The Vatican Tapes

The Vatican Tapes

Starring Olivia Taylor Dudley, Michael Pena, Dougray Scott, John Patrick Amedori

Directed by Mark Neveldine

The Story:
Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley) just turned twenty-five, and is celebrating with her boyfriend Pete (John Patrick Amedori) and father Roger (Dougray Scott), when she accidentally cuts her finger.  She gets an infection after a raven assaults her, and she ends up in a coma for forty days, where she's watched over by her father, boyfriend, and Father Lozano (Michael Pena).

She finally comes to, and begins exhibiting typical demonic possession traits, including speaking in Aramaic, forcing people to commit suicide, and speaking things that no one should know.  Father Lozano turns to the Vatican, and Cardinal Mattias Bruun (Peter Andersson) arrives to perform an exorcism on Angela, but soon discovers that it's no ordinary demon in her - but possibly the antichrist itself.

The Synopsis:
Ever since "The Exorcist" terrorized viewers forty-five years ago, Hollywood has tried again and again to re-create that same sense of fear.  Films like "The Last Exorcism" and "The Devil Inside" failed greatly to instill fear, but ones like "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" managed to somehow achieve that same sense of dread that "The Exorcist" did, and remains one of modern day's most powerful exorcism movies.  "The Vatican Tapes" fall somewhere between "Emily Rose" and "The Last Exorcism," but leans closer to the latter rather than the former.

Young Angela gets an infected wound, and ends up in a coma for forty days - after being mysteriously attacked by a raven.  She comes to and begins showing signs of possession, which draws the attention of the Vatican, who sends Cardinal Bruun to the States to investigate.  Along with local Father Lozano, the two men realize that Angela is indeed possessed, and sets out to perform an exorcism - and learn that they could very well be dealing with the antichrist itself.

With a title like "The Vatican Tapes," you expect the film to be an entirely found-footage movie, but instead director Mark Neveldine blends the use of security footage and general filming to fuse the two together, where you find most of the supernatural elements taking place from viewing the security footage.  While I was thankful the film wasn't entirely found-footage, it was still missing an important aspect that would make the film truly terrifying - actual terror.

The majority of the film centers around Angela and her possession, which of course slowly escalates to the point of the final-act exorcism, where the insanity is amped up and all the craziness lets loose.  If only it had been done earlier, it could've been something truly profound, but instead it just turned into another lazy attempt to re-create the magic from "The Exorcist."

The film features some surprisingly big-name stars for a movie of this caliber.  Michael Pena - who recently emerged as a comedic genius from his "Ant-Man" performances - plays Father Lozano, a man who is so thinly written all he seemingly does is offer godly platitudes.  Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou plays a vicar who has about ten minutes of actual screen time.  Dougray Scott plays Angela's father, who's basically your typical military strict father but also has a heart of gold.  Essentially, the film rests on the shoulders of actress Olivia Taylor Dudley, and she does a marvelous job as Angela, giving a duel performance of a sweet, innocent girl, and the vessel for the possible antichrist.

The story continues in the traditional way, where all we're waiting for is the eventual exorcism.  Being rated PG-13 doesn't help the film, as most of its highly unnerving scenes are done off-camera (such as when a police officer is coerced to plunge two light bulbs into his eyes - we don't see it coming either), and while it's sometimes better to rely on our imaginations, we simply don't care enough to really think about what could be happening.  The exorcism itself is explosive and entertaining, but by then we've already mentally checked out.  The film then tries its hand at offering a different type of ending which would've been great if, as mentioned earlier, we actually cared by that point.

The Summary:
Despite having a talented cast and a charismatic, caring lead, "The Vatican Tapes" merely serves as another wannabe "The Exorcist," playing the paint-by-number game so effortlessly you could see pretty much everything coming a mile away.

The Score: C-