by Mike Lera
Half a century ago, audiences were stunned, horrified, even sickened as they witnessed the body of a sweet, innocent 12-year-old named “Regan” become possessed by a demon in one of the scariest films in movie history, The Exorcist. Never had there been such a tale that interweaved supernatural and psychological terror quite like this one, skillfully executed by director William Friedkin with powerful performances by Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair.
And like countless other iconic horror films, The Exorcist has certainly seen its share of imitators since first entering our realm five decades ago. Some considered good, others considered mediocre. Some down right “heresy”.
In commemoration of The Exorcist’s 50th birthday and as we approach its upcoming 2023 reboot, I thought I’d examine some of the more lesser known horror films on demon possession – my own top five exorcism movies that I’m sure would make your head spin!
#5. The Cleansing Hour (2019)
Like zombie or vampire flicks, exorcism movies, too, can easily fall into a barrel of redundant, all-too-familiar cliches. Which makes The Cleansing Hour a more unique spin on the motif, taking the common possession story we’re so used to seeing and cleverly and playfully molding it into an exciting thrill ride.
Father Max is a self-proclaimed “priest” who hosts a popular web series called The Cleansing Hour where he publicly performs “exorcisms” on live stream, complete with Bible quotes, loud rebukes and dousing the possessed with holy water. But like many online schemes, Max’s exorcisms are all fake, actors hired for the key roles and technicians used for the really cool effects. It’s all fun and games until one day something different happens on the set that is not part of the script, and the bewildered and horrified Max will now have to give his 50,000 followers what they’re all expecting to watch – a real life exorcism.
Aside from a fresh story line, solid characters and awesome creature FX, The Cleansing Hour does a remarkable job at maintaining a steady flow of suspense and tension throughout the piece, keeping the audience guessing at what happens next. It is also an excellent play on the wise and ancient “Confession good for the soul” mantra, our protagonist eventually forced to spill his guts to his massive audience and be “cleansed” in order that the real demon might be stopped (a la Phonebooth). The movie does tend to become a little repetitive and drawn out toward the end, however, the compelling climax and conclusion pays off terror-ifically.
#4. Deliver Us From Evil (2014)
While many big budgeted horror films have all the trimmings – an A-list cast, excellent choreography, magnificent special effects – a lot of them fail at delivering the kind of grittiness and terror that low budget films tend to bring us. Deliver Us From Evil, however, is a prime example of a major studio-produced horror movie having both.
During an investigation of a string of violent and gruesome crimes, one of them involving a deranged woman throwing her infant into a pit of Bronx zoo lions, NYPD detective Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) discovers that these crimes are all linked to three U.S. Marines who served in the Iraq war together. Sarchie begins witnessing unexplained phenomenon as he pursues this case, together with finding a mysterious Latin-Persian pictograph message in one of the perp’s homes, and he soon enlists the help of an alcoholic lustful priest named Mendoza. He tells Sarchie that the pictograph message is a portal bridging entities into our world, discovered by the Marines in a mid eastern cave, bringing back a spirit far more powerful than any hardened criminal Sarchie has ever faced – one that might not only destroy him, but his wife and child as well!
From action movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Deliver Us From Evil shrewdly mixes psychological/paranormal horror with detective thriller noire, interlocking police procedures and spiritual war tactics in combating arrestees under demonic possession. With the exception of some sequences coming off as formulaic and predictable (again, it’s a Bruckheimer flick), the film colorfully displays not only the hideous demons that our police protagonist must face throughout the streets of the Bronx, but the monsters within himself in fighting a battle beyond his 9mm.
#3. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Aside from “Exorcist III”, we had seen one bad exorcist movie after the next between the years of 1973 and 2005, and therefore any film that entailed priests driving out demons during that time were usually scoffed at or scowled upon.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose changed all that.
Suffering through a long series of seizures, 19-year-old Emily Rose is declared an epileptic by medical doctors and is prescribed Gabitril. Her family, however, believes she is demon possessed and acquires the help of Father Richard Moore, who feels Emily’s medication is a hindrance to his exorcism and discontinues her use of it. Emily dies during her exorcism and Moore is arrested and charged with neglectful homicide. He is defended by an ambitious agnostic lawyer, Erin Bruner, who initially aims to win the case solely on scientific evidence to prove Moore’s innocence. But as the story progresses, Erin encounters strange “happenings” around her, Moore convinced that the same evil spirits which killed Emily are now at work to hurt Erin, and she must now rely on a source other than science to assist her with her case.
