Under the many slots of horror movies, exorcism has its own niche, its own little chapter. It may not be big, but, if done right, can stay within living memory for a long long time. Take The Exorcist (1973) for example. It is still ranked as number 1 of top 100 horror movies of all time. And that was what? 37 years ago? So what is it about demonic possession that still sends chills down our spine? Is it the idea of evil crawling under your skin and living there? Or is it the distorted version of ourselves once we've been possessed? Or is it something else quite literal, the deep guttural voice, the evil grin, the twisted body? Or is it the intelligent evil that mocks us and our beliefs? Evil has many faces, and the scariest of all is the one we're familiar with the most: our own.
The Skinny: A documentary crew led by a protestant minister does a documentary on a live exorcism. Horror hijinks ensues.
The Casts: Patrick Fabian, Ashely Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones, Tony Bentley, John Wright Jr
Release Date: 27th August 2010
The Prediction: This film has the gravitas of having Eli Roth's name attached to it as a producer. Is it a good thing? If you consider him as a heavyweight for all things gruesome and troubling, then it can be seen as good endorsement. Otherwise, if you want to see a film which seems to be an honest representation of demonic possession done in 'real TV' format, then its all systems go. The trailer makes the movie look very compelling, but the schtick about good versus evil, this versus that is kinda thin on the ground. Which means, enjoy this movie for the simple scares and the shock value it wants to communicate. Live documentary crew filming horrific subject matters have been kinda stretched, so it must have something more than that, it must have good ole fashioned spine tingling chills made real.
