Movies
‘The Vatican Tapes’ Is Yet Another Generic Possession Film
The problem with doing a possession movie nowadays is that the sub-genre has been done to death. When I was catching up on 2014 horror movies back in December, I watched no less than seven possession films (The Possession of Michael King, The Taking of Deborah Logan, Deliver Us From Evil, Devil’s Due, The Quiet Ones, Asmodexia and At The Devil’s Door). Watching that many possession films in the span of two weeks really made me realize that these movies aren’t even trying to do anything different with the sub-genre. Lionsgate’s new horror film The Vatican Tapes, out this weekend, is no different. It is yet another generic possession film with barely any surprises.
Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley) is celebrating her birthday with her boyfriend (John Patrick Amedori) and father (Dougray Scott) one day when she cuts her finger on a knife. After going to the hospital to get stitches, she begins acting strangely. Ravens start flying close to her, people injure themselves after talking to her, she contorts her body, attempts to drown babies, etc. After seeking counsel from a priest (Michael Peña), they begin to suspect that she is possessed by a demon or the Devil Himself.
Sound familiar? It’s not that The Vatican Tapes is actively bad. On the contrary, it’s actually competently directed and has decently acted (though some of the actors look bored). It’s just so dull. There is nothing here that you haven’t seen in plenty of other possession films many times before.
Also, I’m not one to hound on a horror movie for being PG-13. Movies need to be seen by a wide audience to make money. I get that, but it bothers me when the rating takes you out of the film.
***MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD***
There is a scene in The Vatican Tapes where a character grabs two light bulbs and jams them into his eyes. The camera is focused on this character’s torso the entire time, with no blood dripping or blood stains on the character’s hands. It was so obviously shot and edited to keep the PG-13 rating that it takes you out of the film. It just felt staged
***END SPOILERS***
Olivia Taylor Dudley does get some creepy moments in the film, one of which being an extended sequence where she is whispering to a wall, but she’s no Linda Blair, Jennifer Carpenter, or even Ashley Bell (The Last Exorcism). There’s an unintentionally hilarious moment involving Angela regurgitating whole eggs that looks like it was taken right out of Airplane! Dougray Scott also gets some good moments as her worrying father. Both Michael Peña and Djimon Hounsou are serviceable, but not much is asked from either of them.
One thing The Vatican Tapes has going for it is its ending. The final five or ten minutes show such potential for a better sequel (yes, I said it) that it just reinforces how bland everything that came before it is. What would have made The Vatican Tapes better is if the first 80 minutes were relegated to a prologue, and then the last ten minutes expanded into a full-length feature. What we get instead is The Vatican Tapes in its present form, and if you can manage to keep yourself awake throughout the whole thing then you deserve a medal.
With this, The Gallows and the Poltergeist remake, it’s been a pretty bad summer for horror movies. Let’s hope Sinister 2 can pull an 11th hour home run for the genre next month.
One of the many horror movies spoofed in the new Scary Movie franchise reboot was Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3, further cementing Art the Clown’s status as a true pop culture icon in the world of modern horror. Scary Movie specifically parodied the memorable scene in Terrifier 3 where Art the Clown hands out “gifts” to children in a mall while dressed up as Santa, and you may have spotted horror icon Felissa Rose in a cameo appearance in that scene!
But who played Art the Clown in the Scary Movie spoof scene? Actor Fedor Steer was the man behind the black & white clown makeup, with his character credited as “Artie Claus.”
Fedor Steer is no stranger to the horror genre, with roles in “Stranger Things,” “The Haunting of Hill House,” and “Evil” paving the way for his Artie Claus performance in Scary Movie.
Steer played William Hill in Mike Flanagan’s “The Haunting of Hill House,” Monstrous Mourner #1 in the fourth season of “Stranger Things,” and several characters throughout the horror series “Evil” including The Manager, Boop Demon, Jinn, and Massive Stick Demon.
Fedor Steer also played a Krampus Guest in Christmas movie Red One starring Dwayne Johnson, as well as Ezra in Haunted Mansion (2023), Vito the Chopper in Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King movie Doctor Sleep, Djinn in “Sleepy Hollow” Season 4, Babyfaced Man in the first season of “Bloodline,” and Cupcake the Clown in the 2014 movie Jersey Shore Massacre.
Back in 2012, Fedor Street had even directed his own horror short titled BFF Zombie, which he also appeared in. You can watch the trailer for BFF Zombie over on YouTube.
Outside the entertainment world, Steer’s life has been just as interesting. Steer’s IMDb bio notes, “Fedor has a diverse range of life experiences. He has been a navigation officer in the Canadian Coast Guard and on cruise ships, a school teacher, a swim coach, a triathlete, and has lived in a number of countries overseas, including Thailand and the UAE. He also owns and operates a software company, Gradicus, that builds database applications for K-12 schools.”
Fedor Steer will next be seen in the post-apocalyptic horror movie Crossed from director Rob Jabbaz (The Sadness), a feature adaptation of the depraved Garth Ennis comic book. He’ll be playing the character Face in the upcoming movie about a twisted apocalyptic pandemic.
Fedor Steer’s appearance as Artie Claus is brief in Scary Movie, but he notes in an Instagram post that more footage was shot for the Terrifier 3 spoof scene. Steer explains, “Sadly, the scene where I cut off [the mall Santa’s] arms and head and twirl in the fountain of blood spewing from his neck didn’t make the movie. Just trust me when I tell you it was awesome!”
Steer tells Sledgehammer Horror, “David Howard Thornton really did a fantastic job as Art the Clown. And I got an even better appreciation of how well he did when I started preparing for this part. I got it because Bob Kurtzman and Marcia King who did the makeup already knew me. I worked with them three or four times before. They had my head cast. In order to save time and go with somebody they knew, they recommended me to the director and producers.”
“That was just fun,” Fedor Steer adds in his chat with Sledgehammer Horror. “It was one day of shooting. We got to just enjoy the day… and see some really cool results from it.”
You can follow along with Fedor Steer’s career over on his Instagram page!
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