The seed that grew into January being a "dump month" for horror films, a term used to describe the releasing of low quality studio productions. The first weekend of January now being the most infamous time of release for typically the worst horror film of the year. The Devil Inside was that film for 2012. Except, it wasn't just the worst horror film of the year, it was the worst film period. What. Even. Was. This!? A woman investigates her mother's murder spree twenty years ago, when she soon becomes involved in a series of exorcisms. I...I can't quite describe how diabolical this generic piece of rubbish is. It honestly achieved the unachievable. A horror film so tame, that it made Miley Cyrus' smash hit "Can't Be Tamed" ironically less tame. A creation so lacklustre, that I myself wished I was possessed by a demon, so that they could watch this atrocity instead of me. A production so derivative, that it will leave you gasping for air, not due to fear, but because you are suffocating yourself in an attempt to end this nightmare. Yes, asphyxiation is the only solution, I said it. It seriously encompasses every modern horror trope, from standard formulaic exorcisms to the found footage style narrative. Brent Bell's choppy directing and lifeless approach hindered the cast's performances which were dull to say the least. Jump scares were infrequent (yay!) and calming (nay!) with the entire plot being a predictable bore. A script so dire that, I kid you not, there was a line that compared an exorcist to Superman. Sure. I'll bite. Let's see if a member of the church can withstand a bullet to the head, that'll raise a religious outcry. I mean, what a stupid thing to say! But that's not all, ohhhh no. I saved the best til last. The ending. A conclusion that conjures up so much disdain from critics and audiences that it was rated one of the worst endings ever. Damn right! Absolutely nothing about the case was answered, it just...ended. Then they show a website you can access to keep track of the case!? No. You know what? I'm done.

If you enjoy scenes that come into focus and out of focus as the shaky camera also juggles, this is a great movie. If you think shaky cameras and blurry movies suck, then we are in agreement. This movie is so awful that I could not see much of it. The characters talk to the camera, because one of them is filming everyone constantly. So in addition to the shaky blurry scenes, we get annoying characters talking to the camera to let the audience know what they are thinking. I wanted to throw up on the television after a few minutes of this awful movie.

I'd say that's about 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back. What complete garbage this movie is. No plot to follow and it just felt like it was rehashing of "real life" events. Not to mention that the acting and direction were atrocious. I don't understand how people can waste their money on something like this. I'd really like to know what the whole point of watching these movies are. Thank god some people have the decency to vote this low and its official rating should be even lower. To point out how laughably bad this was, I literally laughed my ass off in one exorcism scene. This is how mediocre and dumb this movie can get. This is really one of those movies in which you should listen to the bad reviews and comments, as it is not even worthy of being mentioned as a bad movie. Time wasting is what this is.

The opening snippet was from 30oct1989 detailing a 911 call. The caller, Maria Rossi, claims to have killed three people.We jump the shark immediately thereafter. The next part of the film is 'found footage' or whatever nice phrase one uses to describe Blair Witch style worse-than-useless camera work. Someone follows the cops around the crime scene.Priest in the kitchen with the monkey wrench to the head. Nun bludgeoned in the basement with something. Priest hung in the basement with the rope. Signs that a chair was used to restrain a subject.The daughter, Isabella Rossi does a film (oi, film within a film) to help Isabella understand what went on with her mother. This film is not very good either. It's sort of better than the police mess, but not by that much.The interleaved television station news footage also sucked rocks. The main part of the narrative (outside experts who are not in Isabella's film) is recorded in a fourth style, which looks quite competent. The many cuts among these styles makes the film look like a hodge-podge of nonsense circling the bowl after flushing.After being found not guilty by reason of insanity, Maria was committed to the South Hartford State Asylum. A bit later, Maria is transferred to the Centrino Mental Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Rome, Italy. This is curious. One hopes for future exposition of motivation. Some facts came to Isabella in May of 2009 from her father. Maria was the restrained subject in the room; the two priests and the nun were performing an exorcism on Maria. The father died three days later.Eight minutes in. I hate this movie. Isabella's film is so badly made it hurts to watch it.Isabella contacts the exorcism school, and they allow her to conduct interviews and to film classes and the like. Nice of them; of course, they have been doing who knows what to Maria for 20 years.The video of the possessed patients that is shown in the school is of a fifth style, which is the worst of them all: gray on gray, low contrast, small images, iffy sound.The admission to Centrino was described to Isabella's father by the Church as an act of forgiveness. Perhaps the Church was asking for forgiveness from him for what they did to his wife.Isabella's film traces her route into Centrino, then her discussion with the chief medic, then the first visit with Maria. Maria is largely non-responsive. Maria keeps saying connect the cuts for a while. She does not recognize Isabella or the likelihood of her being her daughter. She tells Isabella that she should not have killed her child, then goes off the deep end.She meets with two of the exorcists, Ben Rawlings and David Keane, and shows them the interviews. Isabella and the exorcists delve into what's legal and not regarding exorcisms post 1999, when the Church changed the rules on the subject. They convince Isabella and crew to witness one of their off-the-books exorcisms.That involved quite a performance by Bonnie Morgan.Isabella, Keane, and Rawlings discuss what, if anything, they can do for Isabella's mother Maria.They finagle getting into Centrino and seeing Maria semi-privately with Maria in a highly medicated state. Maria goes to sleep on them, which is a sign that they are barking up the wrong tree. The Maria goes off on them, screaming with eyes widely dilated, and then proceeding to say all sorts of nasty things, in German and English.The hospital staff intervene. No surprise there.They consider options; they could approach the Church with the new video, or they could use Doctor Costa's recommendation might get a transfer back to the States.Things start to fall apart toward the end. The camera man, the exorcists, and Isabella are all upset and on edge. The Church is investigating the incident at Centrino, for one thing, and Michael is feeling massively unappreciated. David nearly drowns a baby that he was baptizing. Things get worse after that.-----Scores------Cinematography: 0/10 Uses many styles, most of which are terrible to look at.Sound: 6/10 Uneven.Acting: 8/10 The actors are fairly good at faking documentary style. The contortionist Bonnie Morgan was impressive as Rosa Sorlini.Screenplay: 8/10 Reasonably good for clear narrative and exposition of motivations. I would have rated this four stars if the camera work had been competent.