The Vatican Tapes review

The Vatican Tapes is a silly rehash of numerous exorcism films, but the crux here is it propounds a theory that dips ridiculously into fantasy and mocks everything that it has tried so meticulously
to build up. The Catholic Church is not dealing with an ordinary case of demonic possession, but with a lovely young woman, Angela Holmes – stoically played by Olivia Taylor Dudley – a well-adjusted Los Angeles student, who, after undergoing a radical change in her personality, claims she is the Antichrist and has been placed on earth to destroy mankind.

Her concerned and bewildered boyfriend, Pete (John Patrick Amedori), and her gruff, staunchly religious father, Roger (Dougray Scott), cannot comprehend what is unfolding. The film runs the full gamut of the extremes of the exorcism ritual – from showing the victim vomiting full-on eggs (and that’s no yoke) to her levitating, breaking chains meant to restrain her and throwing things around the room. There is a moment when she uses her powers to blind a young cop, sent to look after her, after she plunges a light bulb into his eyes.

After an unsuccessful stint in a mental hospital, Angela is moved to another location and the task of banishing the evil spirit falls to the imperious Cardinal Bruun (Swedish actor Peter Andersson), who takes one look at Angela and knows exactly what has to be done. Djimon Hounsou is cast as a Vatican-based vicar – and he looks good in a priest’s collar – while Kathleen Robertson (Bates Motel) delivers a sharp-edged interpretation as the therapist unfortunately tasked with monitoring Angela’s progress.

This is a cheap and nasty exercise, which is sadly derivative of the many religio-horror freakouts audiences have been subjected to in the name of entertainment over the years. Blips of security-cam footage, supposedly procured from the Catholic church’s top secret video archives (hence the title) are supposed to add a degree of authenticity to the proceedings.

It doesn’t – and proves to be just another tedious study in shock therapy.