The Exorcism of God – Review [Fantastic Fest] (4/5)

THE EXORCISM OF GOD is a new horror movie about demons, possession, and exorcism. And it’s a damn good one! This movie manages to both pay tribute to those before while also being innovative. Read our full The Exorcism of God movie review here!

THE EXORCISM OF GOD is a new exorcism horror movie. In this one, you’ll see a priest misbehaving, the Catholic church being extremely bad (often by simply not acting) and then there are the demons. This horror movie manages to be truly innovative in ways I did not expect. Also, it utilizes the runtime very elegantly.

Just be ready for anything. This movie pushes boundaries and won’t be for everyone, but the story definitely holds up as a whole. We screened this at Fantastic Fest and it was yet another awesome part of their line-up. It will be out in US theaters later via Saban Films.

Continue reading our The Exorcism of God movie review below.

Both homage and innovative

While The Exorcism of God begins with an homage to The Exorcist – and it is clearly an homage, not a flat copy – it also has a lot of innovative elements. One thing is the fact that the focus is very much on the priest. We begin with one exorcism but it is far from the only one in this movie.

Also, this will not be easy to watch for those very religious. At least not devout Catholics, but I doubt they’d even want to watch a movie with this title. Having said that, this is definitely about having faith in God and believing that you can make a difference. It’s just quite critical of organized religion.

I should mention that fans of The Exorcist will see more tribute points sprinkled throughout. Almost in an Easter Egg fashion, though fairly obvious.

Have faith – but maybe not in religion!

Just as was the case with Midnight Mass, this movie doesn’t exactly make religion out to be inherently good. Faith is never the problem. Organized religion most definitely is. Oh, and in this movie, demons are most definitely also a big problem! Another thing in common with Mike Flanagan’s production is the fact that it might be difficult to watch for some people.

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Our review of Mike Flanagan’s new Netflix series Midnight Mass here >

In The Exorcism of God, you’ll see a priest doing something very wrong and wanting to confess. However, the Catholic church isn’t all that interested in dealing with the issue. Something that sounds all too familiar and an issue that the Catholic church, in particular, has dealt with. Undoubtedly, this is exactly what the filmmaker is really talking about.

And yes, it is actually done with both heart and elegance. The good priests and loving and faithful worshippers are in no way criticized here. It’s all about the church refusing to deal with tough internal issues. That just means everyone else is left to clean up the mess.

Don’t miss out on The Exorcism of God

The star of The Exorcism of God is Will Beinbrink (“Tom” in It: Chapter 2) as Father Peter Williams. Will Beinbrink does an amazing job! Also, the cast featured María Gabriela de Faría (Deadly Class), Irán Castillo (El Chapo), and Joseph Marcell (“Geoffrey” on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) in key supporting roles.

Alejandro Hidalgo is the director and co-writer of The Exorcism of God. The other writer involved with the screenplay is Santiago Fernández Calvete. This is only the second movie from Alejandro Hidalgo. His debut was in 2013 with the award-winning The House at the End of Time (org. title La casa del fin de los tiempos) which is also really good!

So much works so extremely well in this movie, which is why it is definitely worth watching. Any fan of exorcism movies (or The Exorcist in particular) should not miss out on this one!

THE EXORCISM OF GOD had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest where we screened it. It will also be out in Theaters, on Demand and Digital in the US on March 11, 2022, via Saban Films.

Details

Director: Alejandro Hidalgo
Writers: Santiago Fernández Calvete, Alejandro Hidalgo
Stars: Will Beinbrink, María Gabriela de Faría, Joseph Marcell, Hector Kotsifakis, Irán Castillo