The Devil Inside (2012)

Directed by: William Brent Bell
Written by: William Brent Bell, Matthew Peterman
Cast: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, Ionut Grama, Suzan Crowley, Bonnie Morgan

For decades, The Lost Boys earned the top spot on my "movies that cheated the audiences at the end" list. By rewriting vampire lore in the last 8 minutes, the entire movie was ruined for me, no small feat given my proclivity to suspend disbelief (and yes, I revisited that film and the review is coming soon).

But the reigning champion was dethroned this weekend, as The Devil Inside delivered a brutal kick to the gut to moviegoers. It's unfortunate, as the film is pretty good, keeping the audience either deathly silent or screaming at all the right moments. But as the credits rolled, most of the audience at the screening I attended went from shrieking to jeering and booing at the screen.

The film opens in 1989, as police conduct a video walkthrough of a crime scene. Two priests and a nun were murdered during what appears to be an exorcism conducted on Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley), who is captured and later found not guilty by reason of insanity. The Catholic Church, in a supposed sign of forgiveness, offers to become Maria's caretaker and she is taken from the U.S. to a mental hospital within Vatican City.

The film moves to 2009, as Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade) travels to Rome to see her mother for the first time since the murders and complete her documentary on exorcisms. With cameraman Michael (Ionut Grama) tagging along, Isabella attends an exorcism class and meets two priests, Fathers Ben (Simon Quarterman) and David (Evan Helmuth), who are performing the rites on people The Church believes are mentally ill, not possessed.

Isabella then visits the mental ward holding her mother. Maria has spent the past two decades drawing pictures and carving inverted crosses into her skin. And while she doesn't seem to recognize Isabella, Marion does know about her daughter's recent abortion. After viewing the footage, the two priests aren't convinced that Maria is a candidate for an exorcism, as she doesn't exhibit all the signs of demonic possession. To illustrate their point, the two take Isabella to an actual exorcism, so she will know how to identify a true possession.

That scene works damn well. Taking place in a darkened basement, the priests try to expel a demon from a young woman (Bonnie Morgan, a British based contortionist). Slowly revealing her form from under a sheet, the woman is horribly contorted and then unravels herself, allowing the priests to secure her to the bed and begin the rites.

Morgan (whose stage name is Pixie Le Knot) is simply amazing, twisting her body into impossible positions. She stands in for another actress later in the film and it's only noticeable because no other human could possibly bend that much. Her performance is jaw dropping to watch, though I found myself wishing her work hadn't been featured so frequently in the film's trailers.

The exorcism gets out of control for a few minutes, and while the film doesn't veer into vomiting and makeup effects, as The Exorcist did, it's quite creepy and does include some shriek-inducing bodily discharges. Once the woman is brought under control (it's never clear if the demon has been exorcised or just weakened), the priests decide to examine Maria and see if she is possessed. But the session turns into an impromptu exorcism, resulting in some suspicious camera glitches and both priests being tossed about the room. The hospital staff breaks in to regain control of their patient and the scene goes to black.

Back in their apartment, Father Ben is convinced the footage is enough to get Maria's case reviewed by The Vatican, while Father David stresses that he will be excommunicated once The Church hears about the incident in the mental ward. But the group soon encounters a much bigger problem when one of them becomes homicidal and is determined to be the victim of demonic transference. As the film builds to a climax, events spiral out of control and it becomes obvious that things won't end well.

The sudden inclusion of demonic transference, while mentioned earlier in the film, is a bit of a problem with the script. The subject isn't unprecedented in films about possessions. For example, the demon in The Exorcist transfers to Father Karras after he invites it into him. In the Denzel Washington thriller Fallen, the evil spirit of a serial killer jumps from body to body through touch. But the screenplay drops the ball here, as no explanation is given for why or how the transference took place and why it hadn't occurred during previous exorcisms. It's just a convenient way to keep the action moving, but the script needed to develop the idea a bit more and explain why it happened.

Another problem is the film treats each exorcism as a simple set piece, to be forgotten as the story continues. We never know if the rites exorcised the demon from the woman in the cellar. Even Maria's case is left up in the air, as Father Ben suspects that more than one demon might have control of her, so she might still have demons within her. The lack of a concluding summation at the end of the film, detailing the condition of the previous victims of demonic possession, is a major oversight on the screenwriters' part. Leaving things open only adds to the callousness of the ending (which we'll get to in a moment).

Like most found footage movies, the film looks too well edited. The opening starts with a police video of the initial crime scene, something Isabella and Michael didn't shoot and we're unsure who added this archival footage. Likewise, the film features several shots of characters talking to the camera, like a reality show insert scene, which implies the footage was shot in sequence. Yet more than one camera was used, as the film reveals the cameras set up in Isabella's car. The opening needed to include a disclaimer explaining that someone edited the footage for whatever reason, which would have dispelled such questions.

Despite these quibbles, the film was a solid "3 out of 5" in my opinion. Not a classic by any means, but a nice little popcorn cruncher and a pretty good way to spend 90 minutes. But then came the ending, which ruined any goodwill built up in the audience. I'll try not to spoil too much, so feel free to keep reading.

Let's just say things come to an abrupt halt after an auto accident and the screen cuts to black as the cameras mounted in the vehicle fail. But we don't go back to the film. Instead, the credits start up, with a statement that the Rossi case was never resolved. While a few members of the audience expressed surprise that the movie was over, I think that, while a bit abrupt and disappointing, this ending might have worked.

But the filmmakers, or Paramont Studios, didn't stop there. The next credit line invites the audience to learn more about the Rossi case by logging onto www.therossifiles.com. That's when the booing and jeering started, as this line implies the film was little more than a website ad, a commercial that cost over $10 to watch.

That's probably not the case. I think the film ended according the script and the addition of the website was meant to keep interest in the film going after its initial run, as well as promote a possible sequel. But whoever decided to add that little tagline didn't stop to think about how the audience might react to such a crass advertising plug. I hope those responsible for this contemptuous act, which left their audience feeling cheated and booing at the screen, are feeling pretty ashamed right now.

As I mentioned, I thought this film was a solid "3" until the credits started to roll. The filmmakers started out slow, allowing the tension to build with some creepy moments before getting to the exorcism scenes, which were quite effective. Even if the film ended on such an abrupt note, it would have been a minor quibble in an otherwise entertaining film.

But I can't give The Devil Inside that rating now, as the finale shows such contempt for viewers. Not only that, but a passing review might embolden studios to continue this practice, which happens too often now (the post-credit scenes in recent Marvel superhero films promoting the next feature being one such example). But The Devil Inside crossed into new territory by delivering an abrupt ending before implying the full story could be found online.

So, don't go see this movie, don't buy or rent the DVD and, whatever you do, DO NOT visit the website. It's time to show studios that we won't stand for such cheap pranks and that we expect more of them in the future.

This is a Day Two Review.

Rating: (1 out of 5):