The Demon Inside

Since the worldwide success of William Friedkin's timeless masterpiece, The Exorcist (1974), there have been countless films dedicated to exorcisms of all kinds, most of them lacking the vision of a director and content to follow to the letter the rules that this film highlights. Films such as the saga Conjuring, Amityville the Devil's House (1979) are also successful and founding films, but they do not reach the perfection of William Friedkin's founding film.

Pearry Reginald Teo's new film Sleeping Beauty (2016), however, succeeds in conquering us, so much so that it seems to want to approach the theme of exorcism by paying homage to William Friedkin's founding film but at the same time to constantly blur the tracks to the point of leading viewers to the point where what they see is really real or the visions of a tormented mind. After an introductory scene revealing that an exorcism went wrong and led to a man of the church (Father Lambert) being imprisoned and serving a prison sentence. On his release, this man has not lost his faith and on the contrary still seeks to face the demons who take possession of innocent victims who cannot fight.

In the same way, we discover a father, Joel Clarke (Robert Kazinsky), who is struggling after the death of his wife to resurface and also has to deal with his young son who is behaving more and more strangely. Between his psychologist and his child's babysitter who announces his departure, Joel Clarke's life will become a living hell when his son finds himself possessed. Will the help of Father Lambert and his disciple to put an end to this possession allowing him to save his son? What if all this is just the result of his schizophrenia?

Director Pearry Reginald Teo seems to have a complete mastery of his subject and relies on the very convincing interpretation of a perfectly selected cast whether it be Robert Kazinsky (Joel Clarke), Florence Faivre (the psychologist) or Peter Jason in the role of Father Lambert. By placing almost all the action of the film in Joel Clarke's gloomy home in death seems omnipresent and by cleverly dosing the jump scare and by its very well-done final turnaround, The Demon inside turns out to be a good horror film, simple but with a formidable efficiency.

The Assent
Written and directed by Pearry Reginald Teo
Produced by Ehud Bleiberg, Danny Dimbort, Melanie Kollar, Ariel Bleiberg
With Robert Kazinsky, Peter Jason, Florence Faivre, Hannah Ward, Caden Dragomer, Douglas Spain, Tatum O'Neal, Eileen Dietz, Margarita Reyes, Megan Henry
Music by Frederik Wiedmann
Executive producers: Nicholas Donnermeyer, Charles Arthur Berg, Robert Kazinsky
Cinematography : Jonathan Hall
Edited by Danny Rafic
Production : Bleiberg Entertainment, Compound B
Distributed by Alba Films (France)

Seen June 15 2020

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