I know I said that I was going to try my best to steer clear of alleged horror films but somehow, I found myself watching it to while away the time and it has been nothing less than satirical. Horror films are meant to be frightful and eerie but one could say that I have seen a whole of horror films in my life and frankly, none of them scare me anymore.
I just finished watching “Prey for the Devil” because for starters, I was reeled in by the captivating movie title. How does the devil choose its prey? What can one do to avoid being a prey for the devil? These are a few questions I threw to the wind before I began the movie and I wished silently that the movie attempted to answer these questions? Did it? Read along.
About The Movie
The Roman Catholic Church tries to combat a global rise in demonic possession by opening a school to teach only male students on the art and science of exorcism. Although nuns are explicitly exempted from this study, the professor recognizes an innate talent for exorcism in sister Ann and offers to tutor her alongside his other male students. This of course is a privilege in which sister Ann is grateful for.
Being the very resilient person that she is with an added advantage, sister Ann willingly faces battle with an old demon she claims possessed her mother when Ann was a kid. The demon which now possesses a young girl in Ann’s care fights tirelessly to possess Ann as well. Ann has to prevent the demon from possessing her while still trying to free the current vessel from the demon’s inhabitation.
Released on the 28th of October, 2022, “Prey for the Devil” is a horror, thriller, exorcism film directed by Daniel Stamm. The movie spans for 93 minutes and is a product of the United States of America. The movie stars actors like Jacqueline Byers, Virginia Madsen, Colin Salmon, Christian Navarro and Debora Zhecheva.
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My Opinion
I tried watching this movie at the hair salon while getting my hair done but my stylist's constant screams and startled reactions were so daunting and this made me think that maybe, just maybe, this was an actual horror film. But as I completed the movie at home, I came up with a proper conclusion; Prey for the Devil is far from proper.
My honest opinion would be that this movie is clear cut vapid. I found some parts of the movie satirical because of the plost’s attempt to imitate previous exorcism movies; however, if I was looking for a proper jump scare horror film, I would be absolutely disappointed. The plot was awfully familiar and anyone who have seen previous exorcism movies would feel like they were seeing a poorly replicated version. To prove my point that the plot was a bad attempt at duplicating, major aspects that are supposed to make up an exorcism movie were left out. There are two reasons why this could be; first, the other exorcism movies have been lying about these aspects or second, the script writers chose to leave it out. One can truly understand this if they watch the film.
The lackluster acting of the characters was another subpar aspect of this movie. For one, this movie had very few characters and can easily be classified as a minimalist film. For minimalist films, the few characters are supposed to put in as much effort into their acting as possible because they are practically the only people the audience is viewing. When they notably fail to do this, it becomes a problem.
Another thing I would like to point out are the overly dark scenes. I know horror films are supposed to have some form of eeriness to them but this cannot be achieved when the viewers can barely see what is going on on the screen. There were a few parts where the screen got really dark and I had to do a lot of squinting and adjustment just to catch a glimpse of what was going on. This isn't the first time I've observed this in a horror film and it makes the viewing experience very unfavourable.
Aside from its notable shortcomings, the movie had a few good aspects, one being the themes of faith, perseverance, self-discovery and resilience. These attributes were demonstrated by Ann who went through trauma as a child but didn't allow her childhood trauma to define her. By doing so, she faced her fears and this led to her being the first female exorcist after seven centuries.
Recommendation and Rating
This is no doubt one of the most satirical horror films I've seen in a while but it can easily pass as a good watch for one who hasn't seen a lot of horror films or one who is just looking to while away the time. I would give the movie a 4/10 rating and hope that movie producers who aim to produce exorcism movies in the future do a whole lot better.
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Other images are screenshots from my movie player.
4/ 10 is crazy 😂. I haven't even watched it and I already see how it looks like all the other horror movies. I don't like minimalist films most times, only few ever meet the cut.
Surprisingly a few people were awestruck by this movie so the entertainment one would derive from it totally depends on what genre of movie one watches frequently. If you've had a history with horror films then this would be comedy for you😂
hehe, I think I get that. I don't watch horror movies regularly, but thats just because I rarely see anyone worth the watch.
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