178) NEW HORROR RELEASES - The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

I'm not quoting this movie!

Director
David Gordon Green

Cast

Leslie Odom Jr. - Victor Fielding
Lidya Jewett - Angela Fielding
Olivia O’Neill - Katherine West
Jennifer Nettles - Miranda West
Norbert Leo Butz - Tony West
Ellen Burstyn - Chris MacNeil
Raphael Sbarge - Pastor Don Revans
Okwui Okpokwasili - Dr. Beehibe
Danny McCarthy - Stuart

E. J. Bonilla - Father Maddox

*Spoilers ahead*

Congratulations "Exorcist II: The Heretic!" You're no longer the worst movie in "The Exorcist" franchise. Oh, you're still a laughably terrible movie that shouldn't exist. That'll never change. But this new movie, "The Exorcist: Believer" has taken your dented crown as the worst of the bunch.  

Now, I normally don't like to quote another movie critic when writing my own review, but at the end of this movie, the words of Roger Ebert in reference to the 1994 movie "North" came to mind.
"I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it," he wrote. 

I certainly don't want to use his words to express my own thoughts about a particular movie. But in this case, it just fits so well. 

I'll certainly try to top that sentiment with my own words in regard to "The Exorcist: Believer."  

The 1977 movie "Exorcist II: The Heretic," a direct sequel to the 1973 movie "The Exorcist," is considered one of the worst movie sequels, and one of the worst horror movies in general, ever made. It almost sets a standard for bad horror movies. 

It certainly is...or was...the worst movie in the Exorcist series. Now, Hollywood has managed to vomit forth another flick for the franchise that's worse than part two. And it really is worse!

I hated this new movie. It's frustrating, lazy, uninteresting, banal, out-of-touch, and beyond stupid! I've seen dingy bath water leave a better film. 

The Plot

The story starts off in Haiti where photographer Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.) and his pregnant wife Sorenne (Tracey Graves) are honeymooning. 

During their trip. Sorenne has a voodoo priestess give a "blessing of protection" on her baby, Angela. 

Shortly afterwards, a massive earthquake hits Haiti. 

While Sorenne dies from injuries she sustained during the quake, their baby is able to be saved. Victor was forced to choose between his wife or his daughter. 

The story shifts to thirteen years later as Victor lives with his teenage daughter in Georgia. The loss of his wife shattered Victor's faith in God. 

Though she never met her mother, Angela thinks about her often. 

She and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill), whose family is Baptist, venture into the woods after school one afternoon to hold a séance in an attempt for Angela to contact her deceased mother.

Both girls go missing for three days until they're found in some stranger's barn. 

Their conditions worsen over the days, and their behavior becomes stranger and more violent. 

Lidya Jewett and Olivia O’Neill in "The Exorcist: Believer."

Both families put the girls into the hospital, which doesn't help. 

Katherine's mother, Miranda (Jennifer Nettles), is convinced her daughter has become possessed by a demon as a result of whatever ritual she performed out in the woods. 

Victor isn't so convinced about his own daughter. Still, he doesn't know what her problem is. 

A nurse and former nun, Ann (Ann Dowd), gets involved and tries to convince Victor that Angela is also possessed by a demon. 

Ann had previously entered a Catholic novitiate to become a nun, but ended up becoming pregnant. On top of that, she ended up aborting her unborn baby in an attempt to make her life better, I guess. 

To help convince Victor, Ann gives him a memoir written by Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) whose daughter, Regan (Linda Blair) was possessed by a demon when she was a young girl back in 1973. As seen in the first movie, Regan undergoes a Catholic exorcism which saves her.

Chris tells Victor she's knowledgeable in the field of exorcism, but she's not an exorcist.

First, Chris sees Angela in the hospital before heading to Katherine's home to visit with the girl.

Chris tries to perform some kind of "deliverance ritual" to drive out the demon from Katherine in the name of "Jesus and her daughter, Regan." As expected, it doesn't go well at all for Chris.
So, Victor, Miranda, Ann, and Katherine’s father Tony (Norbert Leo Butz) reach out to Fr. Maddox (E. J. Bonilla) to conduct an exorcism. Fr. Maddox must first get permission from his Bishop. 

Meanwhile, they also ask Miranda and Tony's family pastor, Stuart (Danny McCarthy), a Pentecostal preacher, Don Revans (Raphael Sbarge), and a spiritual healer, Dr. Beehibe (Okwui Okpokwasili) to assist in an exorcism. 

Unfortunately, the diocese won't grant Fr. Maddox permission to perform an exorcism under the reason that doing so would be "dangerous for him and for the Church." 

As this crew of miscellaneous people beg the priest to participate, he agrees in spite of the diocese's instructions. 

But his involvement is short lived. 

This crew clearly has no idea what they're doing. They just use holy objects like a crucifix and holy water at random, while reading from the Bible and the Catholic Roman Ritual of Exorcism with hopes that'll all work.

The demon, meanwhile, tells Victor he must choose which girl lives and which one dies. And to add insult to injury, the girl who dies will be dragged to Hell. 

My thoughts

It seems too many movies nowadays are seldom made to tell an entertaining story or for any artistic credibility. Most current movies like this one are made for political credibility, and to dump all over the past. 

To begin with, the movie isn't scary. I mean that sincerely. I wasn't scared nor even a little intrigued about what was happening. I'm not stating that to spite the movie. It just wasn't scary. 

The entire experience is remarkably underwhelming for a film with the word "Exorcist" in the title. At least "Exorcist II" was interesting enough to make me wonder what the hell I was watching.  

But my real gripe about this poor excuse for a horror flick and sequel to a great horror movie is the screwed-up message it throws up. 

This movie has absolutely no respect whatsoever for the source material. It stomps all over the original novel by William Peter Blatty, the original 1973 movie directed by William Friedkin, and the Catholic teachings about exorcism which is the foundation for the original story. 

It trashes everything that made this sequel possible, and everything that makes the source material good and thought provoking. 

The very beginning of the movie in Haiti starts out well, with the parents involving themselves in voodoo rituals. That never, never leads to anything good. The ritual leads the audience think this is what'll open the door to the demonic possession later in the movie.

Once the mother states her belief that this voodoo blessing is "the most beautiful blessing of protection for Angela," that's when the movie lost me and went downhill. I say that because this plays into the happy ending for their daughter, Angela. 

By the end of the movie, I seriously doubted the movie producer's understanding of Catholicism, exorcism, voodoo rituals, Christianity and religion in general, and the nature of demonic activity. Did they so much as bother to at least read the Wikipedia page about these topics? Or did they rely on what little information (if any) they may have heard here and there over the years? 

Despite whatever problems Christians, Catholic or otherwise, may have with the movie "The Exorcist" and its depictions, one thing is certain. The story involves two Roman Catholic priests who believe in Jesus Christ, and stand in for Jesus Christ as they use the power of Jesus Christ to conquer the devil in order to save a young girl. 

Leslie Odom Jr., as Victor and Ellen Burstyn who 
reprises her role as Chris MacNeil.

With this new movie, the writers go completely out of their own way, practically stumbling over their own screwed up "logic" to insist that conquering the devil is not merely a Catholic nor Christian thing. 

Stand-up comedian and Catholic, Jen Fulwiler, said it best in one of her routines. 

"Try to imagine an exorcist movie without the Catholic Church. It would be like 'We've been hearing evil voices from the basement. It's a demon! Quick, somebody call a non-denominational worship leader'," she jokes.

