Emma is a home-schooled teenager. She believes her parents are being unfair when they don't let her spend more time with her older cousins. The latest conflict is caused by a rock concert she's not allowed to go to in London. Suddenly, Emma begins to exhibit strange health symptoms. She has seizures in the presence of her family and blacks out while performing acts of violence against herself and others. She is convinced by her uncle, a disgraced exorcist, that she is possessed. Her parents agree to let her uncle perform an exorcism, hoping the psychological impact of the procedure will cure what they believe to be her mentally ill daughter. If this sounds like every other exorcism film to come out in recent years, you've been paying attention to the sub-genre. Exorcismus offers nothing new to a horror fan with any knowledge of exorcism on film. It's a low-budget exercise in a genre that fans will watch even as it cannibalizes itself over and over again.
The one good thing I can say about the film is the quality of the effects. For a low-budget film, the injuries and seizures look quite good. Sure, director Manuel Carballo's team went with the Troma standby of a bromide tablet in the mouth during the seizure, but it works. Those early moments in the film benefit from a naturalistic approach that does stand out in a very crowded field.
Unfortunately, as soon as the priest is called in, nothing unexpected happens. Her parents are tortured by the sounds they hear during the ritual. The girl contorts, screams, and speaks in strange ways as the priest sprinkles her with holy water and reads scriptures. The priest has a crisis of faith and isn't sure he can take care of this problem or not. It's dull and unstylish.
Even a predictable exorcism film can be elevated by great performances and a tight presentation. The Last Exorcism, found footage style aside, did nothing that hadn't been explored countless times before with the subject. What it had going for it was a strong cast and near-flawless execution.
Exorcismus has neither. Once Emma is strapped down in a chair for the first time, the film falls apart. What kind of exorcism film with nothing else going for it starts the rituals thirty minutes into the running time? A poorly scripted one. The natural approach that made the first twenty or so minutes so appealing is thrown out the window for all the cliches of the genre. It's hard to even say the film had potential when it becomes quite clear that it exists solely to cash in on the brand of exorcism.
Sure, there are worse made horror films than Exorcismus. It's rare to find a horror film, however, that can't even generate one good tense moment out of well-worn and proven scare tactics. When you know everything that's going to happen once it starts happening (and throw all your faith into a twist ending that does nothing to impact the film), you failed whatever reason you had in making the film at all.
Rating: 3/10
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