The Exorcism Of God

Even though i love horror films in general, i sometimes get a feeling that the horror genre is having some problems. Usually when i look at horror films, i hope to find something different than the usual release. It is ok if the horror film have influences from classics, as long as the story and the characters are interesting. And in the case of exorcism films, this is a perfect example of a genre that have been struggling finding interesting stories. But there are exceptions, and one of the better exorcism films of the 2000´s is without a doubt the 2005 film The Exorcism Of Emily Rose from director Scott Derrickson ( who also directed one of my favourite horror films of 2014 called Deliver Us From Evil, definetely worth checking out on Netflix, Amazon Prime or HBO Max ). The Exorcism Of Emily Rose manage to do something that we don´t see very often, combine a court story with exorcism influences, and director Scott Derrickson knows exactly how to tell this story in a very creepy effective way. The film tells the story of Emily Rose ( really played well by actress Jennifer Carpenter ), a 19-year-old student, who Father Richard Moore ( Tom Wilkinson ) tried to help with exorcism, but she ended up dead. Ambitious lawyer Erin Bruner ( Laura Linney ) takes on the case of Emily Rose, and try to find out if this was homocide, or if Father Richard Moore actually tried to save Emily´s life. For a court horror drama, this film works really well with the combined exorcism scenes. You feel engaged in the court scenes and the background story of Emily Rose. This is one of those films i always recommend when it comes to exorcism films, because this is a future classic. Director Scott Derrickson may have done one of the better court horror films i have seen with The Ecorcism Of Emily Rose, and it is not easy to make a film that combines court scenes with horror and make it work. So you should definetely check this film out, no matter where you can watch it on streaming, VOD or physical media. For a couple of months, i have been really looking forward to see an exorcism film called The Exorcism Of God. I have always been a big fan of the exorcism genre, but did not know much about this film. So i finally got myself a DVD copy to give this film a chance. Is this one of the better films in this genre in recent years, or is The Exorcism Of God not as good as i was hoping it would be ?

Father Peter Williams ( Will Beinbrink ), an American exorcist, hides a shocking secret. He was possessed by a demon that he was trying to expel. To atone for this sin, Peter devotes his life to charity work in a small town in Mexico. 18 years later, his deeply buried secret comes to light when the demon of his past returns, possessing a girl and unleash a deadly disease. Peter have no choice, he will fight against this demon, even if it means his soul could be lost forever. 

I went in to The Exorcism Of God with very little hope that this film would be any good. And i have to say, i am really surprised. This is actually one of the better exorcism films i have seen in recent years, even if it does not offer anything fresh into the genre. This is a pure old school exorcism film, but it´s made with a big passion for this genre. You can tell that the people who worked on this film actually cared about the project, and really tried to make this a love letter to the fans of exorcism films. So what is it that works with The Exorcism Of God? First of all the demon possessed people look good. They have done a good job capturing the different faces of demon possessed and how they behave in different situations, showing of the true identity of the demon. There are some CGI scenes here and there, but i have no problem with that since the film actually finds a way to combine CGI effects and pracitcal make up effects. The one thing that especially makes this film work, is the chemistry between actors Will Beinbrink ( who you might recognize from It Chapter Two ) and legendary actor Joseph Marcell ( who played the classic character Geoffrey on TV comedy series The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air ). I have to say, these two actors on the big screen definetely make a great impact. The scenes where they fight against evil, works much more effective than i expected. Will Beinbrink as the lead character Father Peter Williams deliver a performance that is definetely stronger than we are used to see in independent horror films, so he clearly took his role seriously. Since this genre have suffered a lot of forgettable films over the years, The Exorcism Of God feels like a worthy return for this genre. Director Alejandro Hidalgo manage to balance different exorcism ideas without loosing the true passion for this genre, and make his film much more effective than most films in this genre, at least in the last 8 years. The Ecorcism Of God is a film you definetely should support by buying a DVD or Blu Ray and show fans of reality shows like The Kardashians, what quality really looks like. The Exorcism Of God will definetely prove that.

Rating: DDD