The Devil Inside

  • Review Date: January 6, 2012
  • R
  • Genre: Horror
  • 2012
 Review

Common Sense Media says

Fake documentary about exorcisms has gore, strong scares.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that The Devil Inside is a graphic demon possession/exorcist movie presented in fake-documentary style -- much like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, or The Last Exorcism. It pretends to be real and has a website that viewers can visit to find out more about the "victims" and their stories. Expect lots of scary and disturbing sequences (especially one that shows a possessed priest trying to drown a baby), jump-out-of-your-seat shocks, heavy blood, and dead bodies. There's also strong language (including "f--k" and "s--t"), some innuendo and sexual banter, and cigarette smoking in one scene.

  • Two young priests try to help people whom the church can't or won't help. To do this, they're breaking the rules, though they continually weigh the pros and cons of their actions.
  • The main character doesn't do much; she's mainly interested in helping her mother. But two young priests who perform unsanctioned exorcisms argue that they're helping suffering people whom the church has ignored.
  • In the most shocking sequence, a possessed priest tries to drown a baby during a baptism. Also lots of dead bodies and bloody wounds; a man shoots himself in the face on camera. There are scary, disturbing scenes with screaming, sudden shocks and violence. Possessed characters are twisted up like pretzels. A violent car crash is shown from inside the car. A possessed woman is shown to be bleeding from her vagina.
  • Some sexual banter and innuendo. A man on the street "checks out" the heroine as she walks by.
  • "F--k" is used about half a dozen times. "C--k" appears once in subtitles; other language includes "c--t," "s--t," "hell," "oh my God" (as an exclamation), and derogatory homosexual slurs. In terms of religious discussion and exorcisms, God and Jesus Christ are mentioned several times.
  • Not applicable.
  • A priest is seen smoking a cigarette in one scene. Another priest is shown with a glass of wine.

What's the story?

When Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade) was a child, her mother went crazy and killed three priests during an exorcism. Now, as an adult, Isabella wants to visit her mother in Rome and try to unravel the mystery of what happened, hoping to prevent the same thing from happening again. She learns that her mother may be possessed, but that the church probably won't help her. Accompanied by her cameraman, Michael (Ionut Grama), Isabella turns to a couple of young priests, Ben (Simon Quarterman) and David (Evan Helmuth), who specialize in cases that the church has ignored or turned down. Unfortunately, Isabella's mother seems to have more than one demon inside her, and these demons are looking for a new home.


Is it any good?

 

The "fake documentary horror film" genre seems to have totally run its course, creativity-wise; most of the movies in this category re-use the same ideas again and again, such as trying to fool the audience into thinking the events are real. THE DEVIL INSIDE is no exception. It barely cooks up any kind of character or dramatic arc, even though Andrade has wonderful screen presence and the two priest characters share an interesting moral conundrum.

That said, the movie still has some authentic scares, mainly through a lack of background score music and through long takes on the hand-held cameras. The rhythms are unpredictable, and it's never quite clear when something is going to suddenly jump up or switch gears. And indeed, this movie has a few decent tricks up its sleeve. But it ends in an unsatisfying manner, having left several stones unturned and several ideas untapped.


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What families can talk about

  • Families can talk about The Devil Inside's violence. Is all of it scary? Is it necessary to the story?

  • Does the movie seem real? If so, what gives it that quality? Why do you think the "fake documentary" format is popular?


This review was written by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Teen, 17 years old
January 6, 2012
 
Explicit, grisly horror/drama is not very engaging
The Devil Inside is the first new movie to come out on the first week of the year of 2012, and, judging by this first movie, this may be a very dull and sub-par movie year,just like the uber disappointing last year, 2011, was for movies and just in the art and district of cinema itself, in general. So, while The Devil inside has very infrequent scares, thrills and chills, the ones that do manifest themselves before you actually are surprisingly well done, effective and could very easily send some chills down some of the younger views spines. That said, the movie really, honestly and most unfortunately, does not have really all that much left going for it, so, in general, it is basically just a really forgettable and unfortunately sad list money waster, which will probably have even the most hardened of moviegoers kicking themselves for paying at least $8.00 to see this. So, with a R Rating at it's disposal, this is the parental content, as follows: There is infrequent but very intense, disturbing and occasional very gruesome scenes of horrifying exorcisms, possessions and murder, with several scenes of dead bodies absolutely covered with bloody in pretty much the most grisly fashion, you could possibly imagine. Also, there is infrequent but very explicit crude and sexual dialog which gets particularly raunchy and filthy during the exorcism scenes. Finally, there is infrequent but extremely strong profanity throughout the movie, including f--k, b-llsh-t, sh-t, c-nt, c-ck, h-ll and more. So, the bottom line for The Devil Inside is, don't spend your money unless you really want to see this for the scares. And, even than, i don't think it was really all that worth it, anyways, at all. Not Reccomended.

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Parent
January 8, 2012
 
no..........
please dont see it

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Teen, 14 years old
January 14, 2012
 
aweful DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS SEE THIS
Just don't, a terrible movie

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Parent
January 16, 2012
 
dont see it!
Not at all a good movie. It was horribly made and its not worth your money.

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Parent
January 12, 2012
 
Not 12-
It was not scary. Jumpy, but wont scar you for life. But it is not appropriate for 12 and under

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Parent
January 15, 2012
 
Don't waste ur money
This movie was just stupid from the beginning to the end....Don't waste your money...... it's like a bad documentry....

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Teen, 14 years old
January 14, 2012
 
Very disturbing....not for kids at ALL!!!!!
So disgusting and disturbing! Not even a good movie! This movie is very iffy and only for adults! I snuck into the movies to see this one! yikes, now I know why they rated it R and it is for a very good reason. Leave the young ones at home!

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Teen, 13 years old
January 13, 2012
 
PG13 for violence,sexual references,strong language and intense sequences involving an exorcism.
saw it with my bro in opening weekend.the storyline sucked and I'm kicking myself for wasting a good 10 bucks.they fail at making scares,boring and just idiotic.

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Adult
January 24, 2012
 
Don't forget one little detail....
What people keep on forgetting in these reviews is the reference to the main character's past terminated pregnancy. That's a big issue that should be listed in the sex category. I'm glad I didn't take my little brother, or else I know for a fact he would've asked me what a terminated pregnancy was. And that's one subject I'm not ready to explain yet.

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Parent of 1 and 8 year old
March 5, 2012
 
Terrible movie, for people of ALL ages...
I went to see this movie when it first hit theatres, expecting a good scare, but needless to say, then entire theatre left in disappointment. The best parts of this film were (of course) shown in the previews. It's very violent, even bloody at times. One character is "forced" to shoot himself in the head and this is shown, and right at the beginning, the bloody and mangled bodies of the mother's victims are shown. There is also some sexual content and language present that isn't appropriate. The ending was terrible as well, HUGE disappointment (won't spoil for those who want to see it) If you must see this waste of a movie, I'd recommend that no one under 16 or 15 at the youngest see it.

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This review was written by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Studio:Paramount Pictures
Director:William Brent Bell
Cast:Evan Helmuth, Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman
Genre:Horror
Run time:87 minutes
Theatrical release date:January 6, 2012
DVD release date:May 15, 2012
MPAA rating:R
MPAA explanation:disturbing violent content and grisly images, and for language including some sexual references

This review was written by Jeffrey M. Anderson
 

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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