Chaos in the Vatican — This Horror Has Papal Secrets, Demons and Is Free To Watch Now -

The global attention that is currently on Vatican City goes beyond the Catholic faith. The holy city-state has historical importance and the following weeks after Pope Francis’ passing will involve ancient traditions—both public and private—that will capture the curiosity of eyes from around the world. It can even bring attention to how that curiosity has been explored in movies. Conclave may peek behind the papal curtain, but The Two Popes is a more heartfelt portrait of the crossroads the Church has been facing. The global reach of the Vatican has also lent itself a place in horror, notably in possession movies, where a favorite trope has priests needing the approval of the Vatican before exorcising a demonic entity. The Vatican Tapes goes a step further by placing holy men from the city-state directly in the foreground of a battle with evil.

What Is ‘The Vatican Tapes’ About?

Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley) goes through an exorcism in The Vatican Tapes. — Image via Lionsgate

Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley) is a young woman whose life is picture-perfect, with a boyfriend she lives with and a father who dotes on her, until the good days change due to a small accident on her birthday which thrusts her into religious horror. She becomes possessed, and it catches the attention of a cardinal at the Vatican, who realizes too late what is at stake if an exorcism isn’t performed. Not straying too from the familiarity of the iconic possessions on screen that have come before it, The Vatican Tapes does have something different to make it stand apart from them. Maybe there are mentions or glimpses, but not many have actually involved the Vatican in its story.

American Horror Story: Murder House has a brief moment where Sarah Paulson shares an in-show piece of mythology that a newly elected pope must enter a chamber to learn the secret of what will usher in the end of times. The Conjuring finds the Warrens trying to help a family in a haunted house, and the unbaptized children or the family not being parishioners of a church means the approval of an exorcism must come directly from the Vatican. As the possession destroys Angela’s life, The Vatican Tapes brings in that holy element to see how longstanding the Church’s battle with infernal enemies has been.

A Young Woman Undergoes an Intense Possession in ‘The Vatican Tapes’

Two men of the cloth, Vicar Imani (Djimon Hounsou) and Cardinal Bruun (Peter Andersson), meet to discuss a pressing matter. They are part of a secret group of holy officials in the shadows of the Vatican that document incidents of evil. Viewers will notice in the archived footage they watch—recorded off a camcorder or taken from a security camera— that the name the video files are under is “The Vatican Tapes.” And they have a new person of interest in Angela. The performance by Dudley can be very intense as she descends further into the anguish and rage of possession that can give you more of the disturbing personality changes seen in The Exorcist and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

The first half wants to leave viewers wondering if, like Angela’s support system, she needs psychiatric help, not an exorcism. Once she is hospitalized after her well-being takes a turn for the worse, the supernatural becomes more obvious, with crows that hover nearby outside her room’s window and the people who die around her, afflicted by the malevolence surrounding Angela. The Vatican Tapes puts in some great creepiness during story beats that will be familiar to fans of the horror subgenre.

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Father Lozano (Michael Peña), the local priest at the hospital, realizes the young woman needs spiritual help, not mental health supervision, and in a disorientating scene, Lozano finds himself attempting to locate Angela, going down the shadowy halls as he follows her voice in front of him, before it comes from behind. The office of Angela’s psychiatrist has religious stained-glass windows that let in a blinding light, almost as if Heaven itself is trying to break through. But there is no safety for Angela or those around her, and learning of her case, the Vatican is urgent to help.

Holy Men Have an Important Mission in ‘The Vatican Tapes’

Grainy footage of a possessed Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley) in The Vatican Tapes. — Image via Lionsgate

Hounsou, Andersson, and Peña portray the holy men who must fight the evil that has chosen Angela as its human vessel. Although this is very much a “turn off your brain” kind of horror movie, the actors bring a gravitas to their scenes. They are the last line of defense as they realize it’s not just the safety of a young woman they have to be concerned about, but there are far-reaching consequences if they fail her. The involvement of the vicar and cardinal goes beyond an exorcism; they are part of the preservation efforts to document incidents of demonic activity, a plot point that plays into the fascination of the Vatican Apostolic Archive, formerly known as the Vatican Secret Archive. Angels & Demons finds Tom Hanks trying to save kidnapped cardinals by finding clues about their whereabouts with access to these archives, and the location was bound to be given a horror twist.

The ending of The Vatican Tapes is a grim one, and there was little chance it was ever going to aim for authenticity like other papacy-themed movies. It doesn’t want to focus on the realistic inner workings of the city-state but place it in the context of a good vs. evil battle over a possession. What happens to Angela and what she goes on to do borrows from the horror classics before new twists lunge out from the earth-shattering secrets that are uncovered.