It’s good to see a return of old-school hype and hustle to the crappy-movie business. William Castle would certainly be pleased. The late producer was a master of this sort of thing, amping up the crowds at his cheapo horror films–“The Tingler,” “Mr. Sardonicus”–by slapping buzzers under the seats and stationing nurses at the door to deal with anyone overcome by fright (as if anyone ever was). Golden days, those were.
The Castle spirit was briefly fanned back to life at the screening I saw last night of “The Devil Inside.” Filing in, the audience was greeted by a heavily equipped DJ down front, booming out hip-hop hits and encouraging everyone to Twitter out reactions to the upcoming film while it was running. Then five amusingly solemn men dressed as priests paraded in. One of them stepped forth to address the crowd, telling us grimly that we had “made the choice to be here,” and that “I do not endorse seeing this movie.” Then, oh Lord, the movie began.
“The Devil Inside” is an unholy mashup of “The Exorcist” (yes, yet another demonic-possession flick) and “The Blair Witch Project” (yes, yet another shaky-cam “found footage” annoyance). The movie is so tritely predictable you could improvise it at home with some friends without even bothering to see it. Which I would recommend.
Read the full review at Reason.com