William Brent Bell has become a reliable presence in horror, having helmed both installments of The Boy franchise, Separation, and Orphan: First Kill, but hopefully he never helms anything as offensively awful as The Devil Inside ever again.
Even though the found footage flick was a commercial success on a jaw-dropping scale after earning over $100 million at the box office on a budget hovering around the million-dollar mark, it didn’t take long for word to spread that the 83-minute supernatural chiller ended on a note that was nothing short of offensive to its audience.
Having spent the entire running time investigating the events that occurred when the daughter of a murderer visits her mother in an institute for the criminally insane to find out whether or not she’s a cold-blooded killer or a victim of demonic possession, history would dictate that we’d be given some sort of resolution to round off the story before the credits roll.
Instead, The Devil Inside simply screeches to a halt, flashes a title card on the screen to let us know that the case remains unsolved, and even has the brass balls to offer up a link to a website “for more information on the ongoing investigation”. That right there is a slap in the face to every paying customer, and it’s little wonder the horrendous creative decision ended up contributing to a paltry six percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
And yet, we’ve got the sneaking suspicion that iTunes subscribers may not have been clued in to the fact The Devil Inside boasts what’s widely considered one of cinema’s all-time worst endings. Either that, or they’re deliberately aiming to be disappointed. As per FlixPatrol, the thoroughly diabolical effort has landed a spot on the platform’s global rankings, and there’s more than likely going to be more than few pissed off customers by the time things fade to black.
