William Brent Bell’s docu-exorcism hit ‘The Devil Inside’ lands on UK shelves in a couple of weeks time. The creepy horror arrives both on DVD and on Blu-ray here in the UK on 16 July 2012 and writer/director Bell has been chatting about the project and offers some insights into his own beliefs and fears. ‘The Devil Inside’ stars Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, Ionut Grama, Suzan Crowley, Bonnie Morgan and Brian Johnson and you can check out the exclusive interview along with the Blu-ray cover below.
You can pre-order ‘The Devil Inside’ on DVD or Blu-ray here.
“In 1989, emergency responders received a 9-1-1 call from Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) confessing that she had brutally killed three people. 20 years later, her daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) seeks to understand the truth about what happened that night. She travels to the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Italy where her mother has been locked away to determine if her mother is mentally ill or demonically possessed. When she recruits two young exorcists (Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth) to cure her mom using unconventional methods combining both science and religion, they come face-to-face with pure evil in the form of four powerful demons possessing Maria. Many have been possessed by one; only one has been possessed by many.”
‘The Devil Inside’ Blu-ray Artwork
AN INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM BRENT BELL
Do you get scared watching your own movies?
Brent: Sometimes I do. It’s when we are writing these movies when they are the scariest. We like to write from the point of the audience. And they are the ones that should be scared. That’s what this movie is all about.
What are you trying to do when you are directing a movie like “The Devil Inside”?
Brent: We always want to do something that surprises the audience or show them something they haven’t seen before. It’s even fun to trick them at times. It just makes the whole movie experience a lot more fun.
What brought you to this project?
Brent: I read an article in 2004 that the Vatican was starting a school for exorcism, and anybody could go, not just a priest in training. That fascinated me. The reason why they opened that school was that they had reported more possessions than ever before in history. That fact alone was exciting to me.
And why another movie about exorcism?
Brent: We wanted to introduce the world of exorcism to a younger audience. And we wanted to incorporate the scientific side of it not just the spiritual one. 
How did you research this film?
Brent: You know everything in this movie is based on real people. We talked to a lot of priests to research this. They talked to us, but at the end of the day they didn’t want their name to be used or be in the movie. The church didn’t allow it. It was weird.
What fascinates you about the horror genre?
Brent: You can push the envelope, and you don’t have to worry about conventions. You can cast people that you like, it’s very freeing. And the creativity to scare people in different ways is just fun. It allows you to use your imagination more so than in any other genres.
This was a fairly low budget film, but it made a lot of money. People still like horror flicks, don’t you agree?
Brent: Oh, yes. People still love horror. Hollywood is constantly trying to find the next trend, but I do think that subjects stay popular much longer than a lot of people think. It’s just important to find a different way of storytelling to keep it fresh. And that is what we were trying to do. People love going to movies and get scared.
What is our fascination with the devil?
Brent: I know things people just need to blame something or somebody when something bad happens to us. It’s been engrained in us that it must be the devil that is responsible for title waves or other natural catastrophes. Movies show people what the devil might really be.
Everybody talks about the abrupt ending about the movie. Why did you go that route?
Brent: When we were making the movie we thought this might be a good idea to take some chances. We didn’t want a Hollywood ending. We didn’t want this movie to be predictable. We went to Paramount, and they loved it.
Did you incorporate any alternative endings on the DVD?
Brent: We were thinking about it, but then we decided to keep the movie as is.
Talk about your ongoing collaboration with Matthew Peterman and Morris Paulson.
Brent: Matt and I have been working together for a very long time now. And Morris has a visual effects background. When Matt and I wrote the movie, and Morris said he could finance the movie if we kept it small.
Is it true that you tried to keep your plans for this film a big secret?
Brent: We tried to keep everything secretive, but once Paranormal Activity came out, the cat for this genre was out of the bag. It turned out to be good for us. PA was a Guinea Pig for us.
What’s the mood like on a set of a horror movie?
Brent: It can be pretty dark at times. But usually it’s a lot of fun. Everybody gets into it. It’s a big team effort.
Do you take your work home with you? Does it affect your sleep?
Brent: I have terrible dreams; I do take my work home with me. Thanks for asking.
Do you believe an evil force can actually possess people?
Brent: Yes, I have learned enough and seen enough that other people can see and hear stuff that you and I cannot. I do believe all that, but I can’t tell you what the source of that evil is.
Did you ever think this movie was going to be so successful?
Brent: We all thought and hoped it was going to be successful. We always dreamed it was going to be big. And we had a lot of help from Paramount. They really pulled together and pushed the marketing on this film. It was great. Josh Greenstein was just amazing. Paramount left no stone unturned.
Final question, what scares you in real life?
Brent: I don’t get scared that easily. What does scare me is being home alone and hearing sounds. Or looking outside the window and thinking I see a guy standing out there.
What do you have coming up next?
Brent: I just got back from Europe. We shot “Wer” in Romania. It’s another horror movie. And it was a crazy shoot. But you will hear all about that a little later.
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