The Exorcism of Molly Hartley

Judging from the number of fake reviews here already (come on IMDb, sort it out), it looks as though 20th Century Fox have got their interns rattling out fake shill reviews to try and make a few dollars out of this tripe. While marginally better than the first Molly Hartley film, this one is still pretty much in the 'utter nonsense' category. The storyline is below weak; preposterously stupid in the most part, the acting is simply dire. I felt offended that anyone would release this garbage for viewing by the public at large. The 'acting' is absolutely shocking. I doubt any of the cast would make it into a High School play let alone (one hopes) another film. As a horror fan I get to watch a lot of bilge, and this one is near the very bottom of the pile. Best avoided. I look forward to exorcising this rubbish from my Hard drive.

I found it to be a pretty good exorcism movie actually. The scenes were very creepy. The acting was quite good. There were only two things that kind of ruined the movie for me. The first was the choice of actor for the exorcist. They would have been better off picking an average looking Joe. Instead we get super model, chiseled, father sexy stubble.

The second and worst part was the ending. I'll be honest, the ending was just plain terrible. They had a great twist going and somehow just said to heck with it when writing the screen play. The ending had scenes that made little sense in how they developed, and the writers apparently were just tired of writing the movie.

