The Vatican Tapes

One would expect a rich cultural or more in-depth take of possession premise with a title such as The Vatican Tapes. Unfortunately, it's nothing more than mediocre horror with barely anything new. Not to mention it's trapped between forced found footage style for some parts and shaky cam for the rest.

It's the story as old as the supposed entity possessing the poor victim, in this case Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley). She begins showing weird behavior and it eventually attracts the attention of Vatican. For acting department, there are actually some decent names here such as Michael Peña, Djimon Hounsou or Dougray Scott. They all have worked in bigger movies or played different roles, and there's a visible effort here, but the material is so thin their characters feel lackluster.

Pacing is also another issue. The way it's presented might make the timeline seem odd, it switches back and forth between early stages of haunting and eventual discovery. However, the transition is poor and it doesn't escalate well, although that's partially because of the timid horror. Visually, it's very confusing, often using documentary style such as following character with camcorder perspective or CCTV videos, all of which are unnecessary and only manage to limit the presentation.

As for the creepy parts, they are practically the stuffs of old. If you have seen any similar movie in past couple of years, chances are you've seen this before. A few scenes fare better, although these are also heavily borrowed from other films. There's barely any grand sight or atmosphere of Vatican, in fact the priests from holy city almost like supporting character that pop up in small portion of the movie.

It's all right if the concept is not novel, many other movies have done old concept well. However, The Vatican Tapes relies too heavily on superficial gimmicks and sadly low on thrill.

THE VATICAN TAPES is a creepy and horror film about exorcism, professionally , though flawed , directed by Mark Neveldine . For 2,000 years the Vatican has recorded evidence of evil . May God have mercy on their souls. Truly terrifiyng story following the ultimate battle between good and evil - God versus Satan . Angela Holmes (Olivia Taylor) is an ordinary 27-year-old who lives with her boyfriend (John Patrick) . At the beginning Angela has an argument with her overprotective daddy (Dougray Scott) , shortly after she has a convulsion and her father and fiancé carry her to the hospital until she begins to have a devastating effect on anyone close, causing serious injury and death. Holmes is subsequently examined and possession is suspected, but when the Vatican is called upon to exorcise the demon, the possession proves to be an ancient satanic force more powerful than ever imagined . Later on, she is under psychiatric care under Dr. Richards (Kathleen Robertson) , suffering from the effects of being possessed by the devil . It's all up to Father Lozano (Michael Peña) to wage war for more than just Angela's soul, but for the world as we know it . She getting sicker by the time, being really possessed, as a demon into a young woman gone amok . Family relies on priests who start to visit her every day . There is something dark and sinister inside Angela , a nasty demon that goes bersek and she wants to eject it. Then , Cardinal Mattias Bruun (Peter Andersson) investigates the sinister happenings , as he attempts to help the possessed lass and he submits Angela a weird exorcism . There are some things best kept in secret.

Horror picture shot in fits and starts with incoherent plot, dealing with a ghastly possession , as a young woman is possessed by a malevolent and heinous spirit causing creepy, scary and terrible moments ; then , a priest and two Vatican exorcists must do battle with an ancient satanic force to save the soul of the strange girl . A rare film about exorcism in similar style to The Exorcist 1973 by William Friedkin . This latter movie remains still startling and engrossing with every viewing, it spread countless sequels and imitations, one of them is this one, though , of course, it is far cry from the original Exorcist . Genuinely scary moments overcome some obvious plot devices. This is a juicy terrifying material fashioning an iconic diabolic possession, providing screams, thrills, shocks and chilling scenes .It has an extremely known premise spawns the film in ups and downs. All semblance of plausibility is extracted, leaving a main cast of little known actors : Olivia Taylor and John Patrick , to show their limited skills. However, the support cast is pretty good , such as : Dougray Scott , Michael Peña , Peter Andersson Djimon Hounsou , Kathleen Robertson , Michael Halsey .There appears briefly Michael Paré , Daniel Bernhardt and Alison Lohman who married director Mark Neveldine playing a Psych patient , but she has less than 2o seconds of screen time.

It delivers a scary and eerie ambient thanks to an expert cameraman, Gerardo Madrazo . As well as a frightening, suspenseful and chilling musical score byJoseph Bishara . Being efficiently produced by Chris Morgan , Eric Reid and Richard Wright . This silly, non-sense , late night horror picture was decently directed by Mark Neveldine , though with no originality and it has some flaws and gaps. Mark Neveldine has directed a few acceptable films such as : ¨Crank¨, its sequel : ¨Crank high voltage¨, ¨Ghost Rider : Spirit of Vengeance¨and in pre-production ¨Finding Jack¨ . Rating 6/10 . Passable and decent exorcism/horror movie . No for squamish

Greetings from Lithuania.

"The Vatican Tapes" (2015) is a very enjoyable "possession / exorcism" movie. While the plot is not really original, the ending kinda was original, really original. It has not bad mood for this kind of horror movie, and although it has clichés all around, the overall experience was positive.

Michael Peña is totally miscast in this movie, he is one of the most reliable "comic reliefs" in industry at the moment, so it is hard to take him seriously in priest robe with serious face, there were some scenes with him near the end when i just wanted to chuckle - not that he is a bad actor, he is solid one, but at this moment in his carrier this kind of movie is clearly not his strongest side. Djimon Hounsou is also a bit miscast, although this 2 times Oscar nominee is much more believable in this role. Others were OK, nothing special. Directing was also OK, and i kinda liked cinematography and editing, they create this feeling of uncertainty.

Overall, i kinda see why "The Vatican Tapes" has such a lot rating at IMDb (4.5 at the moment) - lots of recent horror movies about possession and exorcism are shoot in "found footage" style, but this one plays straight and its overall look is inconsistent, there are many close ups and shaky camera and some weird shoots, but as a whole i liked this style and as i have mentioned it creates this tension and feeling of uncertainty. Ending was also kinda original in my opinion. While this flick isn't the most original or best in its genre, it was a pretty descent one.

I was entertained for an hour and a half, and had my expectations subverted - in a positive way (not in a Rian Johnson way, thankfully). It is well shot, using good effects, it has a reasonable script, with on par performances all round.

It's not really about exorcism, though it is about possession. And I have to admit, that I am surprised by the low rating here on IMDb. It's very well crafted, has an array of good actors in it and the script is solid. While I would agree that it doesn't reach the heights of some of the best horror movies out there, this is certainly a very good movie.

The acting is strong, the story holds up and the ending works too. Yes some characters react strange to our main character, but overall it's not the worst behavior in horror movies (or in the clichés we are used to). I like the mentality of the movie and the director seems to know his stuff. As does the cinematographer (both plus leading actress are on an interesting audio commentary on the disc) too. I was pleasantly surprised by this and maybe you will be too