The Devil Inside Director Reveals The Story Behind Its Controversial Ending

In January 2012, a movie that would quickly become infamous was revealed, as the found-footage movie The Devil Inside premiered in theaters around the United States. Shot for less than a million dollars, the movie was a financial success, grossing over $100 million worldwide, but the film’s ledger being in the black isn’t what people remember about it, that would be its ending. As audience members may recall, The Devil Inside has an abrupt conclusion, with the action cutting off quickly in a big moment not unlike other films of the found footage subgenre like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. Where The Devil Inside differed though was the addendum of a title card implying the rest of the movie had to be seen on the internet, an implication they never intended.

The film’s director William Brent Bell spoke about the secret history behind the movie’s ending in a recent interview, revealing that the found footage motif was something that came together well before the success of other movies like that and the abrupt ending was always in the cards.

“It had your typical third act initially, the original movie,” Bell revealed on The Movie Crypt podcast. “And (the financer) was kind of like, ‘What if we stop it here?’ and I was like, ‘We’re doing a tiny, independent film, who gives a f-k? We can stop it. Why does it have to follow a perfect three-act structure?’”

Bell went on to explain that the movie, acquired by Paramount Pictures and mistakenly thought of as a studio product by some, was tested relentlessly by the filmmakers and studio. As these tests came back, one thing was clear: the movie worked and audiences seemed to like it a lot. Even when additional material was shot and added into the ending, the abrupt conclusion was what played the best, then came the idea of a title card after the hard cut.

Bell added, “Then, at the last second, the last thing that the president of Paramount said is, ‘There’s a couple of storylines that aren’t wrapped up and I think they’re going to be confused. What if we put a card at the end of the movie that says, “Go to this website” and then it’s basically the DVD extras on this website?’…I remember another one of the execs there was like, ‘We’re going to break the internet with this.’ None of us looked at it as if the movie’s not over and you have to go watch this to understand the rest. This was just DVD extras, cut scenes, it was just in addition.”

The filmmaker revealed that when it came time to add this title card into the movie ahead of the final picture lock, the executive that made the suggestion didn’t show up, prompting a debate about its placement. Bell argued that it should appear at the end of the credits, with someone else arguing for right after the cut, and in the end, they won. He went on to say that if they had done what they’d done before and tested this cut they’d have known how poorly it played to audiences.

“It’s one thing to end the movie abruptly but then to throw that up was like insult to injury,” Bell said. “When it was a bold choice to end the movie like that but then to say that it gave the wrong impression and people took it the wrong way. Had we put it at the end of the credits it probably would have been a non-issue, that part of it, and it just would have been a bold ending.”

In the end, Bell’s movie grossed over $100 million and, thanks to its conclusion, resulted in it being given one of the only “F” CinemaScore ratings in history (something only 21 other movies have done). Bell went on to reveal, though, that the former president is now an independent producer and a few years ago apologized to him for ruining the ending of the movie.

Tragically, the website that hosted “The Rossi Files,” the URL that viewers were directed to at the end of the movie, is no longer functioning and the title card at the end of The Devil Inside has been relegated to history of infamous movie moments.