I went into this movie feeling pretty skeptical, and… sadly those doubts were completely justified (not that I expected much from a director otherwise known for Jason Statham action flicks). It feels like there have been a million possession movies over the years and, honestly, it's rare that I find one that I really love, and that isn't just a cookie cutter version of the same story (which, in itself, IS interesting and scary as hell, it's just rarely portrayed in a way that I find to be genuinely chilling).As if I really need to tell the plot, but… Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley) visits the hospital for a cut finger and, later on, for a related infection. On the way home she violently takes the wheel and crashes the car, winding up in a coma for 40 days (see what they did there?). Right as they are about to pull her off life support she wakes up, seemingly none the worse for wear. Her father (Dougray Scott) and boyfriend Pete (John Patrick Amedori) — who partake in some of the most predictable banter and relationship clashing ever — are very concerned as she starts to exhibit signs of demonic possession and is subsequently admitted to a psychiatric facility, where things just get crazier until the inevitable exorcism when her true form is revealed.It's just… meh. The acting isn't bad, by any means, but it's nothing special, with Dudley being the standout but not by much. The scene where she "forces" the detective to smash the lightbulbs into his eyes is admittedly pretty awesome, but it's fleeting (not that I want to see more footage of eyeball-lightbulb-smashing, just saying it's a small glimmer of hope in an otherwise mediocre pool of movie). They use every trick in the book — Angela speaking in Aramaic, furniture moving on its own, the sudden bursts of violence by the other patients. The scene with her spitting up the eggs — apparently representing a perverted Holy Trinity — was pretty neat, as was Angela pulling on her chains so hard that she breaks her own back and arms.But they really missed the mark on most of it — they barely showed Vicar Imani (Djimon Hounsou) or Cardinal Bruun (Peter Andersson), who you would THINK would be more central characters given the name. I was hoping for a bit more backstory but instead they relied a bit too much on tired stereotypes, a fairly bland script, and unimpressive effects. Womp!

In Los Angeles, Angela Holmes (Olivia Dudley) is a happy young woman, pride and joy of her father Colonel Roger Holmes (Dougray Scott) and in love with her boyfriend Peter "Pete" Smith (John Patrick Amedori). On her birthday party, she cuts her hand and Roger and Peter take her to the hospital. When she returns home, she has a seizure and they drive her back to the hospital. Then Angela is discharged but she pulls the wheel of the taxi causing a serious accident. She returns in coma to the hospital. Forty days later, she has no response and Father Oscar Lozano (Michael Peña) convinces Roger to unplug the life support system. Out of the blue, she awakes in perfect health. Soon Angela shows signs of demoniac possession and the Vatican sends Cardinal Bruun (Peter Andersson) to perform an exorcism to save her soul. Will there be time to save her body?"The Vatican Tapes" is a decent and underrated horror film, one of the best about exorcism. The plot is based on Catholic beliefs but is engaging. Most of the cast is excellent and has good performances; maybe only Michael Peña has an inexpressive performance. The conclusion has an open end maybe with the intention of a sequel. But in general, "The Vatican Tapes" is satisfactory with an appropriate use of Handycam or surveillance video. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Exorcistas do Vaticano" (Exorcists from the Vatican")

Well, this little project isn't going especially well so far, but this is the icing on the God damned cake. This movie is, surprisingly, not a found footage movie, but it incorporates found footage elements for no real reason other than to justify the "tapes" part of the title. What we have here is essentially the worst part of every exorcism movie made since the 70s smashed together in a plot that could generously be described as "unclear". There are so many things happening, and a relatively short amount of time to crush it all into, that it becomes a chaotic mess.The acting is lousy, I don't know what to say there, but I don't even necessarily blame the actors on this one. At least not entirely. There are a couple of familiar faces in Michael Peña (Fury), and Djimon Hounsou (Guardian's of the Galaxy) but even they can't really pull this movie together. The weak script, coupled with the off-the-wall style of director Mark Neveldine (Crank), really make for a lousy pairing. Neveldine-Taylor proved that they have a really frantic style of film making, and that really doesn't translate over to horror movies, particularly an exorcism movie.The exorcism scene consists of the victim screaming for a really long time, coupled with some shouting about an egg, and the usual disgusting dislocation and body contortion that have become a staple of movies like this. That said, the dislocating scene is probably one of the hardest to watch in the movie, and really did make my skin crawl. However, it's become such a common thing in movies like this that I don't want to give it too much credit.The rest of the "scary" scenes in the movie really fall flat, a police officer sees a raven and smashes two light bulbs into his eyes, which comes off as way funnier than it was supposed to. As well, you have a scene where a room full of patients in a mental hospital hear the word of the devil and kill each other and themselves, which is obviously in really great taste (read that sarcastically).One last thing that I need to harp on here is the f**king tapes. When this movie does use "found footage", it puts frames, time codes, blinking lights, and all the usual crap that lazy film makers put on their movies to make it look like its "from a camera", and it's always wrong.So, in the end the girl becomes the antichrist and goes around "parodying" Jesus (apparently) to make everyone worship here, yada yada yada, evil wins and this movie f**king sucks. Skip it.www.barleydoeshorror.com

Another found-footage movie; another exorcism movie; another possession movie. Are those complaints? Not really because I do generally enjoy these types of horrors, but The Vatican Tapes isn't really one of the better ones of the found-footage genre and is quite a bit of a let down.For me, the main let down for the most part was that it was pretty slow & dull with the best parts of the film coming in the last 20 minutes, which is the only reason why I bumped my rating from a probable 4 to 5. Other than that, it's pretty uneventful. Even the main characters (other than Angela) are pretty flat and don't have much background to them, which is a shame considering the cast.Also, for a found-footage movie, only some of the film is shot through a hand-held. The rest of the film is shot just like a regular movie, so how it can be classed as found-footage is quite strange.If you didn't know by now, The Vatican Tapes is about a woman, Angela, who mysteriously starts to change in behaviour & mannerisms, which gradually become more violent. As these incidents become more frequent, Angela is institutionalised at a psychiatric hospital, but when her psychiatrist fails to cure her, a local church priest, Father Lorenzo, begins to suspect demonic possession. Lorenzo seeks the help & guidance from Cardinal Bruun and together, along with Angela's father and boyfriend, they attempt to help Angela before its too late.If you're thinking that that story sounds familiar then you'd be right, because not only has it been done plenty of times before, but it's a dead ringer for The Exorcist, which The Vatican Tapes essentially is. Although really comparing the two is like comparing Deep Blue Sea to Jaws.As I mentioned before, the only reason I've given this movie a 5 instead of a 4 is because of the events in the third act, and while they are by no means excellent, they definitely help save the film from completely nose-diving.The Vatican Tapes is by no means the worst of this genre, but it's definitely not one of the best either.