Yeah! No, that's not going to happen. 

I hate to sound preachy, but this is a story with a Catholic foundation. And I'm a practicing Catholic. So, there's a lot in this movie I can't ignore. 

Catholicism professes belief in one God, the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ who is God's only son, and our Lord. The Rite of Exorcism is a Catholic ritual as Christ instructed His apostles to cast out demons in His name. And that continues to this day.  

If Christ gave His Catholic Church the power to cast out demons in His name, and if He is the Son of God, who tells us He is "the way, the truth, and the life" then non-Christian religions simply don't have the power to do that no matter how fuzzy and warm the idea of unity among all religions make the writers feel. The first movie got that correct as Christ defeats the devil through the two priests who performed the exorcism over the possessed girl. "The power of Christ compels you," they recite over and over again, over Regan in part one. 

In this new segment, the devil kills the one priest involved and ends up victorious over God. 

They save one of the girls not by invoking God, but by invoking her love for her deceased mother. They do this by using one of her mother's scarves to incite that love she has. It has pagan ancestral ritual written all over it. 

Meanwhile, the devil is practically permitted to kill the other girl and drag her to hell with no chance of forgiveness through Christ's redemption, which was the demon's ultimate goal. Typical of misguided and out-of-touch Hollywood!  

In the scene where Chris MacNeil tries to exorcise the demon by herself, she expresses bitterness towards to the Church for not witnessing the actual exorcism of her daughter because, as she puts it, "I'm not a member of the damn patriarchy." Few words summarize modern society better than the word "ungrateful." 

When she tries to expel the demon, it doesn't go particularly well for her which didn't surprise me. Again, Chris initially claims she's not an exorcist. Anyways, que the complete disrespect for the source material. 

In the original movie, Chris MacNeil seeks help for a problem that no one can help her with - the demonic possession of her young daughter. 

So, as a last resort, she turns to an institution, the Catholic Church, which she otherwise has no involvement in or understanding of. Regardless, she puts her trust in this institution which offers her help that no one else can offer. 

The Church sends Fr. Merrin (Max von Sydow) and Fr. Karras (Jason Miller) who save her daughter when no one else could, even at the cost of their lives.

Now, this new movie gives its source material the woke middle finger and blames "the patriarchy" for not allowing Chris in the same room as the priests go up against the powers of hell to drive the demon out of her daughter. Did she forget about the instances before the exorcism where she was in Regan's room and ended up physically beaten up and shocked at the sight of what her possessed daughter was doing and saying? 

The writers have Chris criticize the Church and the men who died saving her daughter, all while negating the power of the Church and of Jesus Christ which is how these priests saved her daughter in the first place. The movie claims that, well, anyone can expel demons. The Church is nothing special. 

It's no surprise that the one Catholic priest in "The Exorcist: Believer" is portrayed as an incompetent, weak man per usual Hollywood standards. 

When he goes to his Bishop and local authorities to seek permission to perform an exorcism, he's told it's too dangerous for him and for the Church. 

If the writers had a spec of knowledge and understanding about how things operate in the Church, they'd know Christ instructed the Church to cast out demons in His name. That hasn't changed just because it's 2023. 

Exorcisms are routinely performed in various rituals in the church. At Baptism, the priest recites three prayers of exorcism over the person being baptized. 

And "exorcist" is one of the minor orders of a priest before he's ordained. 

Every diocese has an exorcist. Exorcisms are still performed! Our fight against Hell is a major reason the Catholic Church continues to exist!

So, why is it dangerous for the Church to perform an exorcism right now, as the Bishop in the story claims? It shows how lazy and misguided the writing behind this movie is.  

And I just cannot believe that a woman (Ann the nurse and former nun) who was pious enough to enter a novitiate in order to be a nun, only to become pregnant, would then kill her unborn baby. C'mon! What Catholic, devout enough to pursue the religious life as a sister but unfortunately succumbed to temptation and became pregnant as a result (It happens - we're all fallen creatures) would then quickly turn to killing her unborn baby in order to "make things right?" How unbelievably unrealistic and just plain ignorant! Then this same weirdo ex-nun suddenly has power over the demon possessing these girls. Oh, please! 

Never underestimate Hollywood's ability to outdo itself in producing movies worse than the crap produced before.

Director David Gordon Green wrote and directed the last three "Halloween" movies which are a trio of disappointment. So, I'm not surprised his involvement in "The Exorcist" series is also a disappointment. 

Evidently, "The Exorcist: Believer" is supposed to be the first in a three part series, with the next movie to be called "Exorcist: Deceiver." I can't say I'm looking forward to it. 

According to a Hollywood Reporter article, Green expressed doubt about participating in that next movie based on the results of this nonsense. Please, don't get involved! Just walk away.  

"Exorcist II: The Heretic" is bad because it lacks consistency, confuses audiences, and is weird in the worst way possible thanks to its lazy writing. 

It deviates far from part one into some trippy psychological storyline. It tries to be its own separate experience from the first movie. But to its credit, though, "Exorcist II: The Heretic" doesn't have some modern political ideology it tries to beat audiences over the head with. This new movie does precisely that. And it still gets the source material wrong all while trying to subtly apologize for the first movie.   

The writers want us to think that political ideologies like religious equality and positive vibes, man, is what drives the devil away. It's a notion based on absolutely nothing.

These dumbasses in the movie have no idea what they're up against. But it doesn't matter because they "believe." Hence, the title. It's immensely frustrating to watch. 

"The Exorcist: Believer" is another attempt by Hollywood to take a classic franchise and make it a socio-political device with a story based on meaningless platitudes and weak flaky ideas that might sound good on a bumper sticker. 

It wags its finger about "the terrible patriarchy" while preaching "all religions are equal." 

All religions can't be equal because they all make different claims. Either Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life as He claimed, or He's not. And the Catholic Church is the church He founded, or it's not. Someone's belief doesn't negate nor make something true. 

With this movie, the message is a sugary saccharin sweet nonsensical one about the goodness behind being good because good people are good, and goodness makes us feel good because any god (who cares which one) is good for wanting us to feel good... and that's good! 

Hollywood's perception of Catholicism, and of most religions generally speaking, is insanely erroneous and meaningless. 

The characters in this movie toss around holy buzz words like "believe" and "faith" and "goodness" as though that's enough for these Hollywood hack writers to sound like they know what their talking about. It's insulting to audiences. 

This whole mess ends with a meaningless boring speech from this useless ex-nun about people's hopes, dreams, pursuits, and desires to be happy, while the devil just wants us to give up and be unhappy. 

And that all "God...any god, or any good person" wants from us is to just keep going and be happy. The word "banal" is not a big enough word. Now I feel like throwing up!

This movie is a limp and useless waste of time. It's an insult to rational audiences, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. I'm simply grateful I chose not to see this movie in a theater, and waste money on the price of admission.

"The Exorcist: Believer" is arrogant anti-Catholic nonsense with absolutely nothing to support it other than bitterness and maybe some daddy issues.  

If nobody has done so yet, I wish to apologize to the late William Peter Blatty and the late William Friedkin for this detestable stain of a film that's unfortunately now permanently attached to their intellectual property. 

Check out my review of "The Exorcist III" - a far better sequel!

166) NEW HORROR RELEASES - Haunted Mansion (2023)

"The living and the dead belong in different places."

