The Devil Inside

So far this year we haven’t exactly seen the crème de la crème of the horror genre. January gave us Intruders which walked the same line as many other mediocre horror films and, more recently, The Woman in Black which was a better film by Hammer horror, but was unfortunately toned down to a 12A certificate; probably to cater for Daniel Radcliffe’s younger fan base.

Now, three months in, The Devil Inside is the latest “found-footage” horror film which has made its way on to our cinema screens.

Directed and co-written by William Brent Bell, whose career has largely been involved with various horror projects, most notably the 2006 slasher film Stay Alive. The film is shot in a faux-documentary style where we follow Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade) who, after an exorcism gone wrong on her mother (Suzan Crowley), travels to Italy to try and expel these “demons” with the aid of two catholic priests (Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth).

Like its counterpart films such as The Blair Witch Project and REC, the film relies heavily on the audience buying into the abnormal and sometimes supernatural elements which it illustrates. In this case it is the existence of the devil and its ability to interact with humans and their bodies. With things getting silly very quickly into the film, it becomes increasingly difficult to allow yourself to be involved with what Isabella and the other characters are going through. As the film progresses, apart from the odd crash and bang which would make anyone jump, it does little to keep you enthralled or scared for that matter.

Coming to a screeching halt with no sign of a sufficient ending to save it, all the film does is leave you short changed. It cost around a million dollars to make and  according to the latest figures, The Devil Inside has made $77 million worldwide, so far. Purely for economic reasons, there are going to be many more of these films despite the poor reviews so let’s just hope they aren’t all going to be as bad as this one.

Richard Taverner

The Devil Inside is released nationwide on 16^th March 2012.

Watch the trailer for The Devil Inside here: