The Beacon's Glare

From IMDB – In Italy, a woman becomes involved in a series of unauthorized exorcisms during her mission to discover what happened to her mother, who allegedly murdered three people during her own exorcism.

THE DEVIL INSIDE synopsis:
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  renegade 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.

From Joe Cetrone:  I have always endorsed movies with a creative feel. Especially the recent wave of independent films such as the Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity,  and of course, The Devil Inside. They try and capture the essence of true reality, while attempting to give us a decent plot full of twists and turns. The camera shaking also adds a little flavor and creepiness as well.

While 2012 looks to ring in the ‘demonic New Year’ it’s seemed to fire a weak ‘dart’ out the gate.  The movie had a million dollar budget to work with, and it grossed 35 million at the box office. However, it failed at every other category known to man.

As an investigator, I see where they were trying to go. It had the platform and all makings to be a solid thought provoking film.  Once again, another film to make the devil and his forces appear powerful, while the Vatican and God’s children are rendered powerless. Give up another point for the gates of hell’s attempt to seem more fearsome than the Lord.

Aside for some scary sequences, a few jumps, it fell short of its predecessors.  The acting was mediocre, the plot was weak and the ending was horrendous.

I give it 1 out of 5 stars for effort. Save your money. You may have more fun painting your face and eating a Domino’s Pizza on Friday night while watching Good Times reruns. ________________________________________________________________

From Richard Grund: When I saw the trailer for The Devil Inside I was intrigued by the visuals and the claim the film showed the truth about Vatican endorsed exorcisms.  As someone who has researched and reported on this I was hoping these filmmakers would take the opportunity to blow the lid off of the Roman Catholic Church’s propaganda about their exorcism program.  Although this film does dent the lid it never takes it completely off.

This ambitious low budget ($1 Million) production tries in vain to capitalize on the “found footage” genre established by The Blair Witch Project (1999).  I have never been a fan of the genre unless the technique is used sparingly.  The Devil Inside uses it for the entire movie in a manner that makes no sense considering the cameraman in the movie is supposed to be a professional.   Like a used car that looks nice but has a worn engine about to blow the movie starts out fast and furious only to blow its engine and creek downhill to its ultimate “put me out of my misery” crash.

There are many plot holes, insufficient development of characters and storyline as well as poor research on the spiritual and supernatural elements they are presenting.  As someone who has spent 23-years helping people with similar problems I had hoped for better.  As an actor and filmmaker in the entertainment industry since 1979 I admire their ability to raise the money to go to Romania (doubling for Rome) and make their movie.  My admiration for their 89-minute movie ends there.  As for the ending, I was both annoyed by it, relieved by it indicating the film was over and knew it could have been so much better.

Unfortunately, because this film has made $35 Million to date, like The Blair Witch filmmakers they will get more money to waste and, like their film, will start out fast and interesting only to crash and burn at the end (as did The Blair Witch filmmakers). There will be a rash of more films like this (note to self: get rash cream) over the next year as Hollywood perpetuates its penchant for rip-off$.

The Devil Inside adds itself to the many films that make the demonic powerful, God powerless and mankind canon fodder in the war between the two.  See this film at your own discretion but I would suggest you wait for the DVD or, better still, wait until its shown on free Cable TV.  You will thank me for it.  (1 Star)