Review

Fifteen year old Emma Evans is in full rebellion against her overly authoritarian parents. They are home schooling both Emma and her younger brother Mark, believing the kids will thank them later for depriving them of friends and a social life. When her mother Lucy declines Emma's request to attend a concert in London with her friends Rose and Alex, Emma appears to throw a violent fit. Naturally she is rushed to hospital for the usual battery of tests, hey House would be pleased - they do an LP, but the Doctors can find nothing wrong with her. Not to be deterred Lucy sends Emma to see a Psychologist, believing Emma might be suffering some sort of mental issue. Emma's friend Rose decides to record Emma's hypnosis session, via a mobile phone, in case Em lets loose a few facts her mother might not know. You know drinking, boys, Twilight, the normal tween activities. Things go slightly out of control during the session with the Psychologist having a heart attack, and Rose has it all recorded on her mobile.

Things start to get altogether freaky and Emma's rather ineffectual father John decides to take some decisive action. Mark is sent next door apparently?!? Lucy's brother, Priest with an issue, Christopher is called in to determine if an exorcism is needed, and Lucy agrees to give up on the home schooling. Frack me the devil rides out! Christopher is under a cloud due to another teen having died during an exorcism he was involved in, so Lucy is naturally a bit sceptical. She needn't be as the Devil comes forth to do battle with the forces of good. Let's sprinkle some holy water on this one and see what might burn.

Director Manuel Carballo kicks his movie into gear in pretty much a predictable fashion, say hello to Friedkin's The Exorcist, yes a review of that seminal movie is planned for sometime in the future kids, so I was comfortable in what I was going to see. Teen chick slowly showing symptoms the medical establishment can't explain, send in the Priests, yadda yadda. However toward the midpoint of the flick Carballo suddenly takes a detour from the straight and narrow and goes off in an interesting, and dare I say it, fairly unique direction for the possession sub-genre. Emma is constantly battling her well meaning progressive parents, but has some dark secrets of her own that mommy dearest would be quite shocked if she found out about. At stages we are left wondering if the exorcism patterns are in fact simply signs of a teen throwing temper tantrums and pushing the manipulation wagon down parental Main Street. Then the movie simply goes haywire, you are not going to guess the twist in this one, it lays in wait like a sniper in a top story apartment building picking off lumbering zombies during the apocalypse. I didn't see it coming, was giving the movie a standard ovation, and have to say Exorcismus is that movie that takes risks and tries for something different. Carballo, you are on my Christmas card list dude!

I really can't discuss the overriding theme to this movie without giving the game away, so without elaborating too much Exorcismus operates on a few levels. While being a gosh darn good possession flick, and really who can't get enough of those, it can also be explored for some metaphysical denouncements and dialogue about what constitutes good and what constitutes evil. Suffice it to say the devil is in the fine print, and an unexpected character is going to read between the lines there to arrive at an epiphany. It's heady and engrossing stuff, but feel free to just groove to the surface rhythm, Carballo like all good Directors working in the dark genre leaves it to the Audience to determine their own levels of involvement.

The movie operates across differing spectrums and is taking a few risks in a genre that is increasingly regimented

So y'all are probably wondering just what the hell is going down here, after all you no doubt dialled in for projectile pea soup vomiting and some bad language from a seemingly angelic teen chick. Carballo has your back, while venturing into new territory he also knows exactly what area he is working in. One of the things people seem to constantly miss from The Exorcist is the devil operating on the mental states of those involved, Exorcismus picks that ball up and makes the whole ten yards with it. There's a plan involved here, and it has far more reaching goals than the soul of Emma. But in between the high brow stuff there's still lots of room for CGI mayhem, thankfully used sparingly, some good old fashion scare tactics, and a demonic possession that while less than the normal spine chilling outing is still very nasty on occasion. This Demon sure knows how to go for the jugular of those around Emma, and seems to take perverse pleasure in playing minds games. I was lapping it up like Paris presented with a tray of free shots.

As in any exorcism movie it's the person who gets possessed who will either carry the movie over the finish line or see it end up in a pile of steaming doggy doo. Unfortunately no one has yet pulled a trick where this isn't the case, there is after all a single focus to these types of movies. Sophie Vavasseur (Emma) simply nails every scene she is in. From the rebellious teenager, through the victim of forces beyond her comprehension, to the malevolent entity in the room, Vavasseur is across her role and brings some acting kudos to what is a pretty demanding situation. Don't expect all those contortions the Japanese or Jennifer Carpenter excel in; this one is all about facial expressions and voice tones. Chilling stuff, I was high fiving the Priest who seems overly busy in the next apartment with steers or something.

I normally don't talk about cinematography, hey where's it going to end if we cover everything, but I have to give two thumbs up to Javier Salmones who brings a documentary feel to things that really nails the themes and action I was watching on my screen. Salmones so sinks Exorcismus in reality that you will believe. Well you would if it wasn't for those false contact lenses Vavasseur has to wear, really let down there.

Okay so gorehounds aren't going to be peeing at the door of this one, and if you have dialled in for some T&A then bad luck. We're talking a serious horror flick here that has a couple of things to say.

Was there a soundtrack? Sorry didn't take notice, non intrusive if there was one.

Exorcismus is one of those movies horror fans talk about in passing, some sort of cult status right there folks, but is surprisingly a movie very few of the volk have sat down and caught a glimpse of. Like some sort of mythical lycan or something, a lot of talk not a lot of seen it got the tee. I was more than happy to see the movie pop up on the review queue and immediately hunkered down with a view to catching a later day The Exorcist. How wrong I was, the movie is eons away from Friedkin's classic and any comparison would be simply lazy reviewing. There were some surprises, twists I didn't see coming, and I'm still excited about a couple of aspects of the movie. Does the movie have any faults, oh hell yes it does, there's some screwball plotting developments going down, but overall I could jive with the beat. If you want to see a serious horror flick that tries for something different, then dig on in Exorcismus is taking some risks and is all the better for it.

The movie should be available at most rental outlets, you'll need to check the weekly aisles folks, with some retail love in the wind. Not everyone is going to carry the title, it remains a cult favourite, but check out your local outlet and if in doubt hit the online stores. Happy hunting kids, this is one horror flick you are not going to want to miss.