The Vatican Tapes

When "The Vatican Tapes" arrived via mail for me to review, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was yet another found-footage camera film. I also thought, Dear God, another exorcism genre film...when are filmmakers going to learn that they cannot remake or top 1973's "The Exorcist"?

I'm happy to report that none of these items are true and Lionsgate's newest horror release is a mostly thought-provoking examination of a young woman who's slowly losing her mind.

Other items to note came up while watching "The Vatican Tapes":

- Actor Michael Pare ("Eddie and the Cruisers") still has a career and speaks 2 or 3 lines in this film.
- There just aren't that many exorcism movies featuring a male possession.
- Typecast actor Michael Pena should stick to his other acting roles and isn't very believable as a faith-questioning priest.
- The last half hour of "The Vatican Tapes" follows the format of other exorcist films; a war gets waged between a priest and the devil.
- "The Vatican Tapes" is a notch above the plethora of drivel known as exorcism movies.

Lionsgate usually pulls out some fairly decent special features; "The Vatican Tapes" follows suit with this trend. So if a purchase or rental decision comes your way, you'll get an audio commentary with the director and various actors, a "Tales of the Tapes" featurette, and deleted/extended scenes.

"The Vatican Tapes"
Blu-ray
$19.99
www.lionsgate.com