I love found footage films. The best found footage films actually show character development that get you invested in the people onscreen instead of just jerks that you are rooting to die. When done well, the filmmakers take a predictable storyline and make you empathize with the characters by depicting the story as realistically as possible. The joy is in the details, the little twists that distinguish it from other movies in a similar genre, a glimpse of the sensational in the quotidian world. In the case of Inner Demons, it is merging reality intervention TV shows (to make it familiar and plausible that someone would record someone’s every moment instead of running the other way) with horror, specifically demon possession films. If you are not into horror, found footage or reality TV, then you should skip this movie, but for everyone else keep reading.
Inner Demons bears a strong resemblance to The Quiet Ones. In both films, the cameraman becomes personally invested in the subject of his work, who has a damaged psyche or was affected the supernatural, and breaks protocol. I actually think that this film was more believable. He is working his first job surrounded by jaded professionals who just see it as another gig, but his eye, the camera as his surrogate, sees more than they do, which we also see so we both become frustrated that the people with a duty to care about and help the subject fail to do so: her parents, her pastor (fire him), her friends, her doctor and the show. The cameraman is literally her last hope.
There are also quite a few nice touches. The camera always got glitchy around Carson, the subject of the show. Like Paranormal Activity, the strange activity occurred after 3 am. Of course the black women immediately believed her. There are six days of official filming like an anti-creation. Carson is not a typical girl’s name, especially since found footage movies usually name a character after the actor because it makes improvising easier. It felt like a parallel to Reagan in The Exorcist. The movie really went there by answering a lot of what if scenarios that were alluded to earlier in the story and in other possession films. The jump scares were not annoying.
Inner Demons has a strong theme that can be obscured by the demonic activity. The doctor keeps admonishing people not to humor Carson’s belief that she is possessed because then she would not tackle the real problem, her addiction, but throughout the film, we know that the real problem at the root of both problems is abuse, but the mystery is from who and what happened. It is actually a really tragic film because at least the demon is a demon, but the people are arguably more brutal and torturous. I’m a little dubious that self-medicating would help keep the demons at bay, but I give the film points for being creative, especially since the other solutions are equally eyebrow raising, particularly the one that works….really? I am ambivalent about the ultimate message of the film, which is distressingly realistic on one level, that being abused makes a victim, through no fault of the victim’s, vulnerable to more abuse and thus demonic possession, but I think the end does enough to counter that notion.
Especially after the most recent election, I could really appreciate Inner Demons’ implicit commentary about some Christians who are obsessed with having a Christian lifestyle (Bible contests, sending child to Catholic school, going to Presbyterian church), but their actual life is extremely problematic and hides a pathology that may indicate a lack of love for oneself, one’s family and others. A few years ago, I may have rolled my eyes at another unfair depiction of Christians in media, but I’m on board now. The film also distinguishes between Christians who really believe, but once again, have some questionable though well meaning practices. Damn, hasn’t any Christian conducted a successful exorcism? I feel like I have seen or heard of a couple.
I grade found footage movies on a curve, and I thought Inner Demons was a strong entry with enough jolts to hold my interest. I would give it my full attention, but again, if you hate reality TV more than you like horror movies involving the occult, run the other way because this movie is not for you.