'The Devil Inside' (Hollywood)

Film: "The Devil Inside"; Cast: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth; Director: William Brent Bell; Rating: * 1/2

When "Paranormal Activity" came in 2007, the premise and shooting style was so simple (compared to even the "Blair Witch Project" that had outdoor shots) that its effectiveness shocked more than the scares in the film. That genre has since been made stale by innumerable copies, including two more Paranormal films. Yet, to find a film that tries to be the next Paranormal, yet fails so miserably, makes it more of a comedy than horror. 

A young woman, after the death of her father and learning that her mother had killed three people in cold blood during an exorcism 20 years back, goes to Italy to find out what really happened to her. She meets two priests and discovers a world of devils and exorcism she did not know existed. 

But can she help her mother?

To be fair to the film, it has its moments of chills. Yet, its greatest drawback is its strangely abrupt and totally devoid of scare ending that leaves a lot to be desired. It is one of the most absurd endings in cinema which lays to waste an otherwise decent build up. 

Even two minutes of extra, scary footage of either the woman walking away unscratched or even killing in cold blood the other two person in the car, would have helped get the film double the audience compared to what they would have got with this senseless ending. 

Obviously they were hoping to leave it to a sequel to solve the mystery, but by doing this they have ensured that there would perhaps be no sequel. But then, you never know. 

The film obviously would have made more money then was put on it. There is hence a chance that there would be a sequel, no matter how bad this was. After all how much does it take to make a found footage film?

Then there are other loopholes like the unfinished story of the mother. What happened to her? Was she free of the devil inside her completely or only transferred a few to the other while a few managed to stay on inside her? There are too many unanswered questions, few scares for its own good and the film does not seem to have any devil inside it.