This is a very 80s movie (even though it came out in 2022). I'm still a little salty because I've never read the book because I bought it a few years ago and lost access to it when Amazon locked my account and I haven't gotten around to buying it again (I'm slowly buying back my book collection, but I had thousands of books on my old account, so it's going to take awhile). I wasn't sure if I would like this movie or not, but I decided to give it a chance today since I'm watching a lot of movies that I've wanted to see for awhile, so this fits.
This movie is about best friends Abby and Gretchen who navigate the world of school, crushes, boys, and a demonic force that suddenly starts to take possession of Gretchen's soul. Enlisting the help of a mall exorcist, Abby is determined to cast out the demon and save her friend.
This movie is aggressively 80s, like I mentioned earlier. it's got the music and the clothes and the hairstyles to prove it. I think this is supposed to be a comedy, but I don't find a teenage girl thinking her friend was raped and trying to help her to be very funny. Especiallywhenher parents and the nun who runs their school act like being raped equals losing your virginity and that'swhy it'sabad thing. it's like this movie is a young adult novel from the 80s wrapped in an after school special tied up in 80s hair. None of this is to say that the movie is bad, just that I don't find it funny.
Once I decided that I wasn't going to find the movie funny and I just started trying to enjoy it as a serious flick, I started to enjoy it more. The movie manages some creepy scenes as Gretchen's friends finally start to see something's wrong with her, then the movie lapses again as it tries to be funny when Abby decides to do an exorcism, then there are some creepy scenes, then the movie tries to be funny again...I think "uneven" is the best word to describe the movie at this point. I wish it would just stop trying so hard to be hilarious, because the points where it's just a creepy exorcism movie work the best for me. I like exorcism movies (and, to be fair, after school specials) so that vibe works for me too. insofar as the movie follows this formula, it's a pretty good movie, so my advice is to ignore the attempts at humor and enjoy the movie for its scary exorcism scenes. those work best in my opinion, and they save this movie when it wants to sink into mediocrity.
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