Movie Review: The Devil Inside
You know a horror film about exorcism is in trouble when the audience laughs during exorcism scenes intended to terrify you. But failure to scare is just one of many problems with The Devil Inside, an incredibly bad movie that will earn disgusting amounts of money due to savvy marketing, including a catchy but misleading trailer and a “surprise” ending that ranks among the worst and most unsatisfying in recent film history.
The premise is intriguing enough. In 1989, American Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) brutally murdered three members of the Catholic clergy during her own exorcism. After she’s found not guilty in America due to reasons of insanity, the Vatican takes an interest in Maria and brings her to Rome, where she’s committed to the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane. How or why the Vatican did this is never adequately explained. Anyway, twenty years later, Maria’s daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) travels to Rome with her fellow documentary filmmaker and friend Michael (Ionit Grama) to discover the truth about her mother’s case. Is Maria truly possessed, or is she merely insane? The Vatican claims the latter, but if that’s the case, why has the Church kept such a close eye on her for twenty years? Hmm, that must mean…yes, the Church is hiding the fact that Maria is definitely possessed!
Upon arriving in Italy, Isabella meets two young priests, Ben (Simon Quarterman) and David (Evan Helmuth). The two men have issues with their beloved Church when it comes to exorcisms (call it young Catholic angst) and therefore perform unauthorized exorcisms on possession victims whose cases the Vatican previously denied. After seeing video of Isabella’s initial (and quite memorable) meeting with her mother at Centrino, Ben and David eventually decide to perform a secret exorcism on Maria to finally determine if she’s suffering from demonic possession.
The Devil Inside actually shows promise in the beginning. Maria’s disturbing 911 call from 1989 and the crime scene footage of what she did to her three victims makes us want to know more about this allegedly insane American woman who ends up in what amounts to a Vatican holding pen for twenty-plus years. We can initially understand and empathize with young Isabella as she ponders her own fate (Is demonic possession in the genes?) and begins her overseas quest to find out the truth about her mother, but the movie fails precisely because it doesn’t stick to the two storylines that hook us in act one. What should be Maria and Isabella’s movie veers off into an unconvincing, slow, and boring faux documentary-style horror flick full of painful dialogue about how the Vatican handles exorcisms. Well, guess what? Nobody cares about that! It’s a horror movie. Scare us already! Don’t talk us to death during long car rides around Rome. Yes, it’s a beautiful city, but the audience already knows that.
Suzan Crowley and Isabella Rossi in “The Devil Inside.” Photo by Courtesy of Paramount – © 2011 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
Speaking of horror, there are a grand total of two exorcism scenes in a movie about exorcism. Yes, you read that right. Two. One features a professional contortionist who bleeds from an area I won’t mention. The other, thankfully, features Maria. I say “thankfully” because what The Devil Inside desperately needs is more Maria Rossi. Hats off to Suzan Crowley, who plays a terrifying, unpredictable Maria. We want her in every scene. That’s how scary she is. Maria steals the movie to the point where we care less and less about Isabella’s documentary and personal quest with every passing minute.
Which brings us to the “surprise” ending of The Devil Inside. No spoilers here, but let’s just say that it’s not really a surprise ending at all. Rather, an awful movie deserves an awful ending, which is exactly what happens. It’s a cheap cop-out that leaves nothing resolved.
