A nun prepares to perform an exorcism and comes face to face with a demonic force with mysterious ties to her past. (source: IMDB)
When was the last time that an horror movie really got you scared or, at least, uneasy? You know that feeling, when the movie is over and you turn on all the lights on your way to your bedroom…
It’s getting harder and harder to scare us. You might think that it’s because we’re getting older and we’ve seen it all. Let’s be real here, we’re not older, we still have the maturity of 12 years old kids. Maybe it’s the new wave of horror movies that ranges from slasher to gore and doesn’t even try to be creepy.
However, exorcisms and possessions still do the trick with us. From Paranormal Activity (which remains our favourite horror franchise) to The Exorcist, we still feel something when we watch movies that involve demonic possessions as seen by the Catholic Church. Probably because we’ve been raised that way, being taught the Holy Bible (one of the creepiest story ever written by man).
So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that we enjoyed this movie. We didn’t get scared to the point of taking the flashlight to the WCs, but it gets close to having us uneasy.
Now, about the movie… It was a pretty good. The cast was excellent, especially Jacqueline Byers and Christian Navarro and there even was a plot twist that I didn’t see coming, which is pretty rare in an exorcism movie. All in all, if you’re into that kind of stuff, you should definitely watch Prey for the Devil.
The movie is loosely based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, a German girl who died of malnutrition and dehydration after undergoing multiple exorcism rituals. The film is actually more of a court room drama. However, there is no sparing of pure psychological terror.
The casting was excellent, Jennifer Carpenter portrayed a bone chilling Emily Rose. Eventhough, the film wasn’t the most creepy one I’ve ever seen, the scenes of the exorcism itself and Emily’s possessed episodes, were quite haunting.
I know that there are debates whether Emily / Anneliese was really possessed or whether she was just a very sick young girl. They claim that she suffered from epilepsy and psychosis, which would seem like a logical and scientific explanation. I still wonder what really happened to her? My science brain tells me she was ill, yet another part of me wonders whether there was more to it after all. Anyway, I guess we’ll never know…
It was the second time I’ve watched this movie and it was totally worth it. Definitely can recommend it!
Creepy side note: In real life, actress Laura Linney’s (the lawyer) TV turned itself on a few times in the middle of the night during production. I don’t know if this is true, but it’s the kind of thing that scares the living hell out of me.
This is the second best horror movie we’ve watched during this years’ Easter holidays.
I don’t want to spoil anything so, in short, the movie is about an exorcism gone wrong. Despite its extremely bad rating, I kind of enjoyed it. Granted, it may not be the best of its genre, but if you like exorcism, it’s worth the watch. Thumbs up for the not so happy ending cause this is where The Vatican Tapes stands out from others. The conclusion has an open end, maybe with the intention of a sequel. But in general, the movie is satisfactory with an appropriate use of handycam and surveillance video.
Maybe not the most scary of all exorcism movies out there but, like I’ve mentioned before, I’ve enjoyed it nevertheless.
