Disappointed whines, frustrated sighs and demands for refunds arose from theaters packed for “The Devil Inside.” Yet, another exercise in hype and found footage hoopla, “The Devil Inside” is actually a decent effort at supernatural horror and a damnation of the Vatican. Other than praising the effort, comment boards and rating meters across the web have built a consensus that the movie sucks.
What a phenomenon though, as even with the film already panned before opening weekend, Paramount Pictures squeezed $64.5 million out of audiences. This opening weekend was way more of a shocker than any of the film’s actual scenes. With a one million dollar budget, at some point filmmakers like William Brent Bell are going to be held accountable for the low-budget-box-office hit and runs spurred by “Blair Witch” and “Paranormal Activity”
Found Footage is perhaps the most intriguing genre of film to study right now, whether in cinematic academics or over late night waffles at Denny’s. Like its television counterpart in Reality TV, Found Footage is for most people a genre they love to hate. I refer you to this piece, “Found Footage: Nothing More than a Gimmick.”
“The Devil Inside” churns out some fairly convincing source footage in the film’s set up, featuring police video and news broadcasts. While it dragged out its setup at least a half hour too long into the film, without it the 1 hour and 27 minute long film was a short film stretched too thin.
Then the film takes a nose dive south in the utterly contrived hack-job performance of Fernanda Andrade, as the protagonist Isabella Rossi. There is a tremendous challenge in acting like you’re not acting, having convincing camera shyness and conveying a self-conscious realness. Andrade, among several of the actors don’t meet that challenge. Also, it doesn’t help a Found Footage film that one of your main characters is a vaguely familiar actor, Simon Quarterman as a renegade exorcist priest.
It’s strange that a film about Exorcism should feel tired and played out, as it is not premise entirely over done in horror. There’s “The Exorcist” (its sequels and spin-offs), “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” “Exorcismus,” “The Rite” and “The Last Exorcism.” Feel free to list off a few more in the comments below, but I bet most people can’t without blurring the line of ghosts and possession movies. Compare that to Zombies, Vampires, Ghosts or serial killers in horror and there is plenty of room for more Exorcists.
As Mile High Cinema Editor, Brad McHargue pointed out at our screening of “The Devil Inside,” the film severely suffers from the lack of a 3rd act. We know it’s a movie, and that it’s not really based on found footage, so why deprive audiences of what could’ve been one climatic mind bender of a finale? Supposedly it gives the film a more realistic feel. I think it was P.T. Barnum who said no one ever got rich overestimating the intelligence of the America public. The girl in the theater lobby confirmed this when she said, “why would you see that, you know it’s a documentary right? Documentaries are boring.” – Oy vey.