The Devil Inside: Save yourself some time and go rent The Exorcist

Four years after her mother killed three clergy people, Isabella travels to Italy to visit her. She is convinced that her mother's actions were not her own four years ago and, with the help of two young priests, she hopes to cure her.

Fashioning itself in the same vein as other recent horror films such as The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, The Devil Inside presented its story with a documentary/found footage feeling that was meant to keep the audience on edge, wondering if what they were watching was staged or perhaps real. There were points in the film where what was happening to Isabella, Ben and the other characters could certainly make the audience jump, squirm or just shift around in their chair for it was unnerving and disturbing but the filmmakers failed to develop the story into anything more than a series of random scares. They raised the question of, is exorcism real or just mental illness but never bothered to explore it further and fold that into Isabella's quest to understand her mother's condition. Then there was the ending, which was wholly unsatisfying and seemed extremely lazy on the part of director William Brent Bell.

Ultimately, The Devil Inside was nothing more than a schlocky, exploitative horror film that did little more than utilize all the things previously seen in other "exorcism" films (i.e. women tied to beds, speaking in tongues and saying things that would make most sailors blush) without ever distinguishing itself from them. 

Grade: D

The Last Exorcism

Reverend Cotton Marcus agrees to let a documentary crew follow him as he attempts to show that exorcisms are a fraudulent waste of time. But once they arrive at the Sweetzer home where the Reverend is to perform his final exorcism, they confront an omnious situation that none of them is expecting.

The film was able to deliver a few effective jumps, scares and suspensful moments thanks in large part to the performance of Ashley Bell, who played Nell Sweetzer (the girl that was supposedly possessed). But with the exception of those few moments, The Last Exorcism clunked along, trotting the same well-worn path as other "exorcism" themed horror films of recent memory. The character/story of Cotton Marcus had the chance to make the movie something unique in the genre for his character was a priest who had lost his faith in God and thought exorcisms were a joke. But rather than focusing on that and his possible redemption or rediscovery of faith director Daniel Stamm chose to go the same old route and, instead of a welcomed character-driven horror film, The Last Exorcism became a nasty, exploitative junker with an ending that felt like it was borrowed from another film all together.

If you can stomach another brainless exorcism film that fails to do anything but recycle the same plots, characters, and other elements that have been utilized by previous exorcism movies then The Last Exorcism is right up your alley.

Grade: D

The Rite: Wrong in so many ways

When Michael, a Catholic priest in training, begins to question his faith, he is sent to The Vatican in order to attend a special class on exorcism being taught by the church. Once there he is introduce to Father Lucas, a man intent upon showing Michael the true power of the devil.

The "exorcism" film really begins and ends with the classic which started the entire sub-genre, The Exorcist. In that respect, it is hard for any new film which deals with the same subject to match or even surpass what most people consider to be one of the best (and scariest) films of all time. The Rite had a chance to at least match The Exorcist due to its seemingly compelling storyline as well as the acting prowess of its star, Sir Anthony Hopkins, however it falied to be anything more than a substandard by-the-numbers supernatural thriller which did not even thrill. The story of Michael was never interesting enough to follow or take seriously, this was due to the pedestrian acting of Colin O' Donoghue (who played Michael) as well as the second-rate directing by Mikael Hafstrom, who simply recycled all of those ideas and plot points from films like The Exorcist and failed to introduce anything fresh or exciting to the sub-genre. Perhaps the most disappointing part of the movie was the performance of Hopkins for it felt like he channeled Hannibal Lector for half of his time on screen. His act got so tawdry at points that the audience could not help but feel as if the man who made fava beans famous was in the film for nothing more than a nice paycheck.

The Rite was wrong in so many ways that it never came close to being half as good as the movie it was trying to imitate.

Grade: D

Black Swan: A disturbing masterpiece

Ballet dancer Nina lands the role of the lifetime when she is cast as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake. But she soon starts to believe her dreams of stardom will be crushed by her rival Lilly and, as opening night approaches and the pressure builds, her obsesion with being the "perfect" Swan Queen drives her into paranoia and delusion.

The first thing one remembers after turning off Black Swan is the career defining performance given by Natalie Portman. As Nina, she was able to grow character-wise, from the timid and scared girl in the beginning of the film who could only hope to land the part of the Swan Queen to the mature and confident woman who was able to give the performance of her lifetime in that role. Her actions and reactions between those two points were filled with so much emotion, including anger, confusion, despair and desire that it was nearly impossible to tear one's eyes from the screen for Ms. Portman so totally lost herself in the role that it was hard to imagine this was the same woman who played Queen/Senator Amidala in the recent Star Wars prequels. It was almost as if Ms. Portman felt as though her own real life career mirrored that of Nina's and, having grown tired of always playing the good girl, she was looking for a role that would not only break that typecasting mold, but bust it inot a million pieces. As with Nina's transformation this role seems to be Portman's transformative performance.

Beyond Portman's performance, Darren Aronofsky's direction merits attention for he was able to not only bring out stellar performances from his lead actress as well as the rest of the cast, but he also kept the audience on the edge of their seats by playing up the torment Nina was facing. Her decent into a psychological spiral preyed on the minds of the audience, causing them to question whether Nina was truly turning into the mythologial Black Swan or if she was simply loosing her mind. Aronofsky was able to further toy with the audience by including some of Nina's visions, which contained some of the more unnerving images seen on film since movies such as The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby.

A film about a mentally unhinged ballerina does not seem like something many people would be calmoring to watch, however the strong acting and storytelling of Black Swan made it a disturbingly, entertaining thriller that an audience could not help but be enthralled by.

Grade: A

The Exorcist: Even after twenty years, it's scary.

So why review a well known film that a person could safely assume everyone has seen? Well, the truth of the matter is some people have not seen all the movies that most film nuts would consider classics. I don't know how many times I've ran across someone who looked at me funny when I started discussing how the scenes between Yoda and Luke on Degobah changed my life (some of you are probably giving your computer screen that same look right now). Classic films can still work their magic 20 or so years after their theatrical release, and The Exorcist is certainly one of them.

Based upon the novel of the same name The Exorcist tells the story of how a young girl named Regan, daughter of a famous film actress, comes to be possessed by the devil and the attempts of her mother and two priests to rid her of the possession.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the film was the possession of Regan and the way she behaved after it happened. Aside from being able to spew more curse words than a sailor, she physically assaulted those people, such as her doctors, nurses and her mother, that were trying to help her. She also performed some acts that are too horrifying to discuss in this text. The fact that all of these things were being done, by and to a little girl, made the film all of the more intense. All of the actors gave terrific performances considering the subject and content of the film, especially Linda Blair as Regan. She had the toughest task to go from little girl to possessed hellion but she pulled it off. Director William Friedkin did an excellent job of building the tension and making the audience wonder whether Regan was just physically sick or if something more sinister was taking place. Even though the novel from which the film was made was based upon a real life event, the audience was left to ponder if what the film presented could happen. And that made The Exorcist all the more frightening.

Grade: A