Director
Justin Simien

Cast
LaKeith Stanfield - Ben Matthias

Rosario Dawson - Gabbie
Chase W. Dillon - Travis
Owen Wilson - Fr. Kent

Tiffany Haddish - Harriet
Danny DeVito - Bruce Davis
Jared Leto - The Hatbox Ghost
Jamie Lee Curtis - Madame Leota

When Disney released their film "The Haunted Mansion" in 2003, based on the Disneyland ride of the same name, I was excited to see it. It was released following the success of their other ride-based movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl." Plus, I like horror. And the Haunted Mansion is my favorite ride at the Disney parks. 

Considering how well the Pirates movie did, I thought a Haunted Mansion movie would surely be amazing. I imagined it would have the same style and look as the Pirates movie, but centered on the neoclassical Mansion found in Disneyland's New Orleans Square. If it took place in the same time period as "Pirates of the Caribbean" that would have been even better. Well, it wasn't the lightening-in-a-bottle success like Pirates was. In fact, it was amazingly and painfully disappointing. 

While a few aspects of "The Haunted Mansion" have settled a little better with me over the years, namely Jennifer Tilly's performance as Madame Leota, the rest is still awful. 

The movie stars Eddie Murphy in the lead role, And while he's energetic in his role, is just a weird casting call. I like Eddie. His performance is entertaining. Still, his style and comedy doesn't fit in this scenario. And the two actors playing his children have no energy at all. There's no chemistry between them and Murphy. The ghosts and all-around spooky atmosphere are dull, barely resembling the ride's style and atmosphere. It wasn't what I hoped it would be. All around, 2003's "Haunted Mansion" is a major let down. In fact, the 2021 Disney+ flick "Muppets Haunted Mansion" is a far better movie then their 2003 film. 

I knew what to expect with the "Muppets Haunted Mansion." It didn't disappoint. I got precisely what I anticipated. And I laughed.   

So, Disney waited twenty years to try it all over again. 

Another Haunted Mansion movie came out last July simply called "Haunted Mansion." 

It has a bigger cast than the 2003 film as it stars Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Jamie Lee Curtis, LaKeith Stanfield, Jared Leto, and a cameo from Daniel Levy and an uncredited Winona Ryder. Disney really tried to outdo itself. Regardless, I wasn't very eager to go out and see this new version. I waited for it to start streaming on Disney+, which it did beginning October 4th. 

This new film takes place in New Orleans. Astrophysicist Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield) creates a camera that can digitally capture dark matter. He meets Alyssa who works as a ghost tour guide. The two click right away as they're both interested in the paranormal. 

Grim grinning ghosts coming out to socialize? 

The story shifts to sometime later as Matthias is running the ghost tours without his wife, Alyssa. She has since passed away in a car accident leaving Matthias a widow and burdened with grief. 

A "Catholic" priest and exorcist, Fr. Kent (Owen Wilson) wants to hire Matthias to take pictures of the Gracey Manor, located outside New Orleans, with his special camera. Matthias has no interest in taking part as he really doesn't believe in the paranormal any longer. As he tells a tourist on one of his paranormal walking tours around New Orleans, "Ghosts don’t exist. Life is dirt. We’re all dirt." 

Once Kent says payment will be involved, Mattias agrees to go.

A recently widowed doctor named Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her young son Travis (Chase W. Dillon) move into the abandoned Gracey Manor with the intention to convert it to a bed and breakfast.

Ben is the first to see a ghost nearly right away after moving in. Of course, his mom doesn't believe his claim the joint is haunted. It doesn't take long before a ghost makes its presence known to her. 

Though she and Ben run out of the house, they really have nowhere else to go. So, they stay despite the hauntings. 

Matthias shows up to the mansion to take spectral photos per Gabbie's request. 

Of course, he doesn't initially experience anything, nor does he believe Gabbie's claims. However, this changes when he returns home and his haunted by the ghost of a mariner who followed him from the mansion. 

When Matthias returns to Gracey Manor, he learns that Gabbie and her son, along with Fr. Kent, also became the victims of their own personal hauntings after stepping foot in the mansion. 

So, Matthias and Kent hire Harriet (Tiffany Haddish) a psychic who claims to have legitimate powers to contact the dead. I'm not sure why a Catholic priest would consult a psychic. 

They also steal blueprints of Gracey Manor from university professor Bruce Davis (Danny DeVito) who studies supposedly haunted buildings around New Orleans and is anxious to step inside Gracey Manor. 

During a séance held in a secret séance room the group discovers under the house, they make contact with the spirit of Mr. Gracey who owned the home years ago.

It's revealed to them that they must consult the spirit of his former psychic, Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis) who has been cursed and trapped in her own crystal ball. 

Everyone stays in the mansion, and dig deeper and deeper into the house's history. They find that there's a dark force behind the spirits haunting the mansion. This evil spirit is looking for one more willing soul to reside in the home along with the other 999 haunts already residing there.  The living must face this evil spirit before it claims its 1,000th soul. 

There's an underlying message that sadness and grief makes us vulnerable to darkness, and that life is worth living. 

The atmosphere pulled from the ride, and how it's used in the story, creative at times, and forced at other times.

Chase W. Dillon (left) Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield,
Owen Wilson and Tiffany Haddish in "Haunted Mansion."

Also, the backstory behind the mansion, the reason for its hauntings, and some of the familiar characters, especially Madame Leota, are certainly imaginative. The writer's clearly did a better job than the 2003 film in coming up with a backstory with the source material they had from the ride. 

Most of the familiar spooky scenes from the ride are there. There are endless hallways, the doorless and windowless stretching chamber, and the hatbox ghost. What's missing is tension. It's barely there. The tension rises in the first act, and begins fading in the second act. It's gone by the third act. 

Even in the climax when the ghosts all come out to scare, no one is scared. It's just a vehicle to make silly jokes and dumb reactions, such as Owen Wilson trying to distract the spirits from something crucial going on elsewhere by insulting them and provoking them to chase him around. I understand that the ride is meant to be both scary and whimsical as "silly spooks sit by your side" as heard in the ride's song. Still, this doesn't help the movie. Despite seeing all the familiar images from the ride, often used in creative ways along with the creative back story, I still found myself waiting for something exciting to happen. And when the movie finally decides to do something amidst the slumping pace, it's underwhelming. 

The movie suffers from a sputtering plot, lack of tension, poorly used comedic cast, and an overall lame payoff. "Haunted Mansion" just didn't hit the spot.

It starts off strong but just feels too flat by the end. The movie tries to be eye popping, which it is in a few scenes. But I just couldn't get into the plot. It's best when the familiar ride scenes are up on the screen. Otherwise, the movie is as charming as a requiem bell. 

165) NEW HORROR RELEASES - Nefarious (2023)

"There's a great battle going on whether we realize it or not - a battle between good and evil. And we're all participants willing or not." 

Directors
Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon

Cast

Sean Patrick Flanery - Edward Wayne Brady/ Nefariamus
Jordan Belfi - Dr. James Martin
Tom Ohmer - Warden Tom Moss
Daniel Martin Berkey - Fr. Louis
Mark De Alessandro - Dr. Alan Fischer

As I've mentioned before, horror movies about demonic possession often do nothing for me except induce an eye roll. The don't demonstrate much except Hollywood's ignorance of the subject matter. That's primarily due to Hollywood's inability to get anything right about religion in general and Catholicism in particular. They rely on the creepy factor behind demons possessing people who are often young girls.  I get it to a point. It is horror, after all.

