~ strong language and spoilers ahead ~

Apparently everyone IN THE WORLD hates this movie because of the ending. This is: “the worst movie i’ve ever fucking seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and “Eat shit and die you mother fuckers!!!!!!!” and “I would rather shit in my hands and eat it than watch this again!!!!!” and “GO BURN IN HELL YOU SUCK YOU FUCKER!!!!!” or something like that. Well – with all of that positive energy going around, I still wasn’t deterred to catch this when it came out for rent / download and, honestly, I didn’t think it was that bad. I mean, after everything we’ve been through for an hour and a half and everyone starts going batshit towards the end of the movie and they all pile into, how else can I put this.. –> A CAR and speed off – what was everyone expecting?? Were they expecting ole J.C. himself to materialize and save the day or something?? Did no one think that – speeding down the highway – this wasn’t going to end in some sort of car wreck?? HUH? Come on, now. I know one of my readers really liked The Last Exorcism, but I thought it was terrible (to each their own, friend) and I thought this was a TON better than that. I was actually entertained for most of this movie and I was surprised how bloody it was and with all of the shit I had read about THE FUCKING WORST ENDING IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!!! I didn’t think it was that bad.

I don’t know… maybe some people had really invested a LOT of their lives into the concept that this thing was going to be the next (insert your favorite movie title here) but I got exactly what I was expecting: a good looking, low budget, no name actor cast, surprisingly bloody, use some contortionists for effect, exorcism movie. I didn’t even think the ending was that bad – honestly. What else could we hope for in this?  The other day I wrote about a movie called “Perfume” where, for the climax, he pours some home-made perfume on himself and a bunch of homeless, rag wearing, fish-market people eat him alive. Maybe that could have saved this one for these folks? Instead of the wreck, maybe he or she could have been thrown out the windshield and a bunch of demonoids could have crawled out of the darkness and eaten one of them. Gobble gobble gobble YUM! Would I recommend it? Sure – it’s not too bad but don’t expect too much.

So what went on in this bad boy? Filmed “documentary style”, this starts off with the transcript of a 911 call where a distraught woman is telling the operator that she just killed three people. Next up is some  ”contraband” video tape footage of a police investigation of the hoarder-style crime scene where they come across three pretty bloody corpses and are attacked from off the screen by something ferocious. Cut to the present day where cute little Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) is the daughter of the woman who killed the three priests during her exorcism (the previously mentioned business) and she has hired a documentary crew (I mean, who doesn’t) to film her going to visit with her moms to see if this is something genetic and all of that bullshit. Of course, the Vatican has disavowed that earlier event as an “official exorcism” but they did go ahead and have her mom shipped over to Italy to “keep an eye on her” and such, so they plan to get to the bottom of that too.

Soon enough they land in Italy and do a lot of in-the-front-seat-talking to the cameras set up all around the car ( :| ) and then just walk right on in to a discussion about science vs. religion in the local Exorcist Class. Eye rolls here. Later, at the bar, they meet two “maverick exorcists” who perform those rituals out on the sly and they convince them to go have a shot at her mom – which they can get to after they do this other one on their schedule, see.  Well, we get that one – all contortiony and blood in the underwear style -and it’s actually not too bad and now we’re on to the hospital to fire up those cameras and get to work on the mom. If you ever saw any of the ads for this movie, you already know that things get crazy up in that hospital room and suddenly the mom is cured!!! YAY!!! SCORE!! ERIN GO BRAGH!

I don’t think I will ruin this movie for anyone by revealing that there were four demons inside momma and they just went ahead and got out of that “hotel room” and now reside in the four folks who were there during the exorcism. I also don’t think that it’s a show stopper to write that things don’t go well for anyone for the rest of this movie, terminating in the worst ending in the history of cinema. Ever. Period. No lies. My life is ruined now that i have witnessed that atrocity. Just kidding, of course – it wasn’t that bad. Sure it could have gone a number of different ways but here’s how I will try and copy the ending IPC-style and we’ll st

When Isabella was a child, three members of the church attempted to perform an exorcism on her mother, Maria (Suzan Crowley), which led to a tragedy. Maria telephoned for help and confessed to killing two priests and a nun. Years later, Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) now in her mid-twenties, felt that she needed to understand what really happened to her mother. Along with Michael (Ionut Grama), the cameraman, the duo decided to make a documentary of their entire trip to Italy. Their first assignment was to visit Maria who’d been transferred to Centrino Mental Hospital. The biggest problem with “The Devil Inside,” written by William Brent Bell and Matthew Peterman, was not its utter unoriginality when it came to presenting the basics of demonic possession and exorcism, but its slothful execution and poor control of the camera. The filmmakers strived to create a realistic mood in the most elementary and lazy manner: by shaking the camera so vigorously and aimlessly, I began to get very angry because the images that were supposed to inspire audience reaction were reluctantly shown. Keep in mind that this is coming from a person who can withstand a decent amount of camera convulsions. Because certain images were so evasive, perhaps the intention was to tease us into looking closer at the screen. It would have worked if the tension was established in varying rates and actually allowed horrific scenes to reach several zeniths punctuated by creative freedom by means of a sense of humor or false alarm. The picture was deathly one-note and I sat in my chair unmoved, possessed by boredom. Furthermore, since the material spent much of its time with distractions, like whether or not Fathers Ben Rawlings (Simon Quarterman) and David Keane (Evan Helmuth), priests who performed exorcisms without permission from the church, ought to continue to support Isabella’s project. Suddenly, the picture became more about Father Ben’s ego of wanting to capture every moment on film–evidence, he called them–and Father David’s concern for losing his job. Isabella was relegated to a typical one-dimensional character who had nothing to do but scream at the right moments, only there was nothing worth screaming over due to a drought of genuinely scary scenes. The material touched upon the relationship between mental illness and demonic possession, so I was surprised that there weren’t more scenes between mother and daughter. Some psychological disorders like schizophrenia are known to be genetically linked which means it can be passed on from parent to offspring. Why not explore that connection between science and religion? Should we trust our protagonist completely? The picture could have been more interesting if had been a little more ambitious. Personally, I’m not scared of demonic possessions. What I am a little bit more apprehensive about, however, is the possibility that it’s real. As a person of science, I am willing to believe that science doesn’t hold all the answers. If it did, the universe, in my eyes, would be less captivating. “The Devil Inside,” directed by William Brent Bell, could have used a little bit of mystery, an edge that would allow it to stand out from the rest of the exorcism movies. But since it lacked inspiration, it’s just another nondescript writing on the wall created by a madman.

