The film begins promisingly enough, with the introduction centreing around a phone call being made by a Maria Rossi (Susan Crowley) to the police, stating that she has killed three people. The transcript of the conversation is typed out as the words are being uttered, a creepy touch which is, sadly, the only redeeming aspect bit of the entire movie. The rest of the film spirals steadily downwards in a garbled narrative that follows Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade) to Italy, as she investigates her mother`s diabolical possession with intrepid (read: stupid) videographer Michael (Ionut Grama). A question never asked during found-footage horror films: given that, as a cameraman, one is faced with levitating bodies possessed by ravening demons from hell, why doesn`t one simply…well, run the f*** away?
For those of you planning an assassination on the cameraman, keep in mind that Ionut Grama is only responsible for his own bad acting, with the atrocious cinematography being director William Brent Bell`s cross to bear. The film features the typical found footage style of jerky camera work, with the lens being focused this time on the act of exorcism and diabolical possession. For a horror flick, the film is distinctly un-scary, resorting to the sort of monotonously cheap shocks that range from the annoying to the vaguely amusing. This is exacerbated by a draggy, unfocused script, which prevents any sort of sympathy for the characters.
The film`s half-baked exploration of the theme of religion versus science has the film`s inept exorcists, Father Ben (Simon Quarterman) and Father David (Evan Helmuth), lugging around medical equipment like a second-rate version of the Ghostbusters, a conceit that strikes one as both alienating and laughably pseudo-scientific. Most damningly, however, the film`s only surprise is its abrupt ending, which feels more like a cop-out than a proper resolution to an already bad movie.
As punishment, we prescribe that all involved in the film should say ten thousand hail marys while flagellating themselves, and carving `I will not make corny found footage horror films` onto their torsos. Go in peace, my child.
Summary: Should be consigned to the deepest pit of the Inferno.
Rating: 1/5 Raphael Lim