There has been a glut of exorcism based movies in recent years and director David Midell’s new film, co-written with Enrico Natale, looked like it would plough a familiar furrow. Set in 1928, priests Theophilus Riesinger (Al Pacino) and Joseph Steiger (Dan Stevens) attempt to save an allegedly possessed young woman Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowen) through a series of dangerous exorcisms.
This is supposedly based on a true story but it is pure hokum. Pacino seemed to realise that and delivers a lower key performance than is the norm in the last few years, but with his non-specific middle European accent, it still feels hammy. Stevens takes a break from his recent comic tinged supporting roles and manages to provide a more layered turn, rising above the material.
Midell’s shaky camera style may not to be to everyone’s taste, but I thought it worked well for the material and helped to keep the numerous exorcism scenes, that would otherwise be over familiar, quite edgy.
Not as bad as the reviews suggested but I think we can have a moratorium on exorcism movies for a while!
Rating: 6 out of 10