Today’s movie piqued my interest when it was in theaters, but never nearly enough to make me actually go and buy a ticket.  Even having my friend Tiffany officially request it of me couldn’t drive me to the theaters for it.  But I had no intention of leaving a request unanswered.  Even when I ultimately forgot that she requested it, I remained determined to answer the challenge … y’know, once it came out on DVD and I started to remember that it had been requested and then I confirmed it via Facebook.  Well it was released on DVD at the same time that it arrived at a local RedBox, so I reserved it and here we go.  Here is my review for The Devil Inside, written by William Brent Bell and Matthew Peterman, directed by William Brent Bell and Joaquin Perea, and starring Fernanda Andrade, Suzan Crowley, Ionut Grama, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, and Bonnie Morgan.

In 1989, Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) kills three people that were trying to perform an exorcism on her.  She was called not guilty on the grounds of insanity and institutionalized, later getting moved to a psychiatric hospital in Rome.  20 years later, her daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) starts filming a documentary on the subject of exorcisms with Mike (Ionut Grama) and travels to Rome to find out more about exorcisms and meet with her mother.  When they get to Rome, they attend a class on exorcisms and meet a group of priests with varying opinions on exorcisms.  Two of these priests, Ben (Simon Quarterman) and David (Evan Helmuth), ask Isabella and Mike if they would like to attend an exorcism so that they can get a better understanding of the process.  But the exorcisms these two priests do are unsanctioned by the church.  They do them because they believe the church is too concerned with covering up and protecting their reputation to intervene when they’re needed.  Isabella and Mike also visit Maria in the hospital, finding that she’s carved upside-down crosses into her skin and inside her lip, and she mostly acts like she doesn’t recognize Isabella.  But she also makes a mention of the baby Isabella killed, somehow knowing about the abortion she had.  When Ben views the video of the visit with Maria, he decides they should investigate and see if an exorcism should be performed.  And, as with most times you deal with demons, everything goes great.

This movie is the Rage of films.  Some of you that keep close tabs on my reviews will remember my review of the video game Rage saying that I enjoyed a lot about the game until the end.  And the reason I didn’t like the ending was because it didn’t have one.  Such is the situation with The Devil Inside.  I found myself pretty interested with the movie for the majority of it.  It’s not unlike the ghost movies that I’ve confessed my love for already, but it’s been a while since I watched a really good exorcism movie.  Not that this has really changed because of this movie as it’s okay at best.  There’s some cool creepiness to be had from the exorcism scenes.  And I never really found myself getting bored with the movie because they really didn’t waste a lot of time in the movie.  And I tend to fall for the found footage movies more often than not.  Not that I ever believe what I’m watching actually happened, but since I tend to shut my mind off for most movies and try to just sit back and enjoy, the found footage type of movie tends to get me to feel more immersed in the scene.  And whether the person I’m sitting in the room with is actually being inhabited by demons, or she’s just crazy and thinks she is while simultaneously being able to fire blood out of her cooch (which actually happens in the movie … icky), I’m on edge.  That was about all it got out of me, though.  It never managed to scare, and thankfully didn’t substitute that with cheap startling moments, but was only ever to pull off creepy.    But, even with this, it’s interesting premise, creepiness, and it’s good pacing would have made this movie something I actually might purchase … if they ended it.  It’s hard to spoil an ending that didn’t happen, but just in case ::SPOILER ALERT::  Maria was inhabited by four or more demons, and these demons started spreading the love when an exorcism was attempted on Maria.  First to David, who responded with suicide, and then to Isabella, who responded with a seizure.  In the hospital, she goes ape-shit and stabs a nurse so Ben and Mike take her from the hospital and try to rush her to Ben’s exorcism teacher.  On the way, Mike seems possessed and crashes the car, assumedly killing all three of them.  Then the movie’s over.  This isn’t just an unsatisfying conclusion; it’s the three remaining main characters dying on the way to the conclusion.  Did they run out of money, or did they run out of interest?  Either way, it pissed me off.  I was so confused that I sat through the credits hoping for the real ending, but all I got was a link to a website that annoyingly tried to continue the idea that this found footage was real by linking you to a website where you could be a part of the ongoing investigation.  I determined to go there because of my own ongoing investigation to find the ending of this movie, but the website would not load, further depriving me of any clue in the disappearance of this movie’s ending.  ::END SPOILERS::

For a P.S. on that point, the website finally loaded and it’s just pissing me off.  I’ve talked about how I hate the fact that movie makers in the found footage department apparently think so little of anyone that’s going to see their movie that they try to act like all of this shit really happened, but The Devil Inside takes it a bit further.  Their website seems to be trying to continue to act like all of this shit was real as well, even citing a real 1989 murder where a girl named Maria Rossi killed a random elderly woman.  There’s also a forum on there where it looks like people are actually discussing whether or not this movie was real.  First of all, if you kept your eyes on screen for 10 seconds after the website popped up, you’d see that these people were displayed with two names.  That’s because they were played by someone.  If an actor is portraying something, it’s not real life.  Secondly, the fact that the main character of this movie shares a name with someone that killed people once doesn’t even mean that this movie was based on them.  In this movie, Maria killed three people by herself because she was possessed.  In the story I vaguely skimmed, two kids strangled and stabbed a woman who was walking her dog because they’re scum.  I assumed the scum part.  I had to stop reading the forums on the website because (whether the posts were from real people or not), it made my faith in humanity hit rock bottom.  And since my faith in humanity couldn’t go lower, I had no reason to continue reading.

