|
|
Sunday, April 26, 2026
|
|
HOLLYWOOD THE DEVIL INSIDE
EDITOR'S PICK
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.
