Exorcismus

This film is about a girl who gets possessed by an evil spirit and weird things start happening: the usual exorcism story line formula.

The presentation of this setting for an exorcism movie though was extremely flawed at some parts though and the first half hour of the movie honestly bored me and felt cheesy at times

The next half an hour of the movie was the best part of it though, good raw exorcism takes and good demon possession acting made me anticipate more.

However the next half an hour the story took a bit of a twist and left me feeling kinda dry and disappointed.

Put it this way, if you like exorcism movies check it out...but don't think you'll be watching an amazing new horror movie cause this is not it. If the movie stuck to the pure original exorcism style movie without trying to be different it probably would have been much better.

I must say that i really enjoyed watching the horror film Exorcismus. It is about a 15 year old girl called Emma (Sophie Vavasseur) who life suddenly unexpectedly changes one day when she begins to start having frightening fits. This begins to worry her parents very much, but they seem to put it down to just being psychological problems, but Emma feels that there is something very much powerful happening to her. As she begins to get sicker by each day they finally contact a priest help them get rid of whatever is troubling Emma. As a fan of the 1973 horror film The Exorcist and The Exorsism Of Emily Rose (2005) both of which i thought were absolutely fantastic films. I had a feeling that this one was going to be good. I would really recommend this film to fans that like these type of movies. Recommended: 5/10

Emma is a home-schooled teen who one day cuts herself. It's thought that it's because she wants to be in school with her friends. One day she has a seizure and foams out of her mouth. Doctors don't find anything wrong with her. Her secular and modern parents send her to a psychologist who ends up dead. Emma knows that something is wrong with her and visits her uncle who is a priest. He recognizes that she's possessed. Emma is willing to undergo an exorcism. Her parents don't agree until she has another seizure and levitates.

The exorcism will take several session to be performed by the uncle who has been actually kicked out of the church for the death of his previous exorcism patient. Meanwhile, whenever the devil takes over and Emma is with someone else, that other person doesn't end up well. The priest recognizes the he alone won't be able to cast out the devil. He also films the sessions. The parents are still in disbelief until one day the father interrupts a session only to actually see for himself how possessed she is. Things get deadlier for the family and we learn some darker secrets about the priest and Emma.

Exorcismus was produced by Spanish production company Filmax which specializes in high quality, lower budget, good-natured, PG-13 horror movies, where the behavior of the characters is far less believable than the horror. This is their take on the exorcism genre, although the exorcisms aren't all that much at the center of the movie, "Possession" would be a more apt title. It follows the Filmax recipe, it won't offend anyone's sensibilities, is well directed, and has a European/Spanish feel to it.

The first third of the movie is very strong. It has its creepy moments, the hand-held camera-work is great and so is the digital sound. The heavily discolored look of the movie, however, is annoying. It doesn't manage to keep the interest or pace as things become less interesting during the second third for some reason, even though that's when stuff starts happening. The last third improves a bit as we learn why the girl really cut herself at the beginning of the movie. And we learn why the priest is so highly motivated to act. What I liked about it was that everything takes place during the day, even outdoors. This devil isn't scared of the sun or of public places. No lame night scenes, rain, thunder, lights going out and all the clichés that plague every single American horror movie. Exorcismus is enjoyable but it doesn't break any new ground, which is something that this type of movie needs at this point, although Sophie Vavasseur's understated performance is excellent.

Wow... At first I thought this movie was brand new (cause of the title where i saw it) Looks like apparently it came out last year....Could have fooled me.. While watching I thought this was a continuation of the exorcist movies but guess not... I absolutely loved this film. Not a big horror buff..however doesn't seem like this movie focuses on the "horror" aspect as much as the do just keeping you on the edge of your seat !! Compared to all other possession films - The films I've seen usually come from the the Preacher's point of view... This firm lets you actually "feel" what the possessed is going through, ie.. her fears, her feeling, her need for help... It all there in this movie.

This movie is nothing new to anyone who has ever watched a film about exorcism(s). Throughout the movie we encounter the standard possession scenes. a demon (or spiritual entity) taking complete control of a person's body for any length of time, remaining dormant at other times. The movie follows your run-of-the-mill exorcism-movie progression… the demon at first seems to only manifest timidly, with more boldness as the film progresses, and finally stops bothering to hide itself altogether, along with a spiritual adviser to try and excise the demon.

There are a couple of things that set this movie apart from the others, though, and that was quite pleasing.

The first is the complete lack of "jump" scenes, at least from my perspective. There might be a few scenes where viewers are scared or grossed out, but not nearly to the standard found in most movies in the exorcism sub-genre. For me, I found it a bit disappointing… I honestly love shock scenes, and this movie needed a bit more excitement. It would be a good movie for those who are easily scared or unfamiliar with the concepts of possession, but has little else to offer as far as suspense. I might be able to watch this movie with my friends who are not horror or suspense fans, as it holds little of either.

Another element that is a bit different in this movie is the exorcist himself. We know little enough about him at the beginning of the movie, but as the movie progresses his character deepens towards the climatic twist; and the foreshadowing is there for those who watch closely. The reasons for events in and around the possession and exorcism are fairly unique; my kudos to the writer for (as far as I know) introducing something a little bit new into the genre, instead of completely recycling The Exorcist.

I didn't notice that the acting was bad; it really wasn't. The female lead Sophie Vavasseur did quite a good job in her role, especially in the demanding scenes where she must switch personalities between the teen Emma and the possessing spirit; both in attitude, body and facial expression.

Overall, I can't really recommend this movie to any horror/suspense fan unless they are looking for another cookie-cutter supernatural film to whittle away the time.