The Horror Show
The Vatican Exorcisms (2013)
by Joe Marino
You read the word Vatican and then you read exorcisms, so you instantly realize that Joe Marino’s found-footage paranormal horror lacks the original storyline that all horror fans are craving. However, cases like this are always about delivery, so it all comes down to one question: Did Marino manage to create a gripping and atmospheric horror documentary? No answer would be more appropriate than… absolutely not.
The not-so-ground-breaking story follows Joe Marino, an Italian-American film maker who travels all the way to Italy in order to make a documentary about the Devil and the numerous evil possessions that are persistent within the Vatican circles. His strong disbelief in such phenomena and sorceries becomes quite evident when he informs his crew that “If we meet the Devil, I have something to discuss with him,” which - of course - was followed by a pretentious chuckle.
After meeting with a whistle blower who spoke of the Vatican’s connection to possessions and black magic rituals, Joe manages to reach Italy’s most famous exorcist. Padre Luigi agrees to allow Joe and his crew to document his exorcisms, but little did he know that Joe’s fragile and unfaithful soul would fall right into the Devil’s diabolic hands.
The found-footage style was probably the movie’s biggest asset in a sense that it retained its realism in an effortless manner. However, everything else failed miserably.
Cast-wise, it was a very interesting approach to use ordinary people as Joe’s crew, but unfortunately Joe himself was a very weak choice. Not only was he unconvincing as a suffering character on the verge of a rather boring and uneventful possession, but furthermore, he was a persona that the audience couldn’t relate to and even worse, couldn’t care less for.
Even for this type of flick, the movie’s duration is very limited, but somehow all 76 minutes feel like an eternity. That’s not its only problem, though, as the story is left in limbo and it feels deeply unfinished. It was as if the creators decided to leave everything to our imagination and deprive us of any possible explanations. Unfortunately, they left us with no burning desire to do so.
Marino tried really hard to convince us that what we were witnessing was real to the point where every bit of realism was immediately destroyed. Even the choice of the possessed victims was unsuccessful and consequently The Vatican Exorcisms is entirely devoid of shocks and scares.
Maria Kriva, HMS
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