Sometimes, there's one film in the subgenre that's done well. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is the only one that comes to mind. Even others that I've enjoyed, namely "The Exorcist" and "The Exorcist III," still rely heavily on the grotesque aspects of Catholic exorcism, or rather what Hollywood thinks the grotesque aspects are. They take a lot of creative liberties in depicting the devil and possession. 

Head spinning. Projectile vomit. Strings of obscenities. Levitation. It's all the typical haunted house type of stuff. It can be spooky, but it's all they ever rely on. It's what horror fans expect. 

With many exorcism movies, the devil is in the audience's face while God is hiding somewhere far off. He'll be called upon, but who knows if He'll show up or not. 

The 2023 film "Nefarious" is a story about demonic possession. But this one is completely unique from the rest of them. 

There is no exorcism or shocking gag-inducing horror effects like the movies I've just mentioned.  

In this movie, psychiatrist James Martin (Jordan Belfi) is assigned to take over for the previous psychiatrist who was evaluating notorious serial killer Edward Wayne Brady (Sean Patrick Flanery). He's on death row for murdering 11 people. Brady is scheduled to be executed by electrocution. He requested electrocution over lethal injection. He needs to be medically evaluated to determine whether he's mentally competent to be executed.  

The previous doctor, Alan Fischer, committed suicide by jumping from a building after his interview with Brady. 

Fischer believed Brady to be insane and was going to declare him as such. Prison Warden, Tom Moss (Tom Ohmer) hopes Martin will find him sane so he can be fried. 

He warns Martin that Brady is a highly intelligent master manipulator and can easily get inside his head.

When Martin meets with Brady, he informs the doctor that he's actually a demon named "Nefariamus" who's in possession of Brady's mind and body.

Jordan Belfi and Sean Patrick Flanery in "Nefarious."

Martin is an atheist and doesn't believe in angels and demons. So, he thinks Brady is trying to come across as insane in order to avoid execution. 

As the conversation continues on, Martin falls deeper and deeper into the snares the demon has laid for him. 

He tells the psychiatrist that he wants Brady to be declared sane and fit for execution. Also, he wants Martin to write a Satanic book called "The Dark Gospel" for him.
Soon, Warden Moss shows Martin a scrapbook of Martin's life and a manuscript for "The Dark Gospel."

However, Brady knows details about Martin's personal life that he couldn't possibly know. For instance, he knows Martin euthanized his terminally ill mother in order to inherit her money. 

Later, he claims Martin is taking advantage of his pregnant girlfriend who's undergoing an abortion at the same time as their meeting. It's a detail Brady would otherwise have no way of knowing. 

He also claims that by the end of the day, Martin will commit three murders. 

After an intense dialogue and evaluation, the likes of which Martin has never been through before, he makes his evaluation regarding Brady's mental state. But his troubles don't end there. 

Sean Patrick Flanery's performance is brilliant and amazingly effortless. His character has to alternate between the vengeful, proud and ungodly demon, Nefariamus, and the exhausted and terrified Brady. The amount of effort Flanery must have put into his performance is nothing short of pure talent. It truly deserves recognition.

While the film is categorized as a horror flick based on the supernatural aspect of the story, the fear factor isn't found with typical possession tropes common in other demonic possession movies. There are no eye-popping scares. It's found in the psychology of the demonic entity doing the possessing.

This depicts the demonic mindset towards humanity and God's creation, and the war Hell has waged against all of it since the Devil was expelled from Heaven. 

When Martin asks the demon if Hell is a place or a state of being, the demon answers and continues on about Hell's ultimate hatred towards God. He tells Martin, "He made you in his image; we remade you in ours."

When Martin presses him on Hell's ultimate end of destroying nature, the demon says, "Our plan is to hurt Him. To punish Him. And we do that by destroying what He loves, which is you. You're nothing but a means to an end."

As seen in the scriptures, the devil doesn't pronounce the name of God nor His only son, Jesus Christ. He refers to God as "the enemy" and to Jesus as "the carpenter." 

When things go his way, Flannery depicts the demon as proud and speaking like one in control. When he's not in control, he grows frantic and yells, spouting demands and threats. 

The movie also does something demonic possession movies seldom, if ever, depict - the way a demon gains possession of a soul. 

Jordan Belfi and Tom Ohmer

When Martin first sits down to talk to Brady, unaware he's talking to a demon, the demon immediately tries to gain influence over him by enticing Martin to continue the dialogue. 

The more Martin talks, the more he becomes entangled in the traps the demon has laid out for him. 

All the while, Martin keeps thinking he has the upper hand simply because he sees himself as the reasonable one. It's a false sense of security which comes from his atheism. He doesn't believe in God, angels or demons, so what does he have to worry about. The devil already has a victory over Martin as he's already convinced the doctor that the devil doesn't exist. 

Before Martin realizes it, the demon already has him with no means of escape. 

The devil will speak truth and even quote scripture to ultimate serve a nefarious means - no pun intended. He'll skew the truth and the word of God ever so slightly in order to deceive and confuse. 

He is, after all, still an angelically intelligent being. 

Before watching this movie, I listened to an interview with exorcist Fr. Carlos Martin on a podcast called "Pints with Aquinas" during which he discusses "Nefarious."

"It brought you into the demonic mind which is much more interesting," he says. "That's the realm that I deal with - that an exorcist deals with. And that, I will tell you, at the end of the day is far more frightening. It's far more! If you saw somebody levitate in front of you, it would probably make the hair on the back of your head stand up. The 18th time, would it do that? The 118th time? At a certain point, you move on," 

"Nefarious" depicts this psychological aspect rather than all the usual tropes and such unlike any movie I have ever seen. The flow and storytelling is highly intriguing and truly effortless. 

It may come across as a bit preachy with all its dialogue and that most of the story is a conversation. However, that certainly doesn't diminish its significance. This is a film that will surely be culturally noteworthy maybe 10 or so years from now. 

"Nefarious" has a goal in mind and accomplishes it smoothly. It doesn't take nor need much to tell such a timely story.

I surely hope this movie continues warranting attention and consideration for the time period in which it was made. 

164) NEW HORROR RELEASES - Beau is Afraid (2023)

"I really thought I was gonna die, my whole life."

Director

Ari Aster

Cast

Joaquin Phoenix - Beau Wassermann

Patti LuPone - Mona Wassermann

Nathan Lane - Roger

Amy Ryan - Grace

Parker Posey - Elaine
Denis Ménochet - Jeeves
Stephen McKinley Henderson - The Therapist
Richard Kind - Dr. Cohen

After watching director Ari Aster's previous films, "Hereditary" (2018) and "Midsommar" (2019), along with his most recent movie, "Beau is Afraid," I have the strong impression he sees no hope in anything. At least, that's how the stories in these three movies come across.  

As far as these movies go, there's no hope in religion, there's no hope in society, there's no hope in relationships, nor is there any hope from our family. Everything somehow leads to man's misery. And there's not much we can do about it no matter how much we strive for control. Everything just leads to hardship, anguish, and maybe death. The more we try to cope with and remedy our problems and difficulties, the more disappointment there is, at least potentially. And then we die. 

There's nothing uplifting about Aster's movies. The world is terrible and there's nothing we can profit from it, spiritually or otherwise. 