Some of the performances in this movie impressed me and others didn’t, but none of them were ones that I thought were bad.  I was impressed by Suzan Crowley and Bonnie Morgan for their ability to really seem possessed.  Suzan just seemed completely nuts, but in a really freaky way that had me on edge even when she was acting like a confused older lady.  When the actual crazy comes out, she does that well too.  Bonnie Morgan was good at it too, but even more because she’s apparently double jointed or something and able to do all of that crazy icky stuff like dislocating her shoulder.  Fernanda Andrade didn’t overly impress in her turn at it, but she did a pretty good job acting like a regular girl.  Although, since she probably is, it’s not that impressive.  But she was purdy, so I give her that.  I got annoyed near the beginning of the movie because I started realizing that, unless she popped up again later in the movie (which she doesn’t) then the creepy-looking nun lady with the cataract eyes from the cover of the DVD was just an insignificant character that they happened to walk by as they were chit-chatting.  What’s that all about?  That’s like having my debut performance as Audience Member # 138 on the cover of the Knocked Up DVD.  I mean, I was great in that scene that you may or may not be able to see me in, but I think it made more sense for Seth Rogen to be there.

I would say I liked about 99% of The Devil Inside.  There’s a good amount of creepiness and chills and they never really draw out scenes longer than they should, and the found footage style really helps this type of movie on its goal.  I even like the performances, particularly of the possessed people.  The thing that lowered this movie from “okay” to “disappointing” is the ending, because there wasn’t one.  And, because of that, I don’t know that I’d really recommend this movie.  You can pick it up at a RedBox for a dollar if the rest of the movie as I described it intrigues you, but you’ll at least go in already knowing what’s waiting for you in the end.  The Devil Inside gets “My ass is bleeding” out of “You’ll burn.”

Let’s get these reviews more attention, people.  Post reviews on your webpages, tell your friends, do some of them crazy Pinterest nonsense.  Whatever you can do to help my reviews get more attention would be greatly appreciated.  You can also add me on FaceBook (Robert T. Bicket) and Twitter (iSizzle).  Don’t forget to leave me some comments.  Your opinions and constructive criticisms are always appreciated.

Sutradara : William Brent Bell

Produksi : Insurge Pictures & Paramount Pictures, 2012

Sama seperti genre-genre lain, horor dengan style found footage / mockumentary yang masih terus jadi trend pun ternyata tak punya formula pasti untuk bisa mendapat resepsi yang bagus di kalangan para penonton. ‘The Blair Witch Project’ mungkin memang sebuah pemula, namun tak ada yang menyangka bagaimana ‘Paranormal Activity’ yang sudah punya 4 film membelit-belit plotnya di situ-situ saja bisa berhasil luarbiasa, dan ‘The Last Exorcism’ masih bisa dianggap bagus oleh banyak orang. ‘The Devil Inside’ pun sebenarnya tak jauh berbeda, dan muncul di awal dengan antusiasme luar biasa juga. Bahkan Paramount pun menandai ‘The Devil Inside’ sebagai film pertama produksi divisi mereka, ‘Insurge’ yang khusus menangani produk low budget. Di weekend pertamanya, ia melambung ke puncak box office, namun di minggu berikutnya anjlok sampai memecahkan rekor hampir sebesar ‘The Jonas Brothers : 3D Concert Experience’, dengan satu dosa yang dianggap paling besar. Ending yang sangat ‘WTF’ hingga dianggap sebagai salah satu ending terjelek dalam sejarah sinema mereka. But hey, ain’t all found footage ended with ‘WTF’? Entah ini sebuah anomali, but it’s for you to decide.

Dibuka dengan opening scene yang meyakinkan untuk membangun atmosfer seramnya setelah embel-embel tak penting bahwa film ini tak didukung Vatikan, di tahun 1989, Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) membunuh tiga orang pendeta yang tengah melakukan pengusiran setan (exorcism) terhadapnya, secara mengenaskan. Maria kemudian dirawat di sebuah rumahsakit jiwa di Roma. Suaminya juga meninggal tiga hari setelahnya, meninggalkan seorang putri bernama Isabella. Isabella dewasa (Fernanda Andrade) lah yang 20 tahun kemudian berniat menelusuri jejak ibunya melalui sebuah film dokumenter tentang exorcism dengan bantuan dua pendeta, Ben (Simon Quaterman) serta David (Evan Helmuth). Ben dan David membawa Isabella ke exorcism terhadap Rosalita (Bonnie Morgan) sebelum menjumpai ibunya, tanpa menyadari mereka makin mendekati kejadian-kejadian mengerikan atas masa lalu mereka.

The truth is, secara sekilas, tak ada yang salah dengan ‘The Devil Inside’. Lokasinya yang berpindah-pindah dari Rumania, Roma dan Italia juga hadir dengan cukup menarik dibalik penjelasan detil tentang pro dan kontra paham-paham exorcism dari gereja dengan medis hingga kontradiksi setan dalam kitab suci, jauh lebih mendalam ketimbang ‘The Last Exorcism’. Horror sequence-nya juga sama sekali tak bisa dikatakan gagal dalam menakut-nakuti serta mengejutkan penonton, begitu pula departemen castnya yang bukan siapa-siapa tapi bermain cukup intens.

Namun disini juga mungkin letak ketidakseimbangan antara padatnya penyampaian informasi dengan usaha Bell bersama partner tetapnya, Matthew Peterman yang sebelumnya sudah menyuguhkan kita horor ‘Stay Alive’ yang juga kurang berhasil, untuk menggedor jantung penontonnya dengan adegan-adegan menyeramkan. Selagi found footage lain tak dibarengi dengan plot kelewat detil hingga memfokuskan perhatian penonton secara penuh ke gempuran kengeriannya, ‘The Devil Inside’, terkadang malah kelihatan kelewat cerewet memberikan pro dan kontra pandangannya terhadap seluk-beluk exorcism, sehingga penonton bisa jadi begitu terdorong untuk mengharapkan kesimpulan yang tuntas di ujung benang merahnya. But then again, Bell dan Peterman tetap memilih tipikalisme found footage horror seperti biasanya dengan ending yang dianggap banyak orang ‘WTF’ secara tak menyenangkan itu. As to me, a found footage is better end that way, dan selama gelaran seram-seramannya bisa cukup membuat Anda terpaku dengan bulu kuduk berdiri, tak ada alasan untuk menghujatnya ke dasar yang paling bawah dari sebuah pengalaman sinematis. So yes, ini sungguh tak sejelek yang dikatakan kritikus dan sebagian penonton, and you better get ready to scream! (dan)

Movie Poster

The Devil Inside claims to be based on true event, now it depends on whether you believe in demonic possession or not in order to believe this film is based on actual events.

