‘The Devil Inside’ possesses weekend box office, negative reactions

If you have watched television or been on the Internet in the past two weeks, then it's safe to say that you've been bombarded with trailers for "The Devil Inside."

From the looks of its opening weekend, the movie's marketing strategy worked more magic than anyone had initially predicted.

"The Devil Inside" opened Friday night, grossing more than double its anticipated numbers in its first night alone – beating out "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" and ruining its streak at the top of the box office.

The movie, a mixture of the "Exorcist" and "The Blair Witch Project" with its this faux-documentary format, quite like that of the "Paranormal Activity" films- attempted to shine light on the reality of this so-called true story.

The movie showed many attempts at exorcisms and played on the fears of those who believe that demonic possession is possible.

However, from the very beginning, the movie reveals a disclaimer telling the audience that the Roman Catholic Church doesn't endorse any of the ideas within the film.

The film, which is supposedly based on fact, then goes on to make several claims against Roman Catholic practices that are false, including the accusation that exorcisms are now forbidden to be recorded.

From a skeptic's point of view, the movie was nothing but a joke and sarcastic jab at what some people may believe is real. Honestly, the average horror movie enthusiast would find the film to be lacking in every aspect of fear-inducing nature.

The story centers around Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade), whose mother committed several murders as a little girl. Rossi's mother, Maria (Suzan Crowley), has been diagnosed with several different mental disorders over the years, yet nothing has changed with her mother's condition. In true documentary style, Isabella does reveal the information she knows about the murders to the cameras - that the murders her mother committed occurred during what appeared to be an exorcism - hers.

Maria is sent to Rome for more care, but Isabella believes it is for ulterior motives - an exorcism. Although the Catholic Church, in the movie, is said to condemn exorcisms.

Isabella reaches out to a few Catholic priests who refer to themselves as exorcists who work with science to conduct exorcisms.

The production style is getting old and fools no one into believing the story. It cannot be denied though that "The Devil Inside" pulls on the strings within those more willing to believe and creates a veil of fear around the viewer from beginning to end.