From the moment that the malevolent Maria Rossi mutters to her herself that she has killed all three, the scene is set for The Devil Inside. The three in question happen to be the nun and the two priests, who were exorcising Rossi, and it leads into the chilling yet vulnerable scene as the transcript of Rossi's 911 call flashes across the screen and the innovation of the movie begins.
The movie breaks form somewhat at this point, and whilst the crux of the story is preserved, the movie is from here on in played out in documentary style. The Devil Inside now centers around Isabella Rossi, a terrific performance by Ferrnanda Andrade, as she tries to uncover the truth behind the murderous acts her mother Maria (Suzan Crowley) committed, for which she is now incarcerated in Rome.
The audience discovers that it is only recently that Isabella has found out what her mother did when she was just a kid, and this is played out the audience through police archive and old footage from the 1980's. Isabella is determined to make a documentary which she hopes will help her mom, so she enlists the help of her friend Michael (Ionut Grama) to make this a reality.
The pair travel to Italy and a dark and menacing evil transpires once they arrive, and William Brent Bell, the director, must be praised for the 90 minute roller coaster ride he then takes us all on. He masterfully incorporates all the screams, loud bone snaps and the uttered obscenities that are crucial to demonic possession on the big screen, but he goes that extra mile.
All the characters have secrets, and there isn't a clean soul amongst them. In this respect the possessed Maria also reveals a darkness in her daughter nobody expected, as well as the two rogue priests David (Evan Helmuth) and Ben (Simon Quarterman) who have joined Isabella's cause.
Crowley turns in a masterful performance as Maria, who can go from zero to Satan in a flash. One particularly chilling scene which demonstrates this perfectly is where Maria, after unleashing a string of uneasy filth suddenly starts to sing 'The itsy bitsy spider' to her daughter, who, along with the audience, is totally transfixed.
The documentary aspect never takes you away from the fact that this is a genuine horror, and acts instead as the window through which we witness Isabella's fears, apprehensions and doubts, which shine through as she makes her vignettes while speaking into the camera.
Andrade's intense and believable performance is strongly supported by the rest of the cast. There is also more than enough moments that are visually disturbing to satisfy the gore hounds, most notably the first exorcism Isabella gets to witness, which becomes both bloody and painful
The Devil Inside is the first must see movie of 2012, it is unnerving, unique an unsettling, and portrays evil in its purest form. This is by a mile one of the best horror movies of the past decade, and we can only hope that its success isn't marred by the 'graveyard' January release.
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