BARE BONES: MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM (2022)

MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM (2022)

Amazon Prime flick is based on a book by Grady Hendrix and is set in 1988. Story has best friends at a strict Catholic School, Abby (Elsie Fisher) and Gretchen (Amiah Miller) going away on a lakeside weekend together and happening upon an abandoned house. Inside Gretchen is attacked and a terrified Abby flees. When Gretchen re-emerges, Abby thinks she was raped, but it soon appears the attack was more demonic in nature. As the possessed Gretchen wreaks havoc at school, Abby is determined to free her from this demonic presence.

 

Streaming horror/comedy is directed by Damon Thomas from a script by Jenna Lamia based on the Hendrix book. Despite its billing as a horror/comedy Thomas seems to want to play it straight, yet the film does feels like it is going to veer into a comedy at any moment…and sometimes does. Some of the stuff, such as the religious weightlifting trio, is outright goofy while some of the horror scenes are not. The noncommittal tone doesn’t help, nor does it that we have seen it all before right down to Gretchen’s ultra-religious parents. There is some commentary on rape and how victims are not believed, as Abby is vilified when initially trying to get her friend help for the perceived physical assault. There is also a lot of fun poked at conservative religion. Thomas does have a colorful visual style, but the film never gets intense enough to be taken seriously or funny enough to satisfy as spoof or comedy. Overall, a forgettable 90+ minutes.

 

-MonsterZero NJ

BARE BONES: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2022)

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2022)

Direct sequel has four friends Melody (Sarah Yarkin), her sister Lila (Elsie Fisher), Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Ruth (Nell Hudson) traveling to the small ghost town of Harlow, Texas with the intent of developing the almost deserted municipality where they recently bought property. When they reluctantly evict an old woman (Alice Krige) from her home and she dies from the stress, they enrage her deranged son…Leatherface (Mark Burnham).

This new Texas Chainsaw Massacre is well directed by David Blue Garcia from a script by Chris Thomas Devlin based on a story by Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues. It is a solid enough horror flick but brings nothing new to the franchise and certainly doesn’t freshen it up much for a new generation. There is plenty of the expected gore, which is very well-done, and some nice action and intensity, but otherwise it’s nothing innovative or rejuvenating for a franchise that really has floundered since Hopper stopped making them after Part 2. The cast are all good, with our four young leads being a likable bunch and Mark Burnham being efficient, but not especially memorable, as the senior citizen version of Leatherface. Its an entertaining 83 minutes of horror and really delivers in the last act but is definitely not a new classic. It is one of the better sequels, though that isn’t saying much. Flick also stars Olwen Fouéré as Sally Hardesty, who arrives—a la Laurie Strode—to face the evil she escaped all those years ago, and new narration by John Larroquette.

-MonsterZero NJ