Instead, what we end up with are a limited number of stale ideas that are being repeated from film to film. Not that one believes in the actuality of demonic possession but if just one of the filmmakers sat down with some of the people who claim to be exorcists in real life or visited some of the churches beyond the Catholics, we would have some very different ideas and approaches into the mix. In all of these cases, it feels like each entrant is cycling around a small number of cliches that are repeated from film to film. A possessed Olivia Taylor Dudley levitates in a burning house in the thoroughly overwrought exorcism scenes

The possession and exorcism film has made a more than reasonable return since the mid-00s with films such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), Blackwater Valley Exorcism (2006), Exorcism: The Possession of Gal Bowers (2006), Chronicles of an Exorcism (2008), The Last Exorcism (2010), Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes (2011), Back from Hell (2011), The Rite (2011), The Devil Inside (2012), The Conjuring (2013), Deliver Us From Evil (2014), The Atticus Institute (2015), Backmask/The Asylum/Exeter (2015), Incarnate (2016) and The Crucifixion (2017), among others. On his own, Mark Neveldine has also produced Officer Downe (2016) and Urge (2016), while Taylor went on to make the mass insanity film Mom & Dad (2017) and create the splendidly deranged tv series Happy! (2017-9) and the Dystopian future mini-series Brave New World (2020). I can’t say I have ever had much liking for Neveldine/Taylor’s films, which seem to be all frenetically paced action sequences filled with constant shakycam as though directed by two speed freaks. They also wrote the scripts for Pathology (2008) and Jonah Hex (2010). Along with his partner Brian Taylor, Neveldine first co-directed the hyper-adrenalised action hit Crank (2006) and its sequel Crank: High Voltage (2009), as well as the sf film Gamer (2009) and the Marvel Comics adaptation Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012). The Vatican Tapes was the first solo film from Mark Neveldine, who was previously one half of the directing duo who billed themselves variously as Neveldine & Taylor or Neveldine/Taylor.

The vatican tapes 2015 trailer