दि डेविल इनसाईड

Before saying anything, let me point out I watch all films with an open mind, and normally I can enjoy a film regardless of how technically poor it is.

This however, was a farce. I honestly can't believe this film got released into theatres, scene after scene was a regurgitation of scenes that we've all seen before. Not just individual scenes, but the whole tone of the film was so familiar and dull.

I didn't take count, but after a noticeable amount of times of the date being shot at me with a low dong was laughable, the bloke who made it must've watched paranormal activity and thought "ooh that was good, I'll have that... then I'll grossly over use it" There was nothing new about any of the exorcism scenes, apart from it was with a hand held camera.. wow. just watch the exorcist and shake the TV around.

I felt like i was watching an awful, pretentious student film from the outset and most of the acting had me cringing in my seat. I literally have never seen a worse all round acting display in my life... it was just totally unacceptable. They were trying so hard to make it look 'real' or 'genuine' and it just looked pathetic, so many face head scratching and little smirks to themselves.

I won't go into the ending... but it summed the movie up really. unoriginal, contrived and no shock factor (which was obviously intended) you know when a film is so bad its kind of entertaining? well this is just offensive. It was shameful. I can't think of one redeeming quality.

DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON THIS FILM

The movie was better than any other exorcism/exorcist movie I've seen. Definitely better than all the Paranormal Activities, but it was also low quality. The whole movie was very shaky, very few times was the camera held still. The angles the cameras were put in were kind of odd. The ending was absolutely terrible. There were parts that made you jump but for the most part, it was like any other documentary film about this kind of stuff. I would recommend it to anyone who likes the thrill of stuff like that, but for anybody else, do not waste your money. For the few parts that they actually showed an exorcism, compared to what the previews show, it wasn't worth it at all.

In 1989, emergency responders received a 9-1-1 call from Maria Rossi confessing that she had brutally killed three people. 20 years later, her daughter Isabella seeks to understand the truth about what happened that night. She travels to the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Italy where her mother has been locked away to determine if her mother is mentally ill or demonically possessed. When she recruits two young exorcists to cure her mom using unconventional methods combining both science and religion, they come face-to-face with pure evil in the form of four powerful demons possessing Maria. Many have been possessed by one; only one has been possessed by many. (Paramount Pictures)

Just recently, Paramount Pictures was named the studio that topped the 2011 box office above all the other major studios. If they want any more people to show up to their films in 2012, they should stop green-lighting films like THE DEVIL INSIDE, although dumping it in January seems like the best decision to forget the film ever existed by the end of the year. Yes, the film produces more unintentional laughs than actual scares. Yes, many people will walk out feeling ripped off once the credits roll. And yes, THE DEVIL INSIDE is a bad film, unfortunately, although the incredible red band trailer suggests otherwise. However, the trailer spoils all the "good," jolting parts in the film. Surprise, surprise.

As you can tell, there are many problems regarding the film. However, some of the ones that stand out are the incredibly slow pacing and the dull execution. The few, lazy, cheap scares the film has to offer, the only things left to salvage this dreck from a total waste, are few and far between. To say that the film was tedious to watch would be an understatement. Also, the documentary style serves more to harm than help the film, as every scene that should feel spontaneous and authentic, instead, feel rather staged. With the many problems the film has, the film's biggest crime is the abrupt ending, which is like getting slapped in the face. Just as the film is starting to pick up momentum, it ends as if the filmmakers ran out of budget. Note to all filmmakers: You don't want to anger audiences like that.

The cast don't do much to help elevate the film either. Fernanda Andrade, the female lead, is merely serviceable although nothing memorable. However, Suzan Crowley, in the few scenes that she's in, is rather good for what she had to work with. I can't say much for the rest of the supporting cast, which includes Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, and Ionut Grama. Grama, in particular, is incredibly bad as he tries to make his reactions and emotions feel real that it comes off as forced and awkward.

I suppose the film will open reasonably well in the box office like most found footage films with low budgets and make a cheap buck before disappearing off in the world. However, I'm here to warn you not to give in to what appears to be a fun, scary night at the movie theater. It's a slow, dull film with barely any scares at all. Yes, the potential for the idea is there, but the execution is just bad. THE EXORCIST this is not.

Exorcism of Emily Rose tops this movie.... And that's not saying a whole lot. The plot was good, the acting....par but you saw everything coming. The ending was I call a "ran out of money" ending. Definitely worth waiting for the DVD release. I didn't mind the whole Blair witch/paranormal activity/cloverfield camera action they used. It was just the fact you knew what was coming 1 step ahead. Not to leave out the very dull ending but I guess it would have cost too much $ to actually leave us paying folk to know what happened to the people we spent the last 87 minutes caring about. Overall had a few creepy parts. Dog barking made my body ache. Just don't waste your time and money running to the theater to see this one.

The answer to the title question is most likely this near repugnant cash in on a horror sub-genre that is being milked for all its worth. As always with horror as a genre, even the most unimaginative movie will find staunch supporters, such is the case with this here picture from William Brent Bell. That's not to sarcastically put down those who enjoy it, for without doubt some do find any form of demonic possession in movies as being terrifying, but in a movie that runs at under 80 minutes, there's under ten minutes of unease, chills or possession based terror. Yes a couple of scenes hold the tingle on the spine, and true enough to say that Suzan Crowley as Maria Rossi acts superbly, but what about the rest of it? The structure and formula is tired, there's no attempt to spin something new into the demonic possession market, while the ending is undoubtedly as bad a cop-out as you may have heard it is.

Cribbing from any number of movies that are far better, devoid of a sense of build up and sustaining of atmosphere, it is what it is. A lazy cash cow aimed at a small niche in the horror fan universe who find the thematics reason enough to get involved with it. My honest advice is to just watch the trailer instead and skip the movie. 4/10