The Devil Inside
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: January 6, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
18
METASCORE
Overwhelming dislike based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
7
Negative:
12
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
58
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisJan 6, 2012
While this religio-horror effort does contain some nice scares, and a memorably unnerving turn from Crowley, The Devil Inside's biggest shock arrives when it abruptly ends - just as it hits its stride. The result is a found-footage movie whose third act remains missing. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie PunterJan 6, 2012
All hell breaks loose and it's a heck of a lot of fun to watch. Read full review
50
VarietyJoe LeydonJan 6, 2012
Despite the palpable air of deja vu that hangs over it like a light fog, The Devil Inside generates a fair amount of suspense during sizable swaths of its familiar but serviceable exorcism-centric scenario. Read full review
40
EmpireWilliam ThomasMar 12, 2012
Even with The Exorcist in the world, there is still scope for a contemporary, shocking and thrilling film to be made on the subject of possession. But this is not it: some found footage should really just stay lost. Read full review
40
Time OutMatt SingerJan 6, 2012
Whatever possessed Bell & Co. to turn a slow-burning creepfest into a frenzied freak show of multiple exorcisms (including one in a moving car), the devil only knows. Read full review
40
MovielineAlison WillmoreJan 6, 2012
The reality of The Devil Inside is that it's a half-hearted patchwork of ideas blatantly lifted from better films, with characters who have to act increasingly foolish in order to allow the action to go forward and an ending so anticlimactic and abrupt that the audience at the screening I attended erupted in enraged boos as the credits rolled. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoJan 6, 2012
The mother/daughter drama should have played a bigger part in this film as the 87-minute runtime passes quickly and leaves us feeling utterly short-changed. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundJan 6, 2012
The film's contradictory and nullifying dilemma of wanting to be both scripted and vérité at once, a plight that affects so much contemporary TV, is temporarily quelled in heated scenes of curse-laden levitation and Linda Blair contortion, which dutifully deliver the scares. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderBen SachsJan 11, 2012
Almost competent but not quite watchable. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJan 7, 2012
It has been a long time since I've heard people - many people - distinctly yell, "Boo!" Usually they just growl or moan or hiss. They don't bother actually to articulate the word "Boo!" I second their statement. The ending reeks. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenJan 6, 2012
Never gets off the ground, trotting out the same predictable twisting heads and psycho-babble without a whiff of originality or discernible visual flair. As a result, the would-be thriller proves as scary and unsettling as a slab of devil's food cake - only considerably less satisfying. Read full review
25
Washington PostMark JenkinsJan 6, 2012
It's a pestilence of infectious claptrap. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 6, 2012
The Devil Inside joins a long, woozy-camera parade of found-footage scare pictures, among them "The Blair Witch Project," the "Paranormal Activity" films and certain wedding videos that won't go away. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenJan 6, 2012
The Devil Inside plays like a horror film conceived on graph paper. Read full review
20
The New York TimesManohla DargisJan 6, 2012
The scariest thing about The Devil Inside is that a major studio like Paramount Pictures, which is distributing it, may be able to squeeze more profit out of a tedious, tediously exhausted subgenre that was already creatively tapped out when "The Blair Witch Project" spooked audiences more than a decade ago. Read full review
0
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 13, 2012
The Devil Inside manages not only to scrape the barrel's bottom but to drill a hole in said bottom and funnel deeper into the scum. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJan 11, 2012
The Devil Inside offers proof, if any were needed, that demons run rampant in Hollywood, possessing otherwise intelligent and creative people to make absolutely shitty "gotcha!" mockumonstrosities like this one. Read full review
0
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisJan 7, 2012
No one onscreen was actor enough to make us believe we were watching actual people commit or require actual exorcisms. Read full review
0
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinJan 6, 2012
The hilariously convoluted thriller contains all the elements for a wacky parody of exorcism movies, except a sense of humor about itself: The Devil Inside never acknowledges its innate ridiculousness, so the laughs are unintentional. Read full review
More From This Movie

18 Critic Reviews

2.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL