Review of The Devil Inside (2012) by Filipeneto — 03 May 2020

Whenever I go to see a horror film I do it with caution. It is a genre that I like, I confess, but it has so much garbage that its really difficult to find a movie that is worthwhile. And when the film is shot using the "found footage" technique, I fear the worst. In this specific case, all of my fears were well founded.

The film, like many others before and after, focuses on Catholic exorcism and does so, like many other films, in a way that borders the absurd. Without wanting to pull out of gallons that I feel I neither possess nor deserve, let me clarify that I am a Catholic, I go to mass, I even know many priests, deacons and some bishops, so I have a good knowledge about the Church. So I can say that whoever has the minimum knowledge of Catholic rituals knows very well that everything this film shows is **** and worse, **** copied from the famous film "The Exorcist". Even some of the priests lines are identical! The difference is that "The Exorcist" pays off in other aspects, such as the quality and commitment of everyone involved, the intensity of the scenes, etc. It is a magnificent film and it gives us what this film cannot give: tension, suspense, fear.

What is Catholic exorcism? The film takes the subject but does not develop it. Allow me to clarify: exorcism is a sacramental that has to be authorized by a bishop and done by a properly qualified priest, but that is only used as a last resort and when there is medical and psychiatric support, that is, when medicine and psychiatry feel that they can no longer help. You cannot do an exorcism without permission or without the presence of able people, including a doctor, and in fact there is no filming. The film mentions this, and does it well, but then it puts priests in blatant disobedience. I do not know if it would be the case for an excommunication, as one of the characters says, but I am sure that these priests would have been immediately suspended and could even be forbidden from practising priestly duties. Therefore, everything we see in this film is an excuse for a carnival that the film calls exorcism. The story itself and the construction of the characters is highly deficient.

The cast doesn't help, but I don't blame the actors. The failure of the film comes, clearly, from a bad script and the bad material given to the cast. Suzan Crowley was the best actress here, with a convincing performance of madness that really works well. The Brazilian Fernanda Andrade can join the list of Brazilian actors who made the leap to the USA but was not particularly happy in this film. Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth were mediocre.

At a technical level, the film is globally bad. The best was the performance of the stunts, generally anonymous, who brought to life the contortionism and the most violent scenes. It takes elasticity to achieve those, and people who did it here deserve applause. For the rest, we can point out the bad cinematography, in the worst "found footage" style, that do not even know how to take advantage of the beauty of the city of Rome. The sets and costumes are monotonous and the soundtrack is not even worth mentioning.