The Devil Inside 2012

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: "The Devil Inside'' usefully reminds us how little it takes to make some people scream in a crowded movie theater. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Clearly, when a cheapie pickup like "Paranormal Activity," which Paramount released a few years ago, turns into franchise gold, there's just no stopping the banality. Read more

Matt Singer, Time Out: Whatever possessed Bell & Co. to turn a slow-burning creepfest into a frenzied freak show of multiple exorcisms (including one in a moving car), the devil only knows. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: The Catholic Church was wise to want nothing to do with The Devil Inside. Everyone else should follow suit. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The Devil Inside joins a long, woozy-camera parade of found-footage scare pictures, among them The Blair Witch Project, the Paranormal Activity films and certain wedding videos that won't go away. Read more

Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly: The Devil Inside's biggest shock arrives when it abruptly ends - just as it hits its stride. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: Bell directs with all the enthusiasm of a guy who was called into work on his day off. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: Proves as scary and unsettling as a slab of devil's food cake - only considerably less satisfying. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: People of the world: If you find some footage, leave it be. You will likely be doing the rest of us a huge favor. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's better when you don't show too much - but if your story is about the supernatural, eventually you're going to have to come up with something. "The Devil Inside" can't. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: It stumbles along to what may arguably be the most abrupt, nonsensical ending since Luis Bunuel stopped slicing cows' eyes for the sake of surrealism. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: From the amateur acting, writing and directing to an ending that is shocking only in its stupidity, The Devil Inside will make you puke for all the wrong reasons. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: While it doesn't exactly reinvent the inverted cross, The Devil Inside definitely puts a nifty indie spin on the demonic possession genre. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Director William Brent Bell (Stay Alive) and his co-writer Matthew Peterman offer way too much set-up for too little payoff. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Here it is just the first week of January, and already we have a strong candidate for the worst movie of 2012. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Despite the palpable air of deja vu that hangs over it like a light fog, The Devil Inside generates a fair amount of suspense during sizable swaths of its familiar but serviceable exorcism-centric scenario. Read more

Alissa Simon, Variety: Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: You can see where this is going, and the filmmakers can see that you can see. So they rush to the hideous yet hilarious climax in little more than an hour and then pad the running time with the slowest-moving credits ever. Read more