According to an interview with Rev. Bob Larson, an exorcist, on Undead Backbrain, this is the most factual movie about exorcism he has seen. He’s unsure if the whole story is true though. He said to Robert Hood in the interview:

“I’ve been a spokesman for this film but I was not at all involved in the development of it in any capacity. I was brought in at the end. Paramount seems to be a little silent on the accuracy of it, as to whether all of [the events] included were in the original incident. However, it very well could be because what goes on we read about in the newspaper all the time. Terrible acts of violence. There have been very celebrated cases – one in Ohio where a woman, possessed, did murdered a Catholic priest. That kind of thing can happen.”

The movie is shot in a documentary style, which makes the film feel like it’s real. Whether it’s true or not is up to interoperation and beliefs, but regardless in what you believe, it sure feels real and scary while you’re watching it.

I haven’t had a movie scare me in a really long time. This movie was able to give me goose bumps. So whether it’s real or not, is not important, I liked it because I was finally scared. I felt like these were real people and I was scared for their lives. I really liked the characters. The movie spent a lot of time building them up. I didn’t even find out till after I had seen the film that it was supposably based on true events. It’s just not something you think of when it comes to demonic possession.

In Rev. Larson’s interview he mentioned things in the movie that are true, like young priests doing illegal exorcisms and getting in over their heads. He explains as the movie does, that the Catholic Church is very cautious when doing exorcisms and over 50 percent of people in need of exorcism are turned away. The young priests don’t believe this is right, so they perform the exorcism without the church’s permission.

As I was reading this article, the movie became more and more scary. If these things are true, the movie is down right terrifying.

The woman that the film is supposed to be based on, Maria Rossi, kills three people during an exorcism. At one point during the film, they set out to reevaluate her to see if she is really possessed. I just kept thinking she killed three people before and you want to poke at whatever is inside her, are you mad?

At first glance the film doesn’t look like much. It doesn’t have the glam of a lot of other horror movies, but let’s face it, those special affects haven’t scared me or probably a lot of other people in a while. So let’s forget about the special affects. This movie makes it feel like the story is real. That’s what makes it so scary. To think that these things actually happened, is the key to this movie. Maybe that’s why they are saying it’s based on true event, to make it even scarier. It could very well be based on true events, if that’s what you believe in. Whether or not the whole thing happened in sequence like this is another story.

For me it doesn’t matter if it actually happened, what matters is it feels like it did.

A

I found a website about Maria Rossi: The Rossi files, be apart of the ongoing investigation. Check it out and decide for yourself.

Unii spun despre Premiile Gopo că sunt echivalentul românesc al Oscarurilor. Probabil pentru faptul că, la fel ca şi în ţările civilizate (SUA – Premiile Oscar, Globurile de Aur, Franţa – Cesar, Marea Britanie – BAFTA, Spania – Goya, Danemarca – Guldbagge), şi în România o organizaţie de profil din domeniul cinematografiei – în cazul de faţă, Asociaţia pentru Promovarea Filmului Românesc -recompensează cele mai importante realizări cinematografice naţionale din cursul anului precendent. În rest, bănuiesc că diferenţele sunt mai mult decât evidente. Mai departe nu o să vorbesc nici despre filme, nici despre organizare şi nici despre discursurile lipsite de originalitate ale celor care au urcat pe scenă. Ceea ce mă interesează de fapt, este felul în care invitaţii Galei Premiilor Gopo îşi fac apariţia pe covorul roşu. Iar după cinci ediţii după care s-au scris pagini întregi despre cât de prost îmbrăcaţi şi inadaptaţi au fost participanţii la acest eveniment, mă aşteptam ca la cea de-a şasea ediţie toată lumea să ştie ce înseamnă black-tie sau măcar, că respectarea unui dress code este obligatorie.

Dacă pentru doamne opţiunile sunt mult mai variate şi, de multe ori, le dau bătăi de cap, pentru domni lucrurile sunt cât se poate de simple. Black-tie implică purtarea unui smoking negru, cu cămaşă albă cu butoni şi papion. Regulile de bază ale costumului – croială impecabilă, lungimea corectă a pantalonilor, 1,5-2 cm din manşeta cămăşii, la vedere – rămân valabile.

Pantalonii pot fi cu vipuşcă din mătase sau fără. Nu purtaţi curea la pantaloni! În general pantalonii pentru smoking trebuie să fie perfect croiţi pe talie, însă dacă consideraţi că este necesar, puteţi să-i susţineţi cu o pereche de bretele. De asemenea dacă pantalonii se aşează perfect pe talie, nu mai este obligatorie purtarea brâului din mătase.

Cămaşa trebuie să fie albă. Poţi opta pentru varianta cu guler “rândunică” sau varianta clasică, dar cu manşete pentru butoni. Cămaşa pentru smoking are nasturi ascunşi sau bumbi aplicaţi din sidef negru. De asemenea poţi opta pentru varianta cu plastron.

Papionul este întotdeauna negru – până la urmă asta înseamnă black-tie. Astăzi sunt acceptate şi cele în nuanţe foarte  închise de verde, albastru, violet sau burgund, realizate din mătase sau catifea.

Pantofii trebuie să fie negri, preferabil din piele lăcuită. În ceea ce priveşte alte accesorii, o pereche de butoni preţioşi, şosetele negre, lungi şi o batistă din mătase ori bumbac sunt tot ceea ce ai nevoie pentru o ţinută completă.