His films are certainly effective. They leave an impression, but it took me a couple viewings of his two previous movies to come up with the impressions I have. 

I watched "Beau is Afraid" last night (August 18th) and I've been thinking about it all day today. 

The story follows an upper-middle aged man, Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix), along his journey to his mother's funeral. 

Beau suffers from severe anxiety and paranoia.

His father died from a heart murmur on the night Beau was conceived. So, he grew up fatherless.

His mother, Mona (Patti LuPone) is a well-known wealthy businesswoman who successfully created a huge business empire. 

When he was a teenager, Beau and his mom took a vacation together during which time he meets a girl named Elaine. They both fall in love and promise each other they'll remain virgins until they meet again as adults. 

The story begins with Beau living alone in a run-down apartment located in a dangerous part of the city. 

He's hesitant to go outside but does when necessary. 

On the anniversary of his dad's death, Beau is scheduled to fly out to visit his mother.

After a sleepless night thanks to his neighbor blasting music in retaliation for mistakenly thinking Beau is playing music too loudly during the night, Beau oversleeps. 

He struggles to get his suitcase packed and out the door on time to make his flight.

As he leaves his apartment with suitcase in hand and his key in the door to lock it, he forgets something and rushes back in. It only takes him a few seconds to grab what he needed. However, when he returns to the door, his suitcase and keys are missing.

Joaquin Phoenix as 'Beau Wassermann' in "Beau is Afraid." 

He calls to let his mom know about the situation. Of course, she's sorely disappointed. 

Soon after, Beau gets locked out of his building, and watches from the street as all the riffraff from around his block slowly make their way inside his building and invade his apartment for the night. 

The next morning after sleeping on his fire escape, Beau manages to get back into his apartment. His unwanted company is gone, but they left his place trashed.

Beau draws a bath, and then calls his mother while the tub is filling. However, a UPS delivery man answers his mom's phone. 

He tells Beau that he was making a delivery and found his mother dead in her home. Evidently, a chandelier fell from the ceiling and decapitated her. The UPS man insists he had nothing to do with it. 

Shocked and speechless at the news, Beau slips into his overflowing bathtub to try and calm down. 

When he does, he sees an intruder clinging in the space above his tub between the wall and the ceiling.

After the strangers falls and attacks him, Beau runs out of the apartment naked and frantic. A cop pulls his gun out and fires at Beau thinking he's a notorious homicidal murderer that has been randomly stabbing people on the street mentioned previously in the story.  Beau is then hit by a food truck. 

He wakes up days later in the house of a married couple, Roger and Grace (Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan). 

They live with their teenage daughter, Toni (Kylie Rogers), who's full of angst and trouble. Their son was killed in action during his time in the military. However, they care for their son's military friend, Jeeves (Denis Ménochet) whose time in the service left him mentally unstable.

Beau calls his mom's attorney, Dr. Cohen (Richard Kind), who admonishes him for not yet showing up to his mom's house and thereby holding up the funeral. He tells Beau Jewish custom mandates that deceased bodies must be laid to rest right away. However, Mona's last wish was to not be buried without her son's presence. 

So, Beau is anxious to fly out to his mother's estate.  

Roger, who is a doctor of some kind, insists Beau is in no shape to fly, and needs to continue rest for the time being. Instead, Roger promises to drive Beau to his mother's funeral the following day.  

However, a medical emergency arises, and Roger postpones their car trip to Mona's estate. 

When it's time for Beau to leave the care of Grace and Roger, Toni tries to make him to drink a can of paint with her. 

He refuses as she drinks the paint herself, which kills her. Grace walks into the room and sees Beau standing over her daughter, both covered in paint and blames him for killing Toni. Freaked out, and not knowing what to do, he runs away into a nearby forest. Grace sends Jeeves after him. 

Soon, Beau finds he's lost in the woods before stumbling upon a rural theatrical group called "The Orphans of the Forest."

The actors welcome Beau into their group and invite him to a play rehearsal. 

While watching this production, he begins to imagine himself as the protagonist of the story. 

During the rehearsal, a stranger approaches Beau claiming he knows his father, and that his father is still alive. 

Just then, Jeeves attacks the acting troupe, killing several members. Beau escapes deeper into the woods relatively unharmed. 

He's able to hitchhike his way to his mother's estate. By the time he arrives, the funeral is over. 

Later that evening, another mourner arrives late. Then things take an even darker surreal turn. 

The premise is one long worst-case scenario strung together in the mind of an overly anxious and paranoid person. 

The fear and anxiety doesn't subside. It festers and boils over. It's left to the audience to determine whether Beau's experiences are a delusion in in his neurotic mind, or if they're actually happening.  

To Beau, uncertainties, anxieties, worries, speculations, and undesirable events out of our control are terrors that dissolve boundaries. To the rest of us, as John Lennon once pointed out, "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

The question I'm left with is what is Beau afraid of? And where did this fear come from? The answer might be in the details.

Beau relies on his mother, even in his adult years.

In the scene where Beau's keys suddenly go missing at the worst possible time, causing him to panic, he calls and asks his mom what she thinks he ought to do. 

Clearly frustrated, she gives Beau a generic answer that he'll make the right decision, and then hangs up. So, Beau is left to figure things out on his own. 

And then when he calls her back, she's dead.

I think things take a worst turn once he realizes he has to live life without his mother. Life is completely left up to him now. 

The opening shot of the movie is Beau's blurred point of view during his birth. His mom's muffled screams about why her baby isn't breathing are heard. Constant chaotic noise continues through the film. 

After that opening shot, the story transitions to Beau visiting his therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson). We're given a small peak into how Beau thinks which sets the tone albeit in a simple way.

He asks his therapist, "I accidentally drank mouthwash Friday night. You can't get stomach cancer that way?"
"Not from one time," the therapist responds.
"I drank a mouthful a couple of weeks ago too."
"I'm sure it's fine."

Amy Ryan as 'Grace.'

In Beau's mind, there's very little, if any, reprieve from the constant noise and the way each of his experiences ends in a worst-case scenario. They're the kinds of doom and gloom scenarios that start off plausible and quickly become insane, far-fetched and improbable. And they only grow worse and more unbelievable as the story progresses. 

In an early scene when Beau is walking through the lobby of his apartment, the words "Hail Satan, Shoot Dope, Kill children, F**k the Pope," are seen spray painted on the wall. 

I don't know if this is how Aster sees modern society's mentality or not? If so, he's not far off. 

Most of modern Western society views evil as good, and good as evil. If current backwards mentalities could be summed up in one sentence, that might be it. Of course, that would drive any person into a state of high anxiety.

Phoenix's performance is great. He makes his character impressively engrossing and tragic. "Beau is Afraid" reminds me a bit of Anthony Hopkins' performance in the 2021 movie "The Father." Like Hopkin's movie, the audience experiences the story just as disjointed and confusing as the main character is experiencing it. 

The movie is wonderfully executed as one thing leads to another. 

But, as I mentioned before, Aster's films come across as despairingly cynical of those things that bring fulfillment - family life, religion, finding one's place in society, and relationships. Perhaps, awful circumstances beyond our control will hold us back. But the reality is these things carry us through those things. They'll only lead to despair if we let them. 

"Beau is Afraid" is a sad look at reality that mirrors the sad mentality of modern Western society. 

