[Film Review] Exorcist Vengeance (2022)

Exorcist Vengeance follows tough cookie Catholic priest Father Josef as he battles against the ultimate evil, the Devil himself. After the possession of a prominent family occurs, Father Josef must draw on experiences from his own past if he is to lay the demons to rest.

Directed by Scott Jeffrey and Rebecca J. Matthews, Exorcist Vengeance is part Robert Rodriguez style exploitation cinema in the character of Father Josef, a gun toting, world weary exorcism expert, reminiscent of Danny Trejo’s Machete Kills (2013). After the death of the family’s matriarch, Agnes, her live-in carer is possessed and the family seeks the services of Father Josef. Whilst performing the exorcism, family members begin to be killed off in mysterious circumstances, and so in joining forces with Rebecca (Agnes’ granddaughter) they must rid the house of all evil.

With one of the biggest horror movies of all time being a demonic possession movie, it sets the standards extraordinarily high for all possession and exorcism films that are made thereafter. For a possession film to be successful, it must have an original viewpoint, lest it be a poorly made carbon copy of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973). Whilst Exorcist Vengeance certainly seems to be an ode to Friedkin’s horror masterpiece, it unfortunately falls a little bit short when it comes to the actual demonic exorcist factor. Lacking any sort of demonic lore or factual rites of exorcism knowledge, it feels a little bit two dimensional. 

The highlights of Exorcist Vengeance lies within the special FX work used on the possessed humans. With plenty of spurting bodily fluids, demonic unnatural growling and vocal manipulation, and enough black smoke to satiate fans of the popular tv show Supernatural, it is the special FX department of the film, both practical and computer graphics, that are to be commended. Another positive aspect of Exorcist Vengeance is the portrayal of the possessed home carer Magda played by Anna Liddell. The actor seems to revel in the role as a regurgitating, snarling conduit of the Devil, and it is the standout performance of the whole piece.

Exorcist Vengeance, while it is difficult to pin down a particular tone, seems to be an homage to the demonic occult films of the 1970s, like the aforementioned The Exorcist (1973) and The Sentinel (1977), as well as the characters of exploitation movies from the same era in addition to a murder mystery who-dunnit reminiscent of early giallo. It seems with a little more fine tuning, a more defined narration and playing more to the film’s strengths, Exorcist Vengeance could have huge potential.

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