which makes Isabella feel nostalgic though her mother had just said she wanted to skull-fuck her with a severed tongue. But who is doing all this? Asbeel, who will also get zero cool backstory and epithets. So, here we go again, why mention the importance of Hell hierarchy and then not use it? Something Asbeel has? Secrets! He insinuates Ben did something bad involving his exorcist uncle, though doesn’t give any details. Yet.
After reviewing the footage, the group notices 2 things: there are 4 voices coming from Maria, which means Asbeel has some roommates; and there was a brief moment when all the cameras failed. So, let’s do a little recap, shall we? The exorcism class where Isabella met Ben and David was about transference; before the session with Maria, it was said that there could be more than one demon inside her; Ben identified 4 voices coming from her; and all the cameras malfunctioned at the same time. And yet, none of these geniuses figure out what’s going on? This is particularly embarrassing when you remember how Ben and David have been criticizing the Vatican’s ineffectual approach to demonic possession. The movie shows the group arguing among themselves, so we’re supposed to believe that they’re already being influenced by the demons, but they’re not actually possessed, and there doesn’t seem to be a reason for why it wouldn’t occur to anyone that they might have brought something back with them. Of course, this is probably not a good time for David to perform a baptism, but that’s exactly what he does. Naturally, it ends with him trying to drown the baby while the parents take forever to realize what’s going on. Really, they’re just standing there while he holds the baby underwater. This should’ve been disturbing, but the way it was filmed and the reactions, along with the blank look on David’s face made it unintentionally funny. I’d also like to know how he managed not to suffer any effects from sticking his hands in holy water, inside a church. It’s unclear if the baby survived. Michael, who was filming the baptism, says it did, but then isn’t sure. For some reason, the baby-drowning priest isn’t lynched on the spot and returns home, where he immediately locks himself in the attic. Having one of the group possessed would’ve been a great opportunity for drama if the movie didn’t rush through it, but unfortunately, it’s exactly what it does. Apart from the baby drowning, possessed David doesn’t do much. He spooks Isabella with his decoration (Bible pages on the wall!) (wait, when did he have time to do that?) (also, why?), shows off his fully dilated pupils from afar, briefly teases Ben about his dead uncle, and finally, shoots himself with a gun he stole from one of the cops (off-screen) that showed up to arrest him. Well, that takes care of David, and now it’s Isabella’s turn.
Isabella is taken to the hospital after having a seizure at the same time David killed himself. This time, however, both Ben and Michael already know what’s happening, and want to take her to Father Gallo for an exorcism. Before they get her in the car, there’s still time for her to kill a nurse off-camera (though we do see the nurse covered in blood while the doctors try to help her), and twist herself on the floor. Demons really love contortions. The sedative doesn’t last long, and Isabella gets all mildly demonic inside the car while Ben tries to restrain her. Maria said the demon was Asbeel, but the way Isabella talks, it seems as if he’s Satan himself. Which of course begs the question: why the hell did these demons just stay inside Maria for 20 years without doing anything but attack a few members of the hospital staff? Did they really have nothing better to do than paint a watercolour of Maria and her family? At least Berith got to insult some priests. Then again, since there was more than one, at least they had someone to talk to. Things don’t get more exciting when it’s time to kill the remaining humans. Asbeel/Satan/whoever finally reveals Ben’s secret - he killed his exorcist uncle! I remember that the first time I watched this, the reason was that the uncle had been abusing him, but I honestly don’t remember hearing that here. It was probably there, but I must’ve missed it while taking notes. Anyway, the struggle between Ben and Possessed Isabella looks stupid (surely a powerful demon unbothered by holy water could easily kill a puny human?), and instead of using some demonic telekinesis to crash the car, the demon just influences Michael into taking off his seatbelt and driving into oncoming traffic. The men die and Isabella is gone. That wasn’t a bad ending, but the way everything was filmed made it all so incredibly meh. The fact that all that came before wasn’t all that didn’t help, either.
But wait, where was the blind nun that showed up in some of the promotional posters? We just see her for a few seconds when Isabella walks by her in the street. That’s some serious false advertising. The movie presented itself as a true story, and even had a website with more videos about the ‘Rossi investigation’, which is now gone, so I didn’t have to subject myself to more unimaginative demonic activity.
VERDICT
The basic plot is okay, but the filmmakers were incapable of turning it into something good. The human characters are incredible dumb, and it’s hard to truly care about what happens to them when the movie is eager to rush to the ‘shocking’ ending instead of showing them deal with the demonic influence in their midst. The demons don’t fare much better, none has a discernible personality, and their abilities just aren’t impressive. The Devil Inside is mildly funny and non scary, and the best thing about it is its short running time.
By Danforth