Director: Sam Mason-Bell
Year: 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Exorcism
Plot:
Arriving for an exorcism, a priest and his assistants begin the process which brings a series of trials and tribulations when the constant breaks to ensure the safety of the afflicted conflicts with her family’s desire for help which makes for a challenging experience the longer the exorcism lasts.
Review:
This was a rather enjoyable and intriguing take on the exorcism genre. Among the better factors with this one is the change-up that’s attempted here to offer up something different from most other entries in the genre. Rather than offering a nonstop series of setpieces designed to show the afflicted deformed and left to the devices of the possessed, which results in the cracked skin, pale milky eyes, and the ability to levitate themselves or anything in the room, this is more of a psychological attempt at the genre. Focusing on the guilt of the family members trying to come to terms with the demon inside and what that means for them when the whole ordeal is over, this goes for a more low-key environment bringing about the unconfirmed notion of the whispered voices and hallucinations driven by the figure looking to dig into their shared trauma together.
This setup manages to bring about plenty of shared psychosis and visions by the possessed that paint at the sinful nature of their history together. With each member of the household with her given a specific painful memory to delve into, whether it be how they treated their mother years ago while she was in a more lucid state, shameful affairs on their spouses, or other such shameful memories that would be ripe fodder for a demonic being to utilize and play off of, there’s an intensely intriguing air that goes about here not usually seen in most genre fare. The idea of creating these scenes in stark backgrounds of solid black and nothing else around them, while the memory plays out like normal, it becomes quite enjoyable to see the manipulation take place without much in the way of stopping them or refuting the desires depicted.
While all of this is a fun way of going about changing up the usual exorcism formula, it does come at the expense of the sluggish and overly talky pacing that never attempts to provide the type of material commonly found here. The inability to go for the kind of shouting hysterical religious passages at the profanity-spouting individual strapped to a bed as there’s plenty of flashing lights, vomiting up different fluids, or relentlessly spraying holy water on everything is commendable with how it changes up the formula yet it also means there’s a devoid of action that does stand out here. It is pretty obvious about the low-budget origins, which aren’t damaging or detrimental in the slightest, but it does mean the film is a bit dry from how the genre usually plays out, so it is the main drawback here, even if it isn’t that heavy on the film as a whole.
Overview: ****/5
An impressive enough take on the genre, there’s quite a lot to like here that helps to overcome the one main issue in how it treats the actual possession and exorcism angle. Those with an interest in this style of film, are curious about it, or are fans of the creative crew will want to give it a shot, while most others out there might want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment