My Best Friend’s Exorcism lacks both the frights and the laughs to be recommended to seasoned horror fans. An argument, however, can be made for the importance of movies like this to young viewers interested in horror.
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My Best Friend’s Exorcism
Directed by Damon Thomas
Screenplay by Jenna Lamia
Starring Elsie Fisher, Amiah Miller and Rachel Ogechi Kanu
My Best Friend’s Exorcism Review
People come to horror in different ways. You might have caught a Friday the 13th marathon edited for basic cable or been subjected to Sleepaway Camp while at a sleepover. Perhaps your parents indoctrinated you early either out of sharing their love of the genre or just not minding what you were watching. Maybe you loved a movie directed at kids like Hocus Pocus or The Monster Squad. Last year the Netflix Fear Street trilogy undoubtedly was the first taste of horror for many teen viewers. My Best Friend’s Exorcism best fits somewhere in between the last two types.
Best friends Abby (Elsie Fisher) and Gretchen (Amiah Miller) are faced with a big life change as Gretchen’s family prepares to move out of state. Their final days together are thrown into disarray when Gretchen becomes possessed by a demon. Abby must find a way to save her friend. Given the title of the movie I’m going to assume you’ve figured out what that will be.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism is set in 1988. Outside of a few music choices there doesn’t seem to be much reason for that. The bulk of the movie is spent watching Gretchen descend into a possessed state and doing harmful things to her friends. It’s all played very safe outside of some swearing. There is nothing scary here for veteran horror viewers. The safety may be the point though. This is the kind of movie that can be a gateway movie for younger viewers.
Given the theme of teen friendship that My Best Friend’s Exorcism proudly champions you could see it being a go to watch at slumber parties. The bigger problem is that the movie also isn’t funny. A third act character understands what it’s supposed to be and tries to make something fun out of his role. For the most part though, it has a light tone with a lack of laughs.
The good news is that the cast does their best to make the material work. The two leads do a fine job selling their friendship and fall out. When Gretchen’s possession transforms her into a kind of uber-mean girl there is fun in Miller’s performance. Fisher’s Abby has the less showy job of being the concerned friend who everyone turns against. Her performance never rings false.
By now it’s obvious that unless you’ve never seen a horror movie before there isn’t much in My Best Friend’s Exorcism for you. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. If you have a tween interested in dabbling in horror but afraid to see something that is too much for them…this might fit the bill. Be aware, however, that there is some strong language and, for some reason, an accusation of rape in the movie. The latter is used to drive a wedge between Abby and her friend group…something that could have been achieved any number of better ways.
Directed by Damon Thomas and based on the novel of the same name by Grady Hendrix, My Best Friend’s Exorcism is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
Scare Value
My Best Friend’s Exorcism lacks anything a seasoned horror watcher will want in a movie. But they aren’t the intended audience here anyway. It never gets scary, even during the inevitable exorcism, and its lack of comedy is a curious choice. It may have value for a younger viewer who has never seen a more traditional horror movie. Which makes you question the addition of the F bombs an odd choice. That said, Fear Street had a character murdered by a meat slicer and seemed to be marketed towards Stranger Things viewers so who knows.
2/5
Watch now on Amazon Prime Video