O bună parte dintre domni a optat pentru smoking-ul cu guler şal. Acesta poate fi din mătase/ satinat sau din catifea, precum este cel purtat de Alexandru Ciucu. Sacoul este la un singur nasture care trebuie să stea întotdeauna închis. Este suficient să te îmbraci corect, adică să respecţi nişte reguli clare pentru a avea o imagine impecabilă. Dacă vrei să adaugi o notă personală ţinutei, este suficient să porţi o batistă colorată sau o floare la butonieră, exact aşa cum face Tom Ford.

O altă variantă pentru sacoul smoking-ului este cel cu guler ascuţit. Mihai Albu, Dorian Boguţă, Tudor Chioariu, Cabral, Cristi Popa şi Tudor Chirilă au purtat un astfel de sacou la doi nasturi. După cum vedeţi, ultimul nasture al sacoului nu se închide niciodată. Îţi permite să te mişti liber şi să te aşezi, fără ca sacoul să se ridice sau să facă cute inestetice.

O a treia variantă este costumul negru la unu sau doi nasturi, cu revere clasice cu tăietura apropiată. Ţinutele all black (costum şi cămaşă neagră) precum cele purtate de Tiberiu Căpudean şi Radu Stancu nu sunt foarte frecvente, dar le regăsim şi pe covorul roşu al galelor internaţionale. Aurelian Nica, Ionuţ Grama şi Paul Ipate au mizat pe accesorizarea clasică, George Piştereanu a renunţat la papion, iar Dragoş Bucurenci a ales să spargă monotonia bicoloră cu o cravată roşie cu imprimeu Paisley.

Greşeli de evitat

• Sacourile la trei nasturi sunt demodate şi nu sunt potrivite pentru a fi purtate la gale sau ceremonii.
• Evitaţi cămăşile colorate, altele decât cele albe sau, în unele cazuri, negre.
• Costumul trebuie să aibă mărimea potrivită. Dacă nu reuşeşti să-ţi faci un costum pe comandă, poţi să-l ajustezi la croitor pe cel pe care l-ai cumpărat. Un costum prea larg te face să pari demodat şi-ţi dă alura unui bărbat care a împrumutat costumul bunicului.
• Materialul în exces la mâneci sau la cracii pantalonului arată inestetic.

• Nu cred că este un efort supraomenesc ca într-o zi din cele 365 ale unui an, să renunţi la jeans în favoarea pantalonilor din stofă, călcaţi la dungă. Nu poţi merge la o ceremonie îmbrăcat precum personajele din imagine.
• Alte elemente decât cele ale smoking-ului (lanţuri, tricouri, veste tricotate sau cămăşile în carouri) sunt interzise în ţinutele de gală.
• Sacourile din catifea arată foarte bine dacă sunt purtate cu pantaloni negri din stofă şi cămaşă albă.

• Rigorile vestimentaţiei black-tie nu se negociază.
• Dacă nu eşti Johnny Depp, ar fi cazul să adopţi un look îngrijit. Poartă cravata sau papionul aşa cum trebuie sau renunţă la ele dacă ţi se pare că te jenează.
• Nu confunda covorul roşu cu balul mascat sau cu scenă unui teatru/circ! Altfel, rezultatul va fi unui hilar vestimentaţia domnului din dreapta.

 mauVErt HOMME

foto: facebook.com/PremiileGopo

The Devil Inside, the latest exorcism horror, is in need of its very own exorcist. Possessed by hoky dialogue, some gurning performances and a mischievous style that can’t decide whether it wants to be a found footage chiller, pseudo-documentary or straight-up feature, in the end, it sort of gives up.

The film begins with crime scene footage of three murders perpetrated by a woman undergoing an exorcism. That woman is Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley). Cut to present day and Maria has been transferred to an institute for the criminally insane in Rome. Daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) is involved in the making of a documentary to unearth the reasons her mother committed the crime whilst possessed by some malevolent spirit and, if she is, why the church won’t seem to do anything about it.

The search takes her to Rome where she has an appointment to see her mother for the first time in some twenty years. Before that however, she drops in on some ‘Exorcism 101′ classes the church is holding (last seen in similar horror non-starter The Rite) which, if you listen carefully, map out the rest of the film thus robbing it of any intrigue whatsoever.

(AP Photo/Paramount Pictures

Isabella’s encounter with her estranged (and quite strange) mother should sizzle with tension but, apart from the odd menacing eyeball or calamitous shriek, the scene is botched by director William Brent Bell who, along with co-writer Matthew Peterman, opt for tired possession-horror cliches over original plotting. They seem to run out of ideas once Isabella, accompanied by intrepid and infuriating cameraman Michael Schaefer (Ionut Grama), meet up with two trainee exorcists who take matters into their own hands when it comes to exorcising demons – to predictably dangerous and dim-witted effect.

William Friedkin’s seminal horror masterpiece casts its enduring shadow over the entire movie. It’s not enough anymore to rehash old ideas within a shaky-cam format, Apollo 18 taught us that. At least a film like The Exorcism of Emily Rose, flawed as it is, tried to do something different with the horror sub-genre (possession pic meets courtroom drama).

The Devil Inside doesn’t fall apart quite as spectacularly as the Eli Roth-produced The Last Exorcism did in its final reel. In fact, the climax even contains something approaching an original idea; I’ve never seen an exorcism carried out in a moving car before. But, other than that, I’ve got nothing.

2:5

Director: William Brent Bell

Cast: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, Ionut Grama and Suzan Crowley

Cert: 15

Here it is just the first week of January, and already we have a strong candidate for the worst movie of 2012.

The Devil Inside is presented as a rogue documentary of a real exorcism, beginning with a disclaimer that the Vatican had nothing to do with it.

For once, those Vatican censors made a smart call. This farcical work of fiction plays like an instructional video on how not to get the devil out, unless the embarrassment of dealing with idiots would be enough to send Satan packing.

The only thing possessed about The Devil Inside is the horrifically shaky camera work, which may also have been done by a drunken chimp.

It begins in 1989 in the U.S., after suburban mom Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) dials 911 to report she’s just killed two priests and a nun. The cops note that she keeps a very messy house and swings a big blade.

