The Vatican Tapes, film review: Neveldine's horror movie is absurd

(15) Mark Neveldine, 89 mins. Starring: Olivia Dudley, Michael Peña, Dougray Scott, Kathleen Robertson, Djimon Hounsou, John Patrick Amedori

Halloween fare: Peter Andersson and Djimon Hounsou in the absurd and derivative ‘The Vatican Tapes’

Neveldine's overwrought horror movie, released in time for Halloween, combines portentous dialogue ("the black raven mocks the white dove!") with shots of strangely worldly Vatican priests at their computers, studying footage of demonic possession. Olivia Dudley plays Angela, a young woman who cuts her finger at her birthday party and is promptly possessed by extreme diabolic forces.

Regardless of which side they are on, everybody here seems vaguely sinister. As Angela's dad, Dougray Scott has a very mean streak. Her boyfriend Pete (John Patrick Amedori) is on the feckless side. The Catholic cardinals and priests (an anguished-looking Michael Peña among them) don't appear trustworthy.

The film ransacks ideas and motifs from The Omen and The Exorcism and other tales of possession in unabashedly shameless fashion. There is a lot of writhing, rumbling, gurgling, growling, whispering, screeching, speaking in devilish tongues and, late on, a ludicrous set-piece in which Angela spits out three eggs representing the holy trinity before falling prey to a hysterical fit. In terms of characterisation and plotting, the film is utterly absurd, but taken as a fairground ride for the ghoulishly inclined, it just about passes muster.the film's mournful tone and its absolute refusal to glamorise violence in any way.