I think I'm a little like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner--I'm compelled to see every single exorcism movie, no matter how bad the reviews, then tell the story of the movie to strangers. I saw this film one day after I watched THE VATICAN TAPES, so my mind kept comparing the two.
In every exorcism movie there are elements that are common to most of them. In this case we have the beautiful girl that is possessed. Now there was a HAUNTING OF MOLLIE HARTELEY movie, but I never saw it. That may explain why there is almost no background for the main character and not much reason why we should care for her. The film has her out with friends celebrating her 24th birthday, and the fact that she just made partner in a law firm--youngest ever to do so. But she takes a pill offered to her by a guy and girl and her friends are forgotten, then she heads to her apartment still stoned and shares a bed with her two new acquaintances.
Then bad things happen and she winds up at a psychiatric hospital run by the Catholic church. The next trope is the kindly priest found in all such films. Except this one has been confined to the hospital as a patient. He assisted in a botched exorcism (which we see earlier). He would have go to prison except that he pleaded insanity in order to be committed.
And there the plot thickens with his attempt at another exorcism, this time at the behest of the resident psychiatrist. Now to the heart of things, the actual exorcism. He did not read from any manual as he confronts the demon hidden within the girl, just shouted out what he thought was needed, and it did not sound very convincing to me--he needed more rehearsals.
The make-up is well done and the special effects are average. I liked the make-up better than in the VATICAN TAPES. Then he pulled out something a little different, an old metal box that opens and is used to trap the demon. It was not called a Dybbuk as we saw in THE POSSESSION. I could not make out clearly its name but it sounded sort of like "cushian." Demon exorcised, everyone happy.....except the Devil's not finished yet and we have a surprise for us, a pretty dramatic one, and yet the drama fizzled and left the ending weak.
I would recommend this to anyone who is into exorcism movies as I am. Sure its familiar, but nowadays aren't they all? I put this a notch or so below THE VATICAN TAPES, mostly because that movie did a far better job on setting the background of everyone, and because that movie involved the Anti-Christ itself, something usually absent in such films.
In every exorcism movie there are elements that are common to most of them. In this case we have the beautiful girl that is possessed. Now there was a HAUNTING OF MOLLIE HARTELEY movie, but I never saw it. That may explain why there is almost no background for the main character and not much reason why we should care for her. The film has her out with friends celebrating her 24th birthday, and the fact that she just made partner in a law firm--youngest ever to do so. But she takes a pill offered to her by a guy and girl and her friends are forgotten, then she heads to her apartment still stoned and shares a bed with her two new acquaintances.
Then bad things happen and she winds up at a psychiatric hospital run by the Catholic church. The next trope is the kindly priest found in all such films. Except this one has been confined to the hospital as a patient. He assisted in a botched exorcism (which we see earlier). He would have go to prison except that he pleaded insanity in order to be committed.
And there the plot thickens with his attempt at another exorcism, this time at the behest of the resident psychiatrist. Now to the heart of things, the actual exorcism. He did not read from any manual as he confronts the demon hidden within the girl, just shouted out what he thought was needed, and it did not sound very convincing to me--he needed more rehearsals.
The make-up is well done and the special effects are average. I liked the make-up better than in the VATICAN TAPES. Then he pulled out something a little different, an old metal box that opens and is used to trap the demon. It was not called a Dybbuk as we saw in THE POSSESSION. I could not make out clearly its name but it sounded sort of like "cushian." Demon exorcised, everyone happy.....except the Devil's not finished yet and we have a surprise for us, a pretty dramatic one, and yet the drama fizzled and left the ending weak.
I would recommend this to anyone who is into exorcism movies as I am. Sure its familiar, but nowadays aren't they all? I put this a notch or so below THE VATICAN TAPES, mostly because that movie did a far better job on setting the background of everyone, and because that movie involved the Anti-Christ itself, something usually absent in such films.