The Exorcism of God, 2022.
Directed by Alejandro Hidalgo.
Starring Will Beinbrink, María Gabriela de Faría, Irán Castillo, Joseph Marcell, Hector Kotsifakis, Juan Ignacio Aranda, and Evelia Di Gennaro.
SYNOPSIS:
An American priest working in Mexico is possessed during an exorcism and ends up committing a terrible act. Eighteen years later, the consequences of his sin come back to haunt him, unleashing the greatest battle within.
There is no reason for The Exorcism of God to take itself so seriously. For the first 15 minutes, director Alejandro Hidalgo (co-writing alongside Santiago Fernández Calvete) seems to have the right approach, staging its initial exorcism of a young woman named Magali (Irán Castillo), possessed by the demon of deception Balaban, to amusingly campy effect. The sequence sees Fr. Peter Williams (a mostly unmemorable Will Beinbrink) disobeying orders to begin the exorcism because, although he is not ready in the eyes of God for such a task, there is no time left to wait for holy reinforcements. He is met with a nonstop barrage of sexual comments for his trouble, but not in the terrifying sense of something like The Exorcist. No, this is just a demon using Peter’s secret crush on Magali as a tool for hilarious horny seduction. If it is trying to be scary, it fails disastrously.
Suddenly, things take a dark turn as Balaban makes a last-ditch effort to possess Peter, forcing him to abuse the unconscious body of Magali sexually. Eighteen years later, Peter lives with the secret, knowing that if he does tell a Bishop, he will be excommunicated and unable to continue with the orphanage charity work he has kept up for just as many years in Mexico. Don’t get it twisted, The Exorcism of God also doesn’t care about telling a thought-provoking tale about accountability and hiding the truth for a greater good. But if Peter is ever going to banish Balaban once and for all, he will have to be pure of mind and eventually confess.
Speaking of Balaban, he has returned. This time he has targeted the daughter of Magali named Esperanza (María Gabriela de Faría), which, you guessed it, is also the offspring of Peter’s possessed rape. The Exorcism of God doesn’t care much about this father-daughter estrangement dynamic either, as it’s only concerned with a spiritual rematch that ups the ante in plenty of absurd ways. Balaban is also putting together an army, using his many underlings to possess as many as possible within the orphanage and the prison where Esperanza is detained for violent crimes. For good measure, there are also some demonic takes on Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary haunting Peter in his dreams and reality, but it’s just not scary. Like most possessed here, they are smothered in unconvincing makeup and come with embarrassingly bad CGI for running along walls while growling like feral dogs.
For the 18 years later round two, Peter calls in a fellow priest that has defeated Balaban before, Fr. Michael Lewis (Joseph Marcell), who is trying his damnedest to breathe some humor and fun into this nonsense. In the film’s defense, there is an interesting role reversal that sees the possessed trying to excise God out of Peter (something that doesn’t make much sense if he is carrying around the guilt of sexual assault while demonically possessed), mostly wasted as it breaks down into Peter and Balaban shouting various passages at one another for 10 minutes. It’s also a dreadfully serious sequence devoid of the goofy fun the introduction promised.
There’s not a single thing of note to praise about The Exorcism of God other than it is ridiculous and mildly entertaining based on that alone, but there’s also no point if the filmmakers don’t want to embrace that silliness. Instead, they make things worse by telling a dramatic story about sexual assault and guilt that doesn’t have a single meaningful interaction. That’s not even the worst of it, as the third act, for some inexplicable reason, casually reveals that the church Peter is a part of is homophobic. There is also some sequel bait teasing a war between heaven and hell, and movies like this prove hell exists.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
