TWO CRAPPY QUICKIES: THE DEVIL INSIDE (2012) & CASSADAGA (2011)

OBS! THE FOLLOWING POST MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!

THE DEVIL INSIDE (2012)
A young American woman, Isabella Rossi, travels to Rome where her mother's been institutionalized for the past 15-20 years after killing three clergy people during what later turns out to be an exorcism. Trying to understand what happened to her mother all those years ago, Isabella brings with her a camera man in the hopes of making a documentary on her mother's case. When attending a seminar on exorcism in the Vatican City, Isabella meets two priests who explain to her that her mother's condition might not be medical, but could well be demonic possession. Together with the priests and the camera man she decides to perform an exorcism on her mother, which obviously goes horribly wrong.

US poster for The Devil Inside (2012)

Seems like a decent synopsis, doesn't it? Well... it isn't. In the range of exorcism movies The Devil Inside could be the worst example in years when it comes to storyline and acting, or rather lack thereof. Fernanda Andrade, who plays Isabella Rossi, is toe-curlingly embrassing in her lack of sensing the fine line of talking directly to the camera during a 'real' documentary and actually reading directly from the cue-cards, which in this case became extremely stilted. The two priests are the epitome of modern bad-acting crusaders; one a heavy American blabber mouth and the other a light weight British stiffness. Apart from some entertaining bone-breaking special effects this movie was just a huge waste of time.

CASSADAGA (2011)

What was time even worse spent was the 113 minutes watching Cassadaga. The deaf college student slash art teacher Lily Morel is devastated when losing her younger sister in a traffic accident. Being an orphan, Lily seeks solace in the spiritualist community of Cassadaga. Distraught by the recent tragedy of her sister's death, Lily visits a local physic together with some friends and her new hunky acquaintance (my long lost True Blood favorite Jesus). The seance is somewhat successful when the psychic manages to contact Lily's sister but also has the side effect of opening a passage for the ghost of a murdered young woman, whose hauntings soon start to jeopardize Lily's sanity and safety. 

Censored poster for Cassadaga (2011)

So far the story seems believable although Kelen Coleman has some difficulties tackling the deaf role. Having placed the spiritualist community of Cassadaga, FL, as the center point of a movie you would think that 'Psychic Capital of the World' would act a stronger foundation for the supernatural events of the movie. But these are suddenly pushed aside to give room for a serial killer plot, and that's how the movie starts go to awry. Although we learn that the ghost of the murdered young woman had fallen victim of a sadistic and sexually confused man who dismembers and reconstructs young women into marionettes, the two stories rather seem like incomplete sidelines than going hand in hand. Had the movie had a clearer sense of direction it might have been able to deliver on the tension it builds, but unfortunately it only left me with the sense that it actually didn't have much to offer.