WRETCHED REVIEWS: THE DEVIL INSIDE

THE DEVIL INSIDE

Starring Fernanda Andrade, Suzan Crowley and Simon Quarterman

Directed by William Brent Bell

Written by William Brent Bell & Matthew Peterman

Paramount

 

It’s not that The Devil Inside could not have been an entertaining film. The idea of a young woman (Andrade) traveling to Rome to find out the truth about why her mother was committed to a mental hospital in Rome after killing three people twenty years earlier in what appears to be an exorcism gone wrong holds promise. But coming as it does thirteen years after The Blair Witch Project, two years after Paranormal Activity, and one year after The Rite, the idea of a found footage exorcism movie seems about as fresh as the pea green puke Reagan projectile vomited onto Father Karras in The Exorcist back in 1973.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE RITE

THE RITE

Starring Colin O’Donoghue, Anthony Hopkins and Alice Braga

Directed by Mikael Håfström

Written by Michael Petroni

Any movie coming out in January must fall under suspicion. This month and August are Hollywood’s dumping grounds, the time when weak films finally get their chance in theatres alongside critical darlings getting expanded runs after platform December openings.

MOVIE REVIEW: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2

Directed by Tod Williams

Written by Michael R. Perry

Paramount Pictures

It’s difficult to talk about Paranormal Activity 2 without getting into spoilers, but let’s try.

The challenge the filmmakers have here is trying to match, let alone exceed, the scares generated by the first film. I had the chance to see Paranormal Activity in early September last year, about six weeks before it opened and before the “you’ve got to go see this” hype began. Suitably unarmed, I was genuinely frightened and did not sleep well that night.

INSIDIOUS INTERVIEWS: “LET ME IN” DIRECTOR MATT REEVES

Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz star in Let Me In

The DLB interviewed Let Me In director Matt Reeves last night for Rue Morgue. Here’s an excerpt:

Abby’s vampire look is very animalistic. What were you trying to convey?

I thought of the movies that scared me as a kid, like The Exorcist, and I thought about the idea of evil taking as its host a girl is very scary. But the thing that really got me, given that the story is, I think, a kind of metaphor for adolescence and in particular [Let the Right One In novelist John Ajvide Lindqvist’s painful adolescence, I wanted to do a vampire transformation that was all about adolescence gone wrong. And the idea was that you lose your baby teeth and all your other teeth start to come in, you need braces. And her teeth aren’t fangs, they’re just teeth that are layer upon layer of teeth that are just out of control. Her skin actually has acne gone bad. And I thought the idea of vampirism being a transformation was a good metaphor for what it feels like to enter adolescence. Hormones start to rage in your body, and it feels like your body itself is literally out of control. You get pimples and your teeth are messed up. You feel like this side is coming out which is truly ugly. That was the attempt, to make her a vampire in that sort of mould.

Read the rest of my interview with Matt at http://rue-morgue.com/blog/?p=3726.

PUTRID PREVIEW: THE HALLOWEEN ISSUE OF RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE

I always get a thrill picking up Rue Morgue‘s Halloween issue each year, not only because my writing is inside but because it’s always a thing of beauty. This year’s 13th anniversary edition is no different, with a cover story on the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho which turns 50 this year. And look at that cover, courtesy of art director Gary Pullin. Norman’s almost pretty enough to kiss!

Issue 105 of RM hits stands October 1 and here’s a rundown of what you can expect.  Go buy it!

TORONTO AFTER DARK: “THE LAST EXORCISM” PREVIEW & REVIEW

The DLB had the chance to see The Last Exorcism last week and was duly impressed (see review below). The Eli Roth-produced horror show opens Aug. 27, and Toronto After Dark is showing the film tonight (Monday, Aug. 16) at 7 pm at The Bloor Cinema. In attendance will be Roth and cast members Ashley Bell and Patrick Fabian. I’ll be interviewing the trio Monday afternoon so look for those interviews the week of Aug. 27th, leading up to its national release.