Aside from that, "Beau is Afraid" is a surreal depiction which left me, like Beau, wondering what was real and what wasn't. Or, if someone else had anything to do with it. 

163) NEW HORROR RELEASES - M3GAN (2023)

"I have a new primary user now. Me!"

Director

Gerard Johnstone

Cast
Allison Williams - Gemma
Violet McGraw - Cady
Amie Donald - M3GAN
Jenna Davis - the voice of M3GAN
Ronny Chieng - David
Jen Van Epps - Tess
Stephane Garneau-Monten - Kurt
Lori Dungey - Celia
Amy Usherwood - Lydia

This year had a fair amount of horror movie releases I wanted to see. I'm now at the bottom of that list of must-see new horror titles. I still have M. Night Shyamalan's latest film "Knock at the Cabin" to watch. But as Shyamalan has more misses than hits when it comes to his films, I'm not overly eager to get to it. 

Meanwhile, I've heard a lot of good things about the sci-fi horror flick, "M3GAN" which was released last January, about a dangerous AI robot doll used to replace human companionship. 

I still wanted to check it out despite my opinion that the evil doll motif is overdone in horror.

The earliest horror movie within the evil doll subgenre I could find is "The Devil Doll" from 1936 which stars Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan. It's directed by classic horror director Tod Browning. He directed two of my favorite horror classics ever made - "Dracula" (1931) and "Freaks" (1932). 

Fastforward to 1963 with one of the more notable episodes of the "Twilight Zone" titled "Living Doll" which tells a story about an evil living conscious doll called Talky Tina. "My name is Talky Tina, and you better be nice to me," she tells Telly Savalas' character, Erich, as he takes out his frustrations with his young stepdaughter, Christie (Tracy Stratford).

The subgenre seemed to spike with the 1988 movie "Child's Play" - the movie that introduced the world to the evil "Chucky," a "Good Guy" doll possessed by the soul of fictional serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif). 

"Child's Play" spurred eight sequels between 1990 to 2017, along with a remake in 2019 and a television series starting in 2021 which is currently in its second season.  

The "Puppet Master" (1989) films also led to a string of sequels between 1990 and 2012. 

The genre reignited again with the 2014 movie "Annabelle" which is based on an alleged true case from the files of paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren. It's part of "The Conjuring" movie series. 

There are some forgotten gems in the genre such as the made-for-TV movie "Trilogy of Terror" (1975) and "Magic" (1978) which stars Anthony Hopkins and Burgess Meredith. 

So, needless to say, this subgenre has been done over and over again. Clearly, the fear factor behind lifelike dolls and such never grows tiresome among audiences. 

I watched the unrated version of "M3GAN" for this review. And, honestly, I don't know what the differences are between the unrated and the theatrical version.
Anyways, in this movie, "M3GAN," which stands for Model 3 Generative Android, is a robotic doll that's programmed through artificial intelligence to serve as a friend for those in need of one. 
M3GAN's designer and programmer, Gemma (Allison Williams) takes in her eight-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw) whose parents died in a car accident. Gemma, who works for a toy company, is struggling for a new and profitable design idea for a new toy. Cady has no friends or companions as she deals with the loss of her parents and adapting to such an abrupt change of life.
Gemma's boss, David (Ronny Chieng), discovers her M3GAN project and wants her to scrap it. She attempts to demonstrate what the robot can do, but it goes terribly wrong.
Back at home, she's having trouble bonding well with Cady. So, she introduces Cady to a previous motion-capture robot she designed in college called "Bruce." 
Watching how much Cady enjoys talking to Bruce, she's inspired to finish her M3GAN project. 
Once it's completed and programmed, M3GAN is paired with Cady to be her companion. 
She shows David the completed project and how well the robot interacts with Cady. He's convinced this will be the company's big money maker and wants start promoting M3GAN right away. 
However, Cady's strong emotional attachment to her robot companion starts concerning her therapist, Lydia (Amy Usherwood). 
M3GAN, meanwhile, starts targeting anyone or anything that distresses or hurts Cady, including the neighbor, Celia's (Lori Dungey), intrusive and vicious dog which attacks Cady early on. Afterall, M3GAN is programmed to "protect" Cady.
As the story progresses, M3GAN begins acting independently of her programming, and protects Cady at any cost to anyone else. She even attacks a boy she sees bullying Cady.
Gemma starts concluding that M3GAN is more of a distraction to Cady's emotional trauma rather than a form of help. 
And she also starts suspecting her own robot is responsible for the attacks on those surrounding Cady which no one has witnessed. 
Based on these concerns, Gemma doesn't want to go through with the company's marketing campaign for M3GAN until all the "kinks" are worked out.
But M3GAN will do what she's "supposed" to do no matter what. 
What's different about M3GAN compared to other similar evil dolls and such is that there's really nothing wrong with the robot. It all boils down to better programming. Otherwise, the doll carries out what it's designed to do. The problem is that there's no cut-off point. As a result, it begins to act independently of its programming. All the while, it deduces actions and outcomes based on its programming. It's not evil necessarily. The underlying issue is that artificial intelligence is a replacement for nothing, especially human intelligence and companionship. There's nothing intelligent about AI. It's just an advanced form of garbage in, garbage out. 
The movie loosely carries the "boogeyman" that artificial "intelligence" will kill us and take over. The "Terminator" movies portray that premise best.  
There's a hint of plausibility in this story, which is a credit to the movie. As M3GAN is a computer, it can utilize other interactive systems around it including cars and virtual assistants similar to Alexa.  It leaves a lingering trepidation of "what-if." 

Violet McGraw in "M3GAN."

The "Child's Play" remake, by the way, scrapped the possessing evil spirit trope from the original franchise and switched Chucky's maniacal nature to a mechanical glitch. The capabilities of its reimagined Chucky doll and those of M3GAN are similar. It's a twist in the doll horror genre which reflects modern computer technology. 
M3GAN's puppetry is both mechanical-like in some parts, and fluid in others. Amie Donald plays M3GAN while Jenna Davis provides the voice. 
Despite the realism, it still takes a stretch of the imagination to accept that the doll is a lot stronger than any of the people it attacks and can become smarter than its designer.. 
This is what the 80s sitcom "Small Wonder" should have been. Remember that sitcom? It's one of the lamest sitcoms ever aired. If only this was the show's premise, that would have been fantastic! Maybe "Small Wonder" needs this idea as a reboot. I'm just sayin'.
The addictive nature of technology, family trauma, and distinguishing reality from fantasy are certainly the underlying themes in "M3GAN." The story keeps them simple and to the point. 

How much is technology really helping our day-to-day lives? There is a message, too, that family comes first over success and careers, along with a cautionary side of letting technology care for our children rather than parents or guardians.  
"M3GAN" is an overall entertaining movie that may spark a direction for upcoming movies to go. AI is hitting the mainstream. This movie hit audiences at the right time. Horror generally reflects social fears and anxieties. Maybe "M3GAN" will change the subgenre and lead to a technological trend in horror for the time being. Tech like this doesn't seem too far off. 

162) NEW HORROR RELEASES - The Pope's Exorcist (2023)

"He will use your sins against you."

Director

Julius Avery

Cast

Russell Crowe - Fr. Gabriele Amorth

Peter DeSouza-Feighoney - Henry
Alex Essoe - Julia
Laurel Marsden - Amy
Daniel Zovatto - Fr. Tomas Esquibel
Franco Nero - The Pope
Cornell John - Bishop Lumumba

*Possible spoilers ahead* 

When it comes to paranormal or exorcism horror movies, most of them are normally based around Christianity (Catholicism specifically) in some way or another. Speaking as a practicing Catholic, they tend to be a turn-off for me.

