The Vatican Tapes | |
---|---|
Directed by | Mark Neveldine |
Screenplay by |
|
Story by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Gerardo Mateo Madrazo |
Edited by | Eric Potter |
Music by | Joseph Bishara [1] |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Languages |
|
Budget | $13 million [3] |
Box office | $13.5 million [4] |
The Vatican Tapes is a 2015 American supernatural horror film directed by Mark Neveldine from a screenplay written by Christopher Borrelli and Michael C. Martin, based on a story conceived by Borrelli and Chris Morgan.
The film stars Olivia Taylor Dudley, Michael Peña, Dougray Scott, Djimon Hounsou, Peter Andersson, Kathleen Robertson, and John Patrick Amedori, and was released on July 24, 2015, by Lionsgate.
In the Vatican, Vicar Imani shows Cardinal Mattias Bruun the case of Angela Holmes, a young American woman who is suspected of harboring an evil spirit.
Two months earlier in the United States, Angela is given a surprise birthday party by her father, Roger, and her boyfriend, Pete Smith. She accidentally cuts herself and is rushed to the hospital, where she briefly meets Father Lozano. She is injected with a serum that causes an infection; at home, she experiences a seizure and is placed under care at a hospital. A few days later, she is released, but in the taxi on the way home, she violently grabs the wheel, causing an accident that puts her in a coma for 40 days. Just as her life support is about to be switched off, she comes round, seemingly in perfect health.
However, Angela begins to show symptoms of demonic possession when she almost drowns a baby, followed by forcing a detective to commit suicide. Lozano sends her to a psychiatric hospital. A distraught Roger confesses that Angela's mother was a prostitute; she is pregnant just a few months after Roger met her but abandoned the baby at birth leaving Angela to be raised by Roger. Angela's possession becomes worse; she taunts her psychiatrist, Dr. Richards, eventually culminating in her speaking in Aramaic that induces hysteria and mass suicide in her fellow patients. Deciding that nothing can save her, the hospital releases her.
Cardinal Bruun concludes that Angela is possessed by the Antichrist due to the presence of the ravens around her, which are agents of Satan, and instructs Imani to stay back while he heads to the United States to cure her. An exorcism he plans involves a Eucharist, where Angela reacts by vomiting blood and spitting three eggs, meant to symbolize a perverted Trinity. Bruun also comments that her birth from a prostitute perverts the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Bruun then realizes that the Antichrist is already a part of Angela; killing him would mean Angela's death as well. Just after Bruun kills Angela, she rises up as the resurrected Antichrist, mirroring the resurrection of Jesus, and kills Bruun, Roger, and Pete. She spares Lozano and tells him to inform the Vatican that the Antichrist is roaming the Earth.
Three months later, Lozano, having been released from the hospital, visits the Vatican and is allowed access to the archives by Imani. He is shown footage of what has happened since: Angela returns as the only "survivor" of the exorcism besides Lozano and is now performing miracles to gather followers. She enters a large arena to greet her followers by stretching out her arms.
Principal photography began in July 2013 in Los Angeles. [6] [7]
The Vatican Tapes opened theatrically on July 24, 2015 in 427 venues, earning $832,271 in its first weekend, ranking fifteenth in the United States box office and last among the week's new releases. [8] The film finished its theatrical run four weeks later, on August 20, having grossed $1,784,763 domestically. Overseas, the film made $11,680,747, giving the film a worldwide total of $13,465,510, [4] based on an estimated $13 million budget. [3]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2016) |
The film received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 20%, based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 3.99/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A loud, rote exorcism thriller that presents nothing new to an already overpopulated subgenre." [9] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 38 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [10] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale. [11] IGN awarded it a score of 2.5 out of ten, saying "It exists without any real scares or chills, and only the smallest attempt to differentiate itself." [12]
A Perfect Murder is a 1998 American crime thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen. It is a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Dial M for Murder, though the characters' names have been changed and much of the plot has been rewritten and altered from its original form. Loosely based on the play by Frederick Knott, the screenplay was written by Patrick Smith Kelly.
The Net is a 1995 American action thriller film directed by Irwin Winkler and starring Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam, and Dennis Miller. The film was released on July 28, 1995.
Amistad is a 1997 American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the events in 1839 aboard the Spanish slave ship La Amistad, during which Mende tribesmen abducted for the slave trade managed to gain control of their captors' ship off the coast of Cuba, and the international legal battle that followed their capture by the Washington, a U.S. revenue cutter. The case was ultimately resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841.
