With this debacle, we learn once again that just because something is realistic, doesn't make it good. That's just, unfortunately, not what The Devil Inside did. If the movie is also free, or at the very least available on a streaming service like Netflix, or crowd-funded by viewers who would also be contributing to the lore, you have a superb experiment in fan engagement, true crime, and found footage storytelling. Make a website, do a fake podcast episode, give the characters Twitter accounts, allow all of this to be available to the public straight away, and you have one hell of a campaign for your movie. When it comes to cross-platform storytelling, I say go big or go home. Could this method of storytelling actually work today? What can we learn from the ending of The Devil Inside? As for whether this could work today, I think in the age of streaming and analog horror, a case could be made for it. We could whinge and moan all day about how bad this ending is, but every failure can be used as a teachable moment. Even if this was the creators' intent with this film, for the ending to be unclear because "that's life, I guess" really showed the worst of found footage films. A big gripe people have with found footage films is that they have no big final scare, a lot of build-up with no pay-off. But not in lieu of an ending to a film people had to pay to watch, not when it reveals absolutely nothing after what we missed when the film cuts to black, no clues into the climatic final scene that we're usually given in horror films about demonic possessions. When done right, telling a story across multiple platforms can yield great results. In summary, it's a fine little promotional website for the film. It's a fairly solid trans-media experience for a low-budget film, it even has a cute little fake forum of fake people discussing the film, debating its authenticity. Some fake newspaper clippings and photos from the film, some background research on demonic possession, exorcisms and ghosts, character bios, and video diaries. So, what's actually on ? Thanks to The Wayback Machine we're given some insight.
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