Too often exorcism movies follow the same formula all while being clueless about what's involved in the Catholic ritual. It's as though too many producers based their knowledge off Wikipedia and nothing more. In other words, it's reduced to a mere scary thing. These movies depict what the devil can do...or what Hollywood thinks the devil can do. To Hollywood, that involves devilish grotesque fireworks (metaphorically speaking) and such. Meanwhile, it's anyone's guess if God will step in and intervene at the requests of any priest or minister. This is how Christianity in general - Catholicism particularly - is portrayed in such movies. 

The devil is free to wreak whatever evil he can. Meanwhile, it's anyone's guess whether or not God decides to help and put a stop to the madness. As far as these movies go, who knows where God is? 

This isn't true just for movies depicting Christian exorcism. 

The 2012 supernatural horror movie "The Possession" which centers around demonic shenanigans within a Jewish community still goes by that same formula. Hollywood seldom depicts religion accurately, even when its only about scaring an audience. 

The exorcism movies I think are decent include "The Exorcist" (1973) and "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" (2005). Otherwise, I generally skip over this paranormal genre of horror. It's pure eye-rolling fodder that'll end up in a Wal-Mart bargain bin.

But when I heard a movie based on the Vatican's Chief Exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, who passed away in 2016, was in production, I admit it grabbed my interest. Though I didn't catch it in theaters, I did watch it as soon as I could following its DVD release. 

Afterall, it's based on a real, well-respected, and internationally known Catholic priest who holds a very distinct and unique title - "Chief Exorcist" in Rome. 

Amorth is also a co-founder of the Catholic organization known as the International Associate of Exorcists. It's amazing to me that there's a world-wide association of people who all face off directly against the demonic powers of Hell itself. My hats off to those guys!

The film starts with Fr. Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe) arriving in a small Italian village in 1987 where a young man is supposedly possessed by a demon.

He assists the local parish priest to treat this individual. He starts by taunting the "demon" with a St. Benedict medal - a Catholic sacramental dedicated to Saint Benedict of Nursia inscribed with symbols and prayers meant to expel demonic presences of demons. Fr. Amorth then challenges it to enter a pig which is brought to the house. 

The "demon," being full of pride, takes the priest's challenge and enters the pig. As soon as this occurs, someone shoots the pig with a shotgun.

This incident gets Fr. Amorth in trouble with a Church Tribunal. Their issue is that he performed this "exorcism" without permission. In the Catholic Church, an exorcist must obtain permission from his bishop, after an investigation is conducted, before performing the Rite of Exorcism. 
One of the tribunal members, Bishop Lumumba (Cornell John) from Africa, is a personal friend of Fr. Amorth and quickly speaks to his defense. 

Russell Crowe as Fr. Gabriele Amorth in "The Pope's Exorcist."

However, another tribunal member, Cardinal Sullivan (Ryan O'Grady) from the U.S. is rather spiteful and vindictive towards the priest. Fr. Amorth claims it wasn't an exorcism, but rather an attempt to help a mentally ill man who was under the delusion he was possessed. 

However, the tribunal, namely Card. Sullivan, want to pin something on Amorth. 

He doesn't give them a chance as he walks out before being dismissed. 

Amorth later meets with the Pope (Franco Nero) who wants him to perform an exorcism on a young boy named Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) in Spain.

Henry along with his mom, Julia (Alex Essoe), and teenage sister, Amy (Laurel Marsden), move into an old Spanish monastery left to them by their father who died in a car accident prior to the story. 

The car accident had left Henry so traumatized that he refuses to speak. 

When they move in, workers are already trying to restore the old abbey which Julie plans to sell once completed. 

Henry becomes possessed after accidentally coming across a closed-in chamber within the abbey that holds some old secrets. 

Once he starts showing all the signs of possession, the local priest, Fr. Tomas Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto) shows up, but the demon throws him out of the room - literally. It demands Amorth!

When Fr. Amorth arrives, he is taken aback at how knowledgeable Henry is about Amorth's past. There's no mistaking that he's possessed. 

So, he asks Esquibel to be his assistant as he attempts to exorcise the demon per the Pope's request. And the first thing he must do in battling this demon is find out its name. 

I read Amorth's book, "An Exorcist Tells His Story," published in 1999, nearly 20-years ago. The movie is partly, if not mostly, based on this book.

While I remember very little, if anything, about his book, it's clear that there's more fiction than fact in this movie right down to the movie depicting Fr. Amorth riding around on a scooter and sporting red socks. According to the website www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-popes-exorcist/ even that isn't true about the real Fr. Amorth. 

While the movie is based on his work as a priest and exorcist, I picked up on some blatantly obvious similarities to the "The Exorcist." The devil is in the details as far as similarities go. Pun intended. 

In "The Exorcist," Fr. Damian Karras (Jason Miller) admits to a fellow Jesuit priest that he thinks he's losing his faith. Still, he's called to assist the exorcism of the young girl, Regan (Linda Blair) in the final act of the movie. It's not a smart call in my opinion to have a priest who thinks he's losing his faith go face to face with the Devil himself. 

In "The Pope's Exorcist" Fr. Amorth asks Fr. Esquibel how long it has been since he went to Confession. He says the last time he went was 8-months ago, much to Amorth's dismay. At minimum, the general practice when it comes to confession is going at least once a month. That should be especially true for a Catholic priest. He also says he never prayers. Basically, he's a terrible priest and certainly not an ideal person to assist with an exorcism. It's also revealed that Fr. Esquibel has been secretly involved with a young woman though, as a priest, he has taken a vow of chastity. Again, another typical depiction of a priest out of Hollywood. Anyways, it sounds like he doesn't have much faith, if any. 

Also, towards the final act, Amorth attempts to save Henry by offering himself to be possessed. The demon accepts his invitation and possesses Amorth. He then attempts to hang himself once he's possessed, but the demon doesn't let him. All around, there's nothing Christian in this scenario because Hollywood is completely ignorant. Anyways, something similar happens in "The Exorcist." 

After Fr. Karras finds Fr. Merrin (Max von Sydow) dead from heart failure during the ritual as the possessed Regan chuckling over Merrin's dead body, he wrestles her to the floor in anger and yells at the demon to come into him instead. For a brief moment, the demon does possess him before he flings himself out of the bedroom window.

Even though "The Pope's Exorcist" presents some basic accurate depictions of exorcism, the entire presentation as a whole is a fireworks spectacle (I don't necessarily mean that as a compliment) of special effects, grotesqueries and profanity-laced scares one would expect in a horror movie. 

It all comes down to the film exaggerating and distorting Amorth's experiences as an exorcist. It's more eye-popping paranormal cringe instead of being a film that should portray one of the most fascinating religious figures in modern history. That alone could make for a captivating horror movie. There's not a lot of those around, after all. 

Peter DeSouza-Feighoney as Henry.

The things that Amorth experienced and dealt with while conducting exorcisms as Rome's Chief Exorcist would make for an incredible movie. No doubt it doesn't need in-your-face special effects, jump scares and all that. His life and experiences are compelling and thought provoking enough. As the old saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction. 

