![]() ![]() In a well-made but mostly unoriginal film where interest is held in spite of certain developmental pitfalls, "The Vatican Tapes" defies expectations during its final moments, culminating on a note as open-ended as it is provocatively chilling. Likewise, the early animosity between Pete and Roger leads nowhere of note and keeps them from having their own personal arcs. (It was actually originally written to be entirely found footage, but that was changed early in the production. The Vatican Tapes is a horror film that includes elements of found footage. As arresting as Angela is, she and her boyfriend and father are undernourished by the script so little is learned about her life before she is accosted by darker powersdoes she have a profession? Is she college-aged?that one can never quite grasp the full scope of what she stands to lose. Featured Blu-ray / DVD Review: The Vatican Tapes. A scene where she verbally massacres every insecurity hidden beneath the surface of her psychiatrist (Kathleen Robertson) is powerfully handled, while director Mark Neveldine's reliance on mood and craft over cheap jump scares is certainly welcome. Olivia Taylor Dudley (2012's " Chernobyl Diaries"), strongly resembling a young Patricia Arquette, brings a committed range to the role, able to be sympathetic one minute and a coldly vindictive force the next. "The Vatican Tapes" is absorbing in spite of its general familiarity, sending Angela on a path toward hell over which she has no control. Convinced this young woman is beset by an evil higher power, Father Lozano (Michael Pena) seeks the aid of Vatican City-based Cardinal Bruun (Peter Andersson). While convalescing in the hospital, Angela is captured on surveillance video attempting to harm a newborn child in the maternity ward despite another camera showing her lying asleep in her bed. She becomes easily irritable, insatiably thirsty, grows faint at a moment's notice, and is attacked by an out-of-control raven as she rides the city transit bus. In the days after, however, live-in boyfriend Pete (John Patrick Amedori) and military father Roger (Dougray Scott) watch as her personality starts to change and the odd occurrences pile up. When Angela Holmes (Olivia Taylor Dudley) slices her finger while cutting birthday cake, she goes to get stitches but doesn't think much about it. That the picture is told as a conventional narrative in lieu of found footage shouldn't seem like a novel concept, but it sure comes off that way. It also is decidedly assured and tautly conceived on its own terms. Martin, is derivative of just about every horror movie involving demonic possession. Then again, the film, directed by Mark Neveldine (2012's " Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance") and written by Christopher Borrelli and Michael C. If 1973's "The Exorcist" and 1999's " Stigmata" experienced a head-on collision, "The Vatican Tapes" would be the likely result. ![]()
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