![]() ![]() With the prison warden refusing to liberate any non-possessed prisoners for the sake of one who happens to be experiencing a demonic infestation, he strikes up a deal with the clergymen: Stay locked up all night in the veritable fortress to perform the sacrament, with the guards set to return in the wee hours of the morning. Realizing that his own past is beginning to haunt him and the quaint Mexican town he inhabits, Peter calls upon his London-based superior Father Michael Lewis (Joseph Marcell) to back him up. At first unbeknownst to Peter, the indecent act he committed all those years ago continues to have serious consequences, manifesting in a young woman named Esperanza (María Gabriela de Faría), who is possessed by the same demon from the priest’s last exorcism. ![]() This time, as opposed to visiting a crucifix-laden domicile, he’s welcomed into the dingy, cement-walled hostility of a women’s prison. Though he resolved to never perform the rite thereafter, he finds himself unexpectedly called upon once again. This feels particularly shameful given the intensity of Mexico’s national obsession with exorcisms over the past decade, undoubtedly a product of an ongoing Vatican-backed culture war.Īn American priest living in Mexico, Father Peter Williams (Will Beinbrink) has spent eighteen years silently repenting a carnal sin that overpowered him during the exorcism of one of his own parishioners. Much of this might have to do with the majority-English dialogue, save for the central priest’s anglicized Spanish accent and a few ancillary characters meant to impart a sense of “local flavor.” Fortunately, the film does manage to set up some genuine jumpscares-personally, I’ll take a scream-inducing cheap scare over a sparse, barely-spooky “atmospheric” vibe any day of the week-but it is critically lacking in narrative finesse. Almost completely void of any shred of stimulating commentary is Alejandro Hidalgo’s The Exorcism of God, which strains in its attempt to unpack the legacy of Catholicism and missionaries in Mexico. While no subgenre will produce consistently canon-worthy entries, horror films are exceptional in that even in their glaring imperfections, there’s usually some sort of transgressive motive to any given project-typically a societal critique or defense-meant to disturb, provoke or scintillate. The concept of driving out demons from a captive mortal vessel has fueled some of the most chilling horror films of all time, yet it has inevitably also resulted in its fair share of uninspired, pseudo-religious ramblings. ![]()
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