The Devil Inside (2012) or, The Vatican Possessions

10/09/2013

The Devil Inside (2012) or, The Vatican Possessions

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Horror Movie of the Year

A woman with terror in her eyes brandishes a cross etched on her inner lip on this grueling poster for William Brent Bell's The Devil Inside

A young woman wants closure about her parentage; at an early age, her mother killed three people during an exorcism performed on her. Since then, the mother has been kept in a special asylum in the Vatican.

The Devil Inside is written by co-writer/co-producer Matthew Peterman (Stay Alive (2006)) and co-writer/director/co-editor William Brent Bell (Sparkle and Charm (1997)).
The story moves fast in this found footage mockumentary horror; the acting is pretty seamless without sticking out in any way, - perhaps as it should be in this kind of docu-hoax film.
The first scene with the mother (Suzan Crowley (The Fear of Looking Up (2019))) is deeply unsettling and frightening, and some spectacularly scary scenes follow. The effects are impressively carried out, and the format works. The film is shocking and has images of horror that will stick on your retina after it is over. This more than compensates for its flaws: The flashback scenes of the mother's exorcism are lacking, and too many speak English naturally in the Vatican, which regrettably sheds some of the realism from the proceedings.

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Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 1 mil. $
Box office: 101.7 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 101.7 times its cost)

[The Devil Inside premiered 5 January (Los Angeles) and runs 83 minutes. Shooting took place from November 2010 - January 2011 in Bucharest, Romania, the Vatican and in Rome, Italy. The film opened #1 to a 33.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 53.2 mil. $ (52.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7 mil. $ (6.9 %) and Mexico with 6.3 mil. $ (6.2 %). Bell returned with Wer (2013). Crowley returned in Liz & Dick (2012, TV movie) and theatrically in The Den (2013). The Devil Inside is rotten at 6 % with a 3.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

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10/09/2013

The Devil Inside (2012) or, The Vatican Possessions

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