Monday, February 13, 2012

The Devil Inside (2012)

 After I saw that this movie got something like 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, I swore I would not go see it.  I find myself extremely annoyed at the abundance of trashy low-budget horror movies that pander to teens.


But a teen I have, and she loves these types of movies.  You can't convince her that she should discriminate.  After all, she has seen the best the genre has to offer...The Exorcist, The Ring, Halloween, and even the Paranormal Activity series is pretty good.  


As a family, we went to the movies on Martin Luther King Day.  The boys voted for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (which I had already seen) and this thing was on at the same time, so you guessed it.  The boys got intrigue, the girls got demons.  


I know 99% of you out there hate these movies, so I apologize for even talking about something that makes you run the other way.


  












In 1989, a woman was accused of murdering three people in her home (two priests and a nun) while undergoing an exorcism.  The woman was deemed incompetent and placed in an asylum in Rome.  


In the present day, her daughter Isabella is interested in finding out what happened to her mother, and has enlisted a boyfriend/camera man to do a documentary.  They travel to Rome, meet some people from an exorcism school, and try to determine if her mother is inhabited by a demon or just mentally ill.  This just happens to be the biggest debate between "the industry" and the Catholic Church.


In order to appreciate the finer points of demonry, the exorcists take Isabella and her man to see a real example (see above photo).  Then they tackle mama (see photo below), who seems to have not just one evil dude inside her but a community.  And they like to body-hop, or soul-hop, or whatever.  Once that happens, things get ugly, and events include attempted baby-drowning, suicide and car accidents.  














Oh and the ending is left wide open for sequels.  The fantasy of every low-budget horror film director.  Go talk to the Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity people if you don't believe me.


Do I think the movie deserves it's 6% approval rating?  No probably not.  It was better than that.  But I do think that the fake documentary sub-genre has run its course.  They even have added a website where there are files about Isabella's mother, just to make it even more believable.  Kids dig that stuff - that is why this movie has been at the top of the box office.


I also think the director or the screenwriters or someone involved was a bit heavy-handed with the anti-Catholic Church agenda.  Hey, we have enough problems without some Hollywood goofball implying that we are allowing evil to exist because we ignore demonic possession.  Please.


If you are into creepy horror, I'd encourage you to see this - why not?  Just rent it on Netflix.  



13 comments:

bermudaonion said...

You're a better mom than I am - there's no way I'd go see that!

Peppermint Ph.D. said...

The home movie look alike stuff freaks me out...I caught the tail end of Paranormal Activity 1 when my oldest watched it with her boyfriend at our house (where the lady gets right up in the camera at the end???) and that image still haunts me today! I'll leave these to you :)

rhapsodyinbooks said...

Ugh! I think I'll stick with cheesy romances!

Brooke said...

Wow, those pictures are a lot to take at 9:30 in the morning...haha! I normally love creepy movies, but like you said, these faux documentaries are getting rather tired. You're a great mom to see it with your daughter!

Unknown said...

I would probably have preferred Tinker, Tailor but you're a great mom, Sandy! I do enjoy good cheesy bad horror movies although I have yet to see one on the big screen but someday I will. So far I've waited for them to come out on DVD or show up on TV somewhere.

I've viewed the website because some of my neighbors, sisters who are 11 and 13, were all excited about this movie but their mom would only allow them to see the website not the movie. She saw the movie and said it wasn't scary and was disappointing.

I'll definitely watch The Devil Inside at some point and I'm happy to know you think it deserves more than the terrible 6% it got on Rotten Tomatoes especially since I think you have terrific taste in movies. But I think it's probably a wait-until-it-hits-TV movie!

Serena said...

This is not something I would watch...these bother me...I'd rather have intelligent horror rather than simple gore fest

Zibilee said...

Holy Snikeys, when I saw the trailer for this one I was freaked out for days. I called my husband and made him watch it too, and he told me that he was not going to see that with me. I had this intense fascination with it, and watched the trailer several times, always trying to figure out how they did that body twisting special effect. I am afraid I couldn't see this one. I am really sensitive when it comes to this stuff, and though my daughter loves scary movies, I think this one would be too much for her. I give you a lot of credit for going to see this one!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, but no thanks. Just the pictures are enough to creep me out.

Jenners said...

I can't do these types of movies. I'm a total wuss.

Ti said...

They showed this movie in a church in Pasadena. Can you believe that? My son wanted to go but I did not so it never happened.

I like movies like this once in awhile. I hated the commercial for it and the one sheet posters were horrible.

That said, explain the whole Rotten Tomatoes thing to me. It's called ROTTEN Tomatoes so a 6% should mean that it's good...that it didn't get too many rotten tomatoes. Right?

Julie P. said...

All I can say is "Mother of the Year."

Kathleen said...

I used to love movies like these. As I get older I get creeped out easier. Just the commercial for this one freaked me out but my teenage son thought it was great! If I'm in the right mood I might be able to see this one!

christina said...

Okay, unlike everyone else who's commented (or so it seems *grin*) I freakin' LOVE these kinds of films. I have a buddy at my school who does too and we constantly promise ourselves that we'll go together and watch them. So far this school year, we've only made it to one. (Our goal is to see The Woman in Black SOMETIME this month).

Based off of your review and every student who has seen it, I'll wait for video.