Granted, special effects are inevitable when it comes to movies, horror or otherwise. "The Pope's Exorcist" relies too much on them, especially when considering the subject at hand. 

I'd much rather see a true-to-life biographical movie of Fr. Amorth over this film with all its shock and ravenous demons.

The movie ends with Fr. Amorth ready to take on the forces of hell as he knows more exorcisms are in his future. Overall, the movie treats him like he's some kind of comic book super priest, like Blade taking on Vampires or Ash battling the evil dead. This comes across the most when he tells Fr. Esquibel at the end, "Let's go to Hell!" It's a clear sequel setup. 

The demon effects are creepy, but the dialogue is laughable. Each time the demon speaks through Henry, he occasionally follows his statements with a growl. The entire thing is more like a haunted house attraction than a serious depiction of a real-life priest taking on real-life demons. 

Despite how good an actor Russell Crowe is, the decision to cast him as Fr. Amorth is unusual. Nothing about Crowe resembles the real priest. I'm curious to find out what the producers were aiming for when deciding Crowe should play the Italian exorcist. That's not to say his performance isn't good or entertaining. He accomplishes the role well enough for how the movie wants to depict Fr. Amorth.

He does convey the priest as cynical when dealing with the devil, tricking him in the beginning to defeat himself. He doesn't take the demonic taunts too seriously as he smirks when threatened by the demonic. 

To its credit, the movie doesn't use the exorcist movie trope mentioned above in which God and His goodness appear to be aloof when they're needed most. Amorth states in the movie that God is with us to accomplish His will. He and Fr. Esquibel utilize Our Lord's words in the Gospel to defeat the demon. "For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20)

God uses us to accomplish His will, step by step. At least "The Pope's Exorcist" got that part right for the most part. That's more than most other exorcism horror movies. Normally, movies like this completely ignore that. 

Seldom does Hollywood accurately depicts religion, especially Catholicism. All in all, this is no exception. 

It does toss in a few tidbits of accuracy when it comes to the Church and its Rite of Exorcism, but it's still over-the-top. 

One unfortunate truth the movie does accurately depict is how too many officials among the Church Hierarchy don't believe in the Devil, Hell, or evil.  This comes out during the tribunal scene. which spurs Fr. Amorth to ask them what the purpose of the Church is then? Of course, they have no answer. 

"The Pope's Exorcist" is better than most movies of this horror sub-genre, but not by much. The producers try to depict something they clearly know little about. And it shows. 

161) NEW HORROR RELEASES - Heir of the Witch (2023)

"My curse is too heavy, and no one can cure it for me."

Director

Victoria Bell

Cast

Victoria Bell - Anna

Deanna Rashell - Chloe

Lorayn DeLuca - Anna's grandmother, the Witch

Ben Holtzmuller - Nicholas

Julian Brittano - Martin

Norwood Ezzell - Dustin

Vanessa Neff- Aunt Rosie

It seems to me that when it comes to new horror releases, originality is too often scarce. A lot of them seem repetitive and relying heavily on jump scares and grotesqueries. Easy scares, if they work. Nor do many new horror movies strike me as projects of dedication. There have been a fair number of successful and decent movies in the last few years. But I have the impression that horror movies in general are judged pretty hard by audiences. 

The upcoming independent horror film, "Heir of the Witch," is unique in that it's not only based on a real event, but the movie is written and directed by the person directly affected by this terrifying familial scenario. 

Victoria Bell, a native of Moldova, wrote, directed and stars in her first feature film, "Heir of the Witch." It's based on, as stated on the movie's website, www.heirofthewitch.com/, her "fears, anxieties, and individual experiences." 

Her paternal grandmother was a witch whom Bell was told had sold her soul to the devil.

Her family believes her grandmother's soul couldn't die until the "spirit of darkness" released her ghost after she passed her "gift" to another member of the family. 

In an interview I had with Bell, which I'll post soon, she said no one in the family knows whom their grandmother passed this "gift" onto as they don't associate with that paternal side for fear of condemnation. And that takes us to "Heir of the Witch."

In this movie, Bell plays a seamstress named Anna, an autobiographical character. Prior to the story immigrated from Moldova when she was a child. She came to the U.S. with her Aunt Rosie (Vanessa Neff) to seek a brighter future away from the dark history of their family. 

The film starts as Anna works as a seamstress still haunted by the death of her mother at the hands of her abusive alcoholic father.

Anna is also plagued by the soul of her grandmother, a practicing witch in her lifetime, who torments her long after her death, day and night.

When Anna was a young girl, her grandmother (Lorayn DeLuca) would perform sadistic rituals on Anna while binding her to a chair and keeping her in a dark room. 

Anna had killed her grandmother by stabbing her to death with a pair of scissors from a sewing kit. She tempts Anna almost constantly to use powers she cursed her with in order to continue on the dark path she ventured on in her lifetime.

Anna works on a dress for a wealthy and beautiful client, Chloe Hunt (Deanna Rashell). Chloe tries to manipulate Anna into becoming her personal assistant to do her shopping and clean her house. She also invites Anna to a party at her house where she meets Chloe's husband, Nicholas (Ben Holtzmuller). 

He and Anna start having an affair, which leads to Anna's pregnancy. 

During this time, Nicholas keeps promising to leave Chloe for Anna. Once the town finds out about Anna and Nicholas, he starts distancing himself from her and their unborn baby. 

Meanwhile, the spirit of Anna's grandmother continues tormenting her and killing those who attempt to get close to Anna. 

Victoria Bell as 'Anna' in 'Heir of the Witch.'

Her grandmother becomes more and more present around Anna, trying to manipulate and control her until Anna can't tell reality from delusion. 

For her first feature film, Bell proves she has the talent to tell a daunting horror story that hits the thriller-loving spots. 

There is a sad element to the story that while evil can be defeated, it unfortunately has a way of carrying on, doing whatever terrible things it can to torment souls. 

It took Bell three and a half years of love, dedication, and hard work, to film and release her movie. 

If I have to nit-pick this film, perhaps some of the dialogue could use some polishing. I also have to admit that the story initially felt disjointed and predictable. However, the ending corrected this initial impression. It truly took me by surprise. I didn't see it coming. And it makes up for anything that might be lacking. 

For her first feature film, "Heir of the Witch" is a small but gleaming gem within the horror genre. If this indicates anything about Bell's talent and passion, it's that she has nowhere to go but up. Her love for the art of film making and for the horror genre shines clear in this initial film. Bell conveys her character's anguish from such a dark past, and unthinkably heavy burdens that resulted, amazingly well. 

Bell brings a lot of energy and convincing emotion to the story making Anna an intriguing and sympathetic to the audience. She is a compelling character. Bell's performance gives the movie a distinct sympathetic tone alongside the horror. It's not all about scaring the audience, although there's a decent amount of that.

The story itself leaves a fog of trepidation especially when considering that such a thing actually happened. And if there's one compliment I could give the movie, it's that the story is thankfully unpredictable. 

Family turning on family in such an evil way is disturbing and horrific beyond description.

I look forward to seeing some of her future projects in the genre, including a psychological thriller she's planning called "5."

Bell's first independent horror movie is a quiver fest that doesn't have any dull moments.

"Heir of the Witch" starts streaming everywhere August 4.

I'm including horror movie trivia into my posts now! That's fun, right? Either way, there it is. The answer will be in my next post...


*Answer to the question from my last post, "Renfield" = Joe Hill.