Endings can make or break a movie. While films like The Sixth Sense, Psycho, and Hereditary stand out in the horror genre as movies with great endings, others have disastrously missed the landing. A memorable-for-all-the-wrong-reasons movie released at the height of found footage hysteria is now streaming on Paramount+, and its ending is even worse than you remember.
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The movie in question is The Devil Inside, and it’s just as controversial today as it was when it hit theaters back in 2012. Director William Brent Bell’s found footage supernatural horror film started streaming on Paramount+ on September 1st. Infamous for its incomplete ending and marketing tactics, which led to a dismal 6% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, The Devil Inside is an exorcism film and centers around a woman’s efforts to discover the truth behind her mother, who 20 years earlier killed three people while supposedly possessed.
The Devil Inside Controversy Explained
On the ledger, The Devil Inside was a massive success. Produced on a small budget of only $1 million, the film went on to gross over $100 million worldwide, making it one of the most profitable films of 2012. But The Devil Inside isn’t remembered for its commercial success or what it does right, including effective scares, disturbing imagery, and good build-up. What pushed The Devil Inside into infamy was its notoriously abrupt and unsatisfying ending that even to this day remains one of the worst and most controversial movie endings in recent memory.
We won’t completely spoil things for you, because The Devil Inside’s ending is one that needs to be watched to completely understand the outrage, but just know that if you’re looking for a movie that wraps things up with a bow and leaves you satisfied, The Devil Inside isn’t it. Following what is one of the most climactic moments in the film, the screen simply cuts to black, ending the story on an unresolved note. Even more angering is that a final title card directed viewers to a now-defunct website to learn more, something that still doesn’t settle well with horror fanatics. Such controversies can push movies into a cult following, but that hasn’t been the case for The Devil Inside. Rather than gaining a wider appreciation for attempting to be more than just a theatrical experience, The Devil Inside remains one of the most controversial horror movies of all time.
Other Horror Movies Now on Paramount+
If you’re unwilling to revisit The Devil Inside, or word of mouth about the ending alone is enough to keep you away, then Paramount+ has more than enough horror options to scare you. The streamer rolled out dozens of horror movies in September, and subscribers can now stream films including Cloverfield, Disturbia, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Kiss the Girls, The Faculty, and The Ring, as well as eight of the Friday the 13th movies and three Scary Movie films.
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Image courtesy of Paramount+ -
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