Stunned local journos report that Maria and the clerics were “holding a church meeting.” In reality — da-dum! — it was a failed exorcism. Maria is shipped off to a nuthouse in Italy, for reasons that undoubtedly have more to do with filmmaking tax incentives than what passes for a plot.

“She just had a huge heart,” says Maria’s daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade), not yet fully grasping the devilish details. Yes, dear, and mom also had a really huge axe, too.

Isabella wants to know what really went down, partially for selfish reasons: “Am I gonna flip out some day?”

She travels to Rome and enlists the support of two rookie exorcists, Catholic priests Ben (Simon Quarterman) and David (Evan Helmuth). They’re enrolled at the Vatican’s exorcism school, even though the Church is highly reluctant to do any exorcisms.

Maybe that’s because they’re awfully messy, don’t really get the job done and can also lead to the transference of demons from one sucker to the next.

And there — da-dum! — is your next big plot twist, as The Devil Inside turns into a satanic version ofWhere’s Waldo?, minus the fun.

There’s no shortage of unintentional laughs, however, as we watch Isabella, Ben and David clownishly try to take down Mama Maria, who is possessed by no fewer than four different demons.

I’m no exorcism expert, but when your possessed subject has superhuman strength, it seems like a good idea to use restraints that are stronger than a strand of dental floss.

Oh, and perhaps we shouldn’t put someone who is in the full throes of the satanic shakes unrestrained in the back seat of a speeding car?

I’m just trying to be helpful.

Even at 87 minutes, this scare-free and talent-deprived waste of film drags. No mean feat to be this dull in this short of time.

Perhaps this isn’t entirely surprising, if you note that director William Brent Bell’s previous film and TV endeavours have gone by such memorable titles as Aliens for Breakfast, A Bucket of Blood andPinocchio’s Revenge.

We’re not dealing with a master here, and that goes for the flaming red dude with the pitchfork, too. You can blame Satan for a lot of bad things, but not The Devil Inside.

http://www.toronto.com/article/709178–the-devil-inside-the-devil-didn-t-do-it

Despite the palpable air of deja vu that hangs over it like a light fog, “The Devil Inside” generates a fair amount of suspense during sizable swaths of its familiar but serviceable exorcism-centric scenario. Pic works best during its first half as helmer William Brent Bell gives his low-budget, high-concept suspenser the look and feel of a cable TV doc (think “MSNBC Investigates,” only creepier). But there’s a marked downtick in verisimilitude as the faux documentary gradually devolves into found-footage gimmickry. Pic’s $34.5 opening weekend shows moviegoers are ready for a scare, particularly from the first wide-release of the year.

Working from a script he co-wrote with co-producer Matthew Peterman, Bell kicks off with an effective mix of ersatz newscasts and crime-scene video as Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley), a deeply troubled and perhaps demonically possessed housewife and mom, is arrested, tried and ultimately institutionalized after brutally slaying three would-be exorcists in 1989.

Flash-forward to 2009, and Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade), Maria’s grown-up daughter, is determined to discover just what the hell happened to her mother — and why, for reasons no one wants to explain, Maria was spirited away to a mental hospital across the ocean near Vatican City.

Accompanied by documentarian Michael Schaefer (Ionut Grama), who provides the p.o.v. for most of the pic, Isabella travels to Italy in the hope of reconnecting with her mom and, just as important, getting a crash course at what’s described as the Vatican School of Exorcism. Two medically trained priests (Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth) offer to accelerate Isabella’s learning curve by allowing her and Michael to accompany them when — in the pic’s most potent sequence — they cast demons from a tormented young woman (Bonnie Morgan). But when the priests attempt a similar cleansing of Maria, they learn the hard way that the devil is in the details. And, sometimes, in the exorcists.

Moodily lensed on Italian and Romanian locations by Gonzalo Amat, “The Devil Inside” benefits from persuasive performances by its lead players (Quarterman and Helmuth are particularly impressive) and special effects that are all the more striking for being used so sparingly. Overall storytelling is adroitly fleet and economical; so economical, in fact, that the pic clocks in at 83 minutes only because of the slowest final credits roll in recent memory.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117946809?refcatid=31

Directed by William Brent Bill, who wrote the script with Matthew Peterman, “The Devil Inside” opens with the promising laugh line that “the Vatican did not endorse this film nor aid in its completion.” It’s downhill from there, despite Pixie Le Knot’s Gumby physicality and some solid acting, including from Suzan Crowley as a mental patient, Maria Rossi, who may be possessed.

The story turns on her daughter, Isabella (Fernanda Andrade), who travels to Italy with a “documentary” filmmaker, Michael (Ionut Grama) to find out what’s, er, bedeviling mom. Years earlier, mommy scariest killed three religious functionaries who were trying to perform an exorcism on her, a splatterfest seen briefly and which led to her being locked up in an Italian institution.

In Rome — the plane tickets were surely the costliest items in this production — Isabella attends a class at some kind of exorcism academy, where bright young things in clerical black discuss how to tell the difference between the mentally ill and the possessed. Two of the brightest are earnest, eager priests, Ben Rawlings (a good Simon Quarterman), and David Keane (Evan Helmuth, also rising above the occasion), who perform renegade exorcisms. They invite Isabella along to one, and she returns the favor, with more perilous results, by introducing them to her mother. Michael the filmmaker tags along, capturing all the shrieking, cursing, howling, body twisting and slamming with phony surveillance images and irritatingly palsied camerawork.

The scariest thing about “The Devil Inside” is that a major studio like Paramount Pictures, which is distributing it, may be able to squeeze more profit out of a tedious, tediously exhausted subgenre that was already creatively tapped out when “The Blair Witch Project”spooked audiences more than a decade ago. (This movie was shown to critics only the night before it opened theatrically, probably to bypass reviews like this one.)

Clearly, when a cheapie pickup like “Paranormal Activity,” which Paramount released a few years ago, turns into franchise gold, there’s just no stopping the banality. The first “Paranormal” cost about $10,000 to make and raked in more than $100 milliondomestically, which is why a fourth installment will be released this year.

“The Devil Inside” is rated R. (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.) Ye olde exorcism mayhem.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/movies/the-devil-inside-a-fake-documentary-review.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

As many of you know, January can be scary when it comes to visiting the multiplex. In this case, I don’t mean low-budget-exorcism-movie-scary but rather roller-coaster-ride-scary – an unpredictable mix of highs and lows. Films released early in the new year are typically either art films that would have been lost in the holiday gift pack of awards contenders, or studio pictures you suspect are getting dumped, perhaps with a gentle marketing shove.

Which brings us to The Devil Inside, the low-budget exorcism movie in question (and, in case you were wondering, not a screen version of the well known INXS single).

The Devil Inside was not previewed for the media in time to make Friday print editions. For jaded film reviewers, this is generally an ominous sign. Paramount, which bought the independently-made film, clearly wants to avoid the opinions of critics who might not, you know, “get it,” and repeat the word-of-mouth, Twitter-verse buzz that turned a low-budget flick it bought in 2007 called Paranormal Activity into a box-office juggernaut that spawned two sequels.

While it doesn’t exactly reinvent the inverted cross, The Devil Insidedefinitely puts a nifty indie spin on the demonic possession genre. With a cast of competent unknowns, including lively foreign bit players, the film is mostly set and partly filmed in Rome. That’s Rome, Italy. This is an asset, because unfortunately the style is faux documentary, which was used to great effect in another nifty low-budget film, The Last Exorcism, which was released last summer.

The screenplay was co-written by director William Brent Bell, another unknown entity, who sets a brisk pace and sustains it throughout. The film opens with a tidy set-up. In 1989 Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) called 911 to report that she had killed three people – two priests and a nun who were conducting an exorcism on her. Ten years later, her daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) decides to find out what really happened that night – is her mother mentally ill or is something else going on?

Conveniently for us, she decides to make a documentary about her quest. This involves travelling to Rome, where her mother is locked up in the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Does the film need to explain why her mother was mysteriously moved from the U.S. to Rome? Nope.

She arrives with her cameraman (Ionut Grama, who provides much of the comic relief) and soon meets a pair of young priests (Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth) trained by the Vatican to conduct official exorcisms. After some mumbo-jumbo chatter that sounds like it was lifted straight from the script research, they reveal they’ve got a little off-the-books business. When the Vatican won’t give approval to conduct an exorcism on a clearly possessed person, the priest duo steps in to help.

They take Isabella to one of their sessions – a dark and chilling but not particularly frightening scene – after which she convinces them to visit her mother and assess her. When the sedative drugs wear off, Maria seems stable but then the voices, unusual strength and bugged-out eyes begin. Crowley is eerily convincing, a real treat particularly if you enjoy scenes of demonic possession.

Since the spoiler watchers are out there let’s just say, well, after that all hell breaks loose and it’s a heck of a lot of fun to watch.

The Devil Inside ends rather abruptly, which may annoy some viewers but leaves things open. After all, if the first new release of 2012 receives paranormal box-office activity, The Devil Is Still Inside is sure to follow.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/when-all-hell-breaks-loose-the-devil-inside-is-a-heck-of-a-lot-of-fun-to-watch/article2293403/

The premise of “The Devil Inside” is that supernatural evil is contagious. But, hey, we knew that. Look how the scourge of the phony-found-footage horror movie leaped from “The Blair Witch Project” to the “Paranormal Activity” series to this low-budget, low-concept, zero-plausibility flick. It’s a pestilence of infectious claptrap.

The story, directed and co-written by William Brent Bell, riffs on the Roman Catholic exorcism rite you may have seen in some other movie. So, naturally, most of the action is set in the shadow of the Vatican, not far from the tourist sites debased by “Angels and Demons.” (“Devil” was shot in Romania, but that sounds a bit like Rome.) The actual terror begins in Anytown, USA, where Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) brutally killed two priests and a nun. Seems they were trying to evict a demon.

Found not guilty by reason of insanity, Maria is sent to an asylum near the Tiber, perhaps because fresh pasta is good for schizophrenia. Twenty years later, Maria’s now-grown daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) travels to Rome to visit her mom. Naturally, she’s making a documentary about the trip, so she drags along a video guy, Michael (Ionut Grama). He doesn’t have a big role in the story, but he’s a heck of a cameraman; he gets every blurry, hand-held shot the movie needs, even ones that are technically impossible.

Isabella soon falls in with two young priests, Ben (Simon Quarterman) and David (Evan Helmuth), who are renegade exorcists. They tend to victims of demonic possession that their church superiors refuse to acknowledge, taking an oh-so-scientific approach to medieval superstition. They let Isabella and Michael videotape a dark-basement exorcism, during which a spiritually polluted young woman screams, levitates and contorts her limbs, to the accompaniment of loud, cracking noises that would make any vertebrate wince.

Naturally, the boys want to try their techniques on Maria. One problem, though: Sometimes a freshly exorcised fiend gloms onto an innocent bystander, turning him or her into a twisted, howling bag of hate. You can see where this is going, and the filmmakers can see that you can see. So they rush to the hideous yet hilarious climax in little more than an hour and then pad the running time with the slowest-moving credits ever. Even Satan, trapped for all eternity in his sulfurous kingdom, would probably get antsy watching them crawl – except for one thing, the name of the movie’s contortionist: Pixie Le Knot. Good to know that someone has a sense of humor about this diabolical foolishness.

Contains violence, grisly images and profanity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/the-devil-inside,1207746/critic-review.html

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Think of a mix between The Exorcist and Cloverfield minus their originality and professionalism, and that’s what The Devil Inside is. Using “real-life” 9-11 dispatcher calls, the movie follows Isabella Rossi, the daughter of a possessed woman who killed priests at her own exorcism. In some non-sensical attempt to gain closure, Isabella teams with a couple of rogue priests (that’s right, I said “rogue priests”), to perform another exorcism on her mother. It doesn’t take much to figure out what happens next.