One of the few horror films that offers a good blend of spine tingling scares and courtroom drama, The Exorcism of Emily Rose (based on a true story) explores the conflict between science and religion, facts and faith, criminal law and God’s law. It digs deep into the core of our consciousness and forces us to ask ourselves, “Why do I believe what I believe?” Director Scott Derrickson (who spearheaded Doctor Strange and The Black Phone) goes beyond the confines of bedroom walls and asylum gates and into the cold, dark atmosphere of jail cells and criminal courtrooms, hemming together a powerful piece with solid acting, a tight script and thought-provoking scenes.
#2. The Devil Inside (2012)
Forever embedded in our minds is the classic image of Ellen Burstyn/mother saving Linda Blair/daughter. However, it’s always refreshing to see established roles like these get reversed, as in the case with the found footage movie The Devil Inside, the story of a woman investigating the insane activities of her mother whom she believes to have been possessed by an evil spirit for the last two decades.
In 1989, Maria Rossi murdered four people in her home while attempting an exorcism on her, and once declared psychotic, she is taken away to an insane asylum in Rome. For the next 20 years, Maria’s daughter, Isabella, remains burdened by shame, grief and confusion over her mother’s crimes, and after researching demon possession, she is open to the possibility that her “deranged” mother could have been controlled by something else. She then sets off to Rome to see her mother, and with the aid of her friend Michael who captures the entire experience on camera, Isabella enlists the help of Father Ben Rawlings and Father David Keane, two priests who tend to deviate from the Catholic church’s policies on exorcisms. After a most intense, spellbinding encounter, Rawlings and Keane declare Maria possessed and prepare for further steps in her exorcism. But it is then that strange things start happening amongst them, the four gradually turning on each other, and we later discover that Maria’s demon is no longer in her, but has manifested amongst her daughter and her accomplices.
Director William Brent Bell delivers a well-paced, riveting movie, adding just the right scares at just the right moments and creating a comfortable, easy-to-follow story so that its shock value can be better enjoyed. Aside from fantastic horror elements in the piece – a possessed woman’s bones becoming disjointed and her turning into a human pretzel, or a demon having the ability to transfer from one body to the other – the film plays on several deeper, universal themes: The conflict between open-minded priests wanting to legitimately help those in need and going against the structure and bureaucracy of their own congregations; the constant struggle between parents and their children; a woman’s desperate need to clear her mother’s reputation and, in doing so, clearing her name as well; a circle of friends needing to stay united and not be overcome by their own demons while hunting down another.
#1. The Medium (2021)
Since The Blair Witch Project, it’s safe to say that the found footage subgenre has been done to death! And yet, if anything is put into the hands of the right director, the right writer, the right producer and the right cast, an outstanding and terrifying horror movie such as The Medium will blossom, no matter how many times a subgenre repeats itself.
A Thai/South Korean-produced film shot as a “documentary” and on a micro budget, The Medium takes us to northeast Thailand as a team of filmmakers interview Nim, a shaman “spiritual healer” amongst her Isan village, in efforts to learn more about her people’s spiritual beliefs. But it isn’t long before they meet Nim’s niece “Mink”, a pleasant young woman whom the team records acting disturbingly strange one evening, and Nim is convinced she is being possessed by a “bad spirit”. The filmmaking team decide to follow Mink on her day-to-day and explore this further. Gradually, Mink alters into something else within the next several days, the team reviewing shocking footage of Mink doing abominable acts such as boiling her family dog alive in water and then chowing down on the poor pup. More shocking is the film team finding that they’re next on Mink’s hit list!
Most of us cringe at the mere mention of a foreign horror movie, especially a found footage/mockumentary dealing with the demon possessed in a remote village in Thailand. There’s just something about being taken out of the comforts and confines of our home, away from all that’s familiar, and brought to a strange land 7,500 miles away that enters that certain nerve center in our brain and stays there. The Medium plays on this nicely. It is, however, not without its flaws, as the story tends to get a little muddled and hard to follow in some parts, and there are some scenes that lack that “found footage” vibe, coming off a little too dramatic. But the film’s investment in its characters and its careful story development make The Medium well worth the watch!