In America is a 2002 drama film directed by Jim Sheridan. The semi-autobiographical screenplay by Jim Sheridan and his daughters, Naomi and Kirsten, focuses on an immigrant Irish family's struggle to start a new life in New York City, as seen through the eyes of the elder daughter.
Djimon Gaston Hounsou is a Beninese-born actor. He began his career appearing in music videos and made his film debut in Without You I'm Nothing (1990). He then earned widespread recognition for his role as Cinqué in the Steven Spielberg film Amistad (1997), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. For his performances in In America (2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), Hounsou was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Stigmata is a 1999 supernatural horror film directed by Rupert Wainwright and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was written by Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage. Its story follows an atheist hairdresser from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who is afflicted with stigmata after acquiring a rosary formerly owned by a deceased Italian priest who himself had suffered from the phenomenon. It stars Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce, Nia Long, Portia de Rossi and Rade Šerbedžija.
Constantine is a 2005 American superhero horror film directed by Francis Lawrence in his directorial debut. Written by Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello from a story by Brodbin, it is loosely based on the DC Comics/Vertigo Comics Hellblazer graphic novels. The film stars Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, a cynical exorcist with the ability to perceive and communicate with half-angels and half-demons in their true forms and to travel between Earth and Hell. Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Djimon Hounsou, Gavin Rossdale, and Peter Stormare also feature.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a 2005 American supernatural horror legal drama film directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson. The film is loosely based on the book The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel by Felicitas D. Goodman, which tells the story of Anneliese Michel, and follows a self-proclaimed agnostic (Linney) who acts as defense counsel representing a parish priest (Wilkinson) accused of negligent homicide after performing an exorcism.
John Patrick Amedori is an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Gabe Mitchell in Dear White People.
Lost Souls is a 2000 American apocalyptic supernatural horror film directed by Janusz Kamiński, in his directorial debut, and starring Winona Ryder, Ben Chaplin, Elias Koteas, and John Hurt. Its plot focuses on a devout Catholic woman who becomes convinced through the decoding of ciphers that a successful writer has been designated by Satan to become the antichrist.
Unlawful Entry is a 1992 American psychological thriller film directed by Jonathan Kaplan, and starring Kurt Russell, Madeleine Stowe and Ray Liotta.
Push is a 2009 American superhero thriller film directed by Paul McGuigan and written by David Bourla. Starring Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, and Djimon Hounsou, the film centers on people with superhuman abilities who band together to take down a government agency that is using a dangerous drug to enhance their powers in the hope of creating an army of super soldiers.
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress and filmmaker. She has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. She has also been honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2013 and the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2021.
The Rite is a 2011 supernatural horror film directed by Mikael Håfström and written by Michael Petroni. It is loosely based on Matt Baglio's book The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, which itself is based on actual events as witnessed and recounted by American then-exorcist-in-training Father Gary Thomas and his experiences of being sent to Rome to be trained and work daily with veteran clergy of the practice.
The Possession is a 2012 American supernatural horror film directed by Ole Bornedal, written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White, and produced by Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, and J. R. Young. It stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick, Natasha Calis, Grant Show, Madison Davenport, and Matisyahu. The story, based on the 2004 Los Angeles Times article "A Jinx in a Box?" by Leslie Gornstein, is about the allegedly haunted dybbuk box.
Passion is a 2012 erotic thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma, starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace. It is an English-language remake of Alain Corneau's 2010 thriller film Love Crime, but with the ending greatly altered. The film is an international co-production between France and Germany. The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.
Olivia Taylor Dudley is an American actress. She is known for her horror film roles such as Chernobyl Diaries (2012), The Vatican Tapes (2015) and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), for her television roles such as the Syfy fantasy series The Magicians, and for her work in the internet sketch group 5-Second Films.
Regression is a 2015 psychological thriller mystery film directed and written by Alejandro Amenábar. The film stars Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson, with David Thewlis, Lothaire Bluteau, Dale Dickey, David Dencik, Peter MacNeill, Devon Bostick, and Aaron Ashmore in supporting roles.
The Exorcism of Molly Hartley is a 2015 American supernatural horror film written by Matt Venne and directed by Steven R. Monroe. The film is a sequel to the 2008 film The Haunting of Molly Hartley. It was released on Digital HD on October 9, 2015, and on Blu-ray on October 20, 2015.
Serenity is a 2019 American mystery thriller film written, produced and directed by Steven Knight. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Diane Lane, Jason Clarke, Djimon Hounsou, and Jeremy Strong, and follows a fishing boat captain who is approached by his ex-wife to murder her abusive new husband. First announced in January 2017, principal photography on the film began in Mauritius that July.