Let’s believe.
I suppose I should be honest and note that I went into this film with low expectations. I know I should try to be as partial as possible, but with the horrific reviews, it was hard to not be jaded. However, I ended up enjoying this film quite a bit more than I thought I would. A lot of the issues stemming from the film seem to be what people wanted out of it. Now, there are plenty of issues present, so let’s break this down:
The Good:
We follow single dad Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) and his daughter Angela (Lidya Fielding) as they live their lives. Angela and friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) go into the woods to try to make contact with Angela’s dead mother and go missing. Katherine’s uber-religious family butts heads with Victor, even as their daughters are found, but something seems amiss.
The story set-up is really good. I think the film decided to take its time with the characters to make us root for them. Further, none of the main principal characters suck (though some side ones do), which makes it a lot easier to get invested into the movie.
The scariness of children missing mixed with invasive medical examinations makes for an odd sort of horror. Something is clearly wrong with the girls, but physically they seem okay (at first anyway).
The worldbuilding and set-up of the story are great. Honestly, I was thoroughly impressed with the first half of the film.
Which leads us to–
The Bad:
A lot of folks think the forced cameo of Christ (Ellen Burstyn) is forced, and they’re right. However, with the glee of legacy sequels we can expect to see this same sort of cameo bending in the future. I’m not a fan of it, but hate the game not the player!
Anyway, if the first half of the film is great the second half drags down quite a bit. We do have an interesting conclusion that I will not spoil but the leadup is a bit lackluster. I realized watching this that I don’t think you can make an exorcism that interesting to watch any more. How many have you seen on film in your life? A dozen? Hundred? They all devolve to people standing around yelling religiously flavored lines at a squirming demon.
This one is no exception.
Aside from the ending, I found the exorcism itself pretty boring. The interfaith idea of approaching the exorcism was interesting but is reduced to just more people shouting bible verses. Not exactly the best choice in my opinion.
Granted, what else could they do? I’m not entirely sure here and would like to at least give a suggestion.
The Ugly:
Two major flaws here. First, the amount of money Blumhouse spent on getting the rights to the film basically promised it would not be financially successful. Maybe with sequels they can get there but this seemed like a bad business move in my opinion.
More importantly, the little girls are creepy. We have two possessed children. Do more with them! The original Exorcist still hits today because it is willing to be vulgar and uncomfortable. Here, we mainly keep the kids’ gloves on. Regan is evil in the original. Here, the demons are more creepy than anything else. Go for the throat. If you want to propel this into the new generation you can’t rely on just tickling religious sensibilities.
Further, the original film dealt a lot more with religious themes of guilt and shame. Here, we have more religions but less direct discussion. I think there were a lot of good ideas present but it doesn’t fully translate.
I still think it is worth a watch and makes for a decent horror show overall. The first half is excellent.
Jay Hates Movies 