Inner Demons (2014)

Inner Demons (2014) Review 

    Ever since The Exorcist dropped in 1973 ( a film deemed so terrifying that paramedics were on call to treat people who fainted and reportedly had heart attacks)  the demonic possession sub genre has had a long successful history in horror.  Although extremely popular, there have been many unoriginal films that have seemed to flood and water down the market.  Like most sub genres ( for example Zombies, Vampires, Werewolf's) once a story hits, other writers can be quick to oversaturate the artistic medium in an attempt to replicate the success of their predecessor's. Up until recently it seemed everything that could be done with the demonic possesion genre has been done.  In 2014 the film Inner Demons would come along to breath some fresh air and originality to the genre. 





    I had very low expectations going in since mockumentary style horror can be hit or miss.  The film begins with an Intervention style film crew telling the story of a 16 year old junkie addicted to heroin. Carson Moris, a religiously raised misguided 16 year old with a talent for reciting bible verses is caught in the clutches of chemical depencency.  Our lead character ( played fantastically by the relative newcomer Lara Vosberg) nails the very essense of teen angst.  Carson likes to be isolated from society having very few friends and dressing in dark clothing showing a complete contrast from her religious upbringing. On the surface her mother and father seem to be a portrait of the all american family as they are interviewd for the show.  They seem genuinely concerned and saddened to see the loss of innocence their baby girl has gon through. Early in the film Carson takes a liking to a young production assistant and camera operator named Jason, who strongly shows compassion.  Carson's conversations during the interviews reveal that she may be in the grasp of darkness. Jason brings this up to the film crew who brushes it off as some sort of joke.  The first act of the film does a very good job of slowly revealing that something more sinister than a drug addiction is at hand.    The first act comes to an end when Carson agrees to go to a drug rehabilitation program as part of the show. 






    








   The 2nd act of the story reveals the true reason for Carson's heroin addiction.  While she is in group therapy the participants in the group seem strangely fascinated by the newest member of their group (with film crew in tow).  Throughout her stay at the center she seems to be reacting strangely but the staff chalks it up to signs of withdrawal.  As Jason gets to know Carson better he becomes almost obsessed with saving Carson from whatever it is she is going through.  On a hunch he gets a priest to bless some water which burns Carson as she attempts to drink it.  Jason's growing concern causes him to take the drastic measure of injecting her with heroin to get her high to suppress the "symptoms" at the root of her situation.  Once it is found that  Jason injected her with heroin the parents remove Carson from the program with the intent of suing not only the program but the production company the film crew is involved with.  Jason, who is now out of a job decides to talk to one of Carson's friends Mckee Littlefield to try to see what went wrong.  She confesses that they tried to play a prank on her which involved a "fake" possession that apparently didn't go as planned.  Up until this part in the 2nd act nobody has been killed yet i still felt deeply invested in the story.  

    The final act delivers an excellent payoff in what I believe is a solid film overall.  Jason waits outside Carson's house and suspects something even darker has happened since nobody has left the house in days.  He approaches the house and the parents are acting weird he confronts them then attempts to perform an exorcism on her (I thought you had to be certified for that kind of thing, I guess you could get a cert on the internet these days).  The film ends whit the father executing Carson then killing himself while Jason and the producer of the film crew are shown to be the last two living.  Jason is then revealed to be possesed and attacks the sole survivor. If you have not seen this film I highly suggest you give it a watch and hope you enjoy it.



San Antonio Slaughterhouse.