This movie surprised me. It pretty much only looks bad from the trailer. And let's be honest, there hasn't been a 'good' exorcism film in recent memory.
We start the movie in the middle of a seemingly crazy ritual with absolutely no context and they just go right for it. A bit startling, but then it gets real cute. The story is about a small group of 20/30somethings who are hosting this live feed of supposedly 'real exorcisms'. But they're not. But the viewers think they are real. They have someone new each week to act as someone possessed. They got lights, gear, sound techs, etc. And a big stupid dumbass fake priest. Who is the worst character ever with the most punch-able face. I just wanna cut his stupid man-bun right off his head and offer him up to the devil myself.
Moving forward it's pretty self explanatory. I mean all these fake exorcisms and nothing happens. So obviously one of them has to turn out to be real or else we would have no movie. So ding-dong hires one of his friends who is a drag queen to be the next victim for the show. Unfortunately she doesn't make it - and leaves the crew scrambling last minute for an actress. Guess who? Our hero's girlfriend. Beautiful, handsome, Kyle Gallner's girlfriend will stand in of course. I'm not gonna give away any more than that of the story - and that's honestly what the trailer gives away already. I realize I am just making this blog basically a promo for every movie I watch and enjoy, and that's fine for now. My blog, okay? I'll fix it later. Maybe. Someday.
I truly thought this would turn out to be awful garbage. And not even the awful garbage that I like. I mean, it is EXTREMELY goofy probably 70 percent of the time. I think it's really difficult to make an exorcism show not goofy. The woman is possessed for like 90 percent of the movie, and the film hardly leaves their tiny studio. So if you can get beyond the obvious dumb demon voice-over and focus on something else, then the movie actually ends up being really entertaining. There is great gore, pretty decent acting (including Ms. Demon - I mean imagine acting that part... just barfing blood, screaming, yelling, making scary faces, etc.), good cinematography, and a pretty original story if you ask me.
If you can get over the obvious corniness and numerous predictable plot pieces - it actually ends up being really entertaining. Quite a few jump scares also. Really incredible makeup and effects in my opinion. Even the ending I was not expecting at all. It's an interesting twist and a nice call out to the Roman Catholic Church of horseshit. It's actually good. It's exciting and worth watching for sure. Some of the Shudder exclusives can go either way. Was it the best movie I've seen? No. But I enjoyed the whole thing. And I think it deserves plenty of extra points for an original storyline and concept.
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