As much as the script needs a jolt of freshness, blandness is not this film’s ultimate failure. After all, the majority of Hollywood’s wide releases are remakes or rehashes of something we’ve seen before. The difference with The Devil Inside is there is a lack of care and respect from the filmmakers. The camera is jolty, the lighting is suspect, and the transitions are uncomfortable. The film being a faux-documentary is their excuse. But audiences are smarter than that. We are not being treated to a first-hand account of newly-uncovered footage hidden in the archives of the police department. We are instead forced to watch bad art under the guise of competent investigation.

All this can be forgiven, however, if there was an inch of fright within the scenes. But laughs abound, and none of them are intentional. A old lady who speaks in a weird English accent is not possessed; she lives down Mulberry Street. A rogue priest who almost drowns a baby is not shocking; he’s just not believable. A woman who gets a little bat-shit crazy is not the devil; she’s called an ex-girlfriend. But hey — what do I know? I’m not one of the guys sitting $40 million richer. In fact, I helped them get that way.

The film received extremely negative reviews from critics, and audiences alike.Despite the negative reaction, the film topped the box offices on its opening weekend.

Plot

In 1989, emergency responders received a 9-1-1 call from Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) confessing that she had brutally killed three people. 20 years later, her daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) seeks to understand the truth about what happened that night. She travels to the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Italy where her mother has been locked away to determine if her mother is mentally ill or demonically possessed. When she recruits two young exorcists (Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth) to cure her mom using unconventional methods combining both science and religion, they come face-to-face with pure evil in the form of four powerful demons possessing Maria. Many have been possessed by one; only one has been possessed by many. — (C) Paramount Insurge

Cast

Fernanda Andrade as Isabella Rossi
Simon Quarterman as Benji
Evan Helmuth as David
Ionut Grama as Mike
Suzan Crowley as Maria Rossi
Bonnie Morgan as Rosalita

Background

The film was shot in 2010 in several different locations, including Bucharest (Romania), Rome (Italy) and Vatican City. It is in the genre of “found footage” and so is a movie of a fictional story that tries to give the impression that it actually occurred. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Steven Schneider brought the movie to Paramount Pictures, and their low-budget branch, Paramount Insurge acquired the film for the first release from that low-budget branch, hoping it would be its next Paranormal Activity.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – This is a satanic stunt movie, impure and simple.  But as stunt movies go, it’s pretty effective.

Effectively scary, that is.  “Between science and religion, between hope and fear… no soul is safe”, whispers and teases and insinuates the trailer for The Devil Inside.

Yeah, well, between you and me, no moviegoer is safe with demonic possession flicks if at least part of the way to their ferocious conclusions, they get under your skin.

And until a very questionable climax that will leave some viewers feeling shortchanged, The Devil Inside does some hellacious chillin’.

It’s a spooky supernatural horror thriller set in Italy — “inspired by true events” — about a woman named Isabelle, played by Fernanda Andrade, who becomes involved with a series of exorcisms as part of her investigation into just what happened to her mother, who allegedly murdered three people while under the influence of a demon’s possession.

According to reports, on a day in 1989, a woman named Maria Rossi, played by Suzan Crowley, made a 911 call and reported that she had committed three brutal murders — of two priests and a nun — while an exorcism was being performed on her.

Declared not guilty by reason of insanity, she was subsequently locked away in the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane in the Holy Church in Rome.

Twenty years later, her twenty-something daughter Isabelle, afraid that a similar fate may await her and wanting to find out whether her mother was mentally ill or demonically possessed, searches for someone who can help her and perhaps her mother.

Accompanied by her filmmaker friend, Michael (Ionut Grama), a documentarian who intends to record her experience, she travels to Rome and engages two young rogue priests, exorcists played by Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth, to use their unconventional methods to determine whether or not her mother was indeed possessed by not just one demon, but an unprecedented four.

What she and her film crew discover is that Maria’s possession is like nothing else in the history of Christianity, with intimations of concepts like “multiple demonic possession” and “possession transference.”

Director and co-writer (with Matthew Peterman) William Brent Bell (Stay Alive, Sparkle and Charm) employs a cinema verite shooting style on digital video that’s in the now-familiar fake documentary/found footage realm, and manages to deliver ghastly goings-on that are nightmarishly gripping, with a fair share of genuine shocks and scares.

Supernatural chillers about possession with the power disturb, like The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Last Exorcism, and even The Rite rarely traffic in three-dimensional character delineation — and neither does The Devil Inside, which exhibits very little interest in the mother-daughter bond that is embedded in the film’s basic premise.

But the mandate here is to use that single scare-the-hell-out-of-’em dimension to make us claw the armrest and look away — as this latest trip to the dark side does, with several lengthy stretches of excruciating suspense.

So we’ll exorcise 2-1/2 stars out of 4 for the goose-pimply thriller, The Devil Inside, a devilishly disturbing dose of demonic-possession dread.

More Bill Wine Movie Reviews.

[listicle id=55129 align=left show_title=true]

THE DEVIL INSIDE
“No Soul Is Safe.”

Directing: William Brent Bell
Writing: William Brent Bell, Matthew Peterman
Starring: Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, Ionut Grama

A young woman travels to Italy in order to uncover the truth about her mother, who is either possessed by demons or just shit-house rat crazy. Things get real when she enlists the help of two exorcists and really pisses off the gang of demons residing within Mommy Dearest.

Price of Admission will get you: yet another ‘found footage’ style documentary movie about evil attacking a poor hapless family. Also, who doesn’t want to ring in the new year by watching a priest drown a baby during a baptism!?

Running Time · 87 min
Genre · Horror / Thriller
Rated · R

(read the rest of this entry to find out what’s out in Limited Release…)

Also In Limited Release:

ROADIE
Running Time · 95 min
Genre · Drama|
Rated · R

BENEATH THE DARKNESS
Running Time · 96 min
Genre · Drama
Rated · R

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA
Running Time · 150 min
Genre · Drama
Rated · R

NORWEGIAN WOOD
Running Time · 133 min
Genre · Drama / Romance
Rated · R

Are you planning on seeing any movies this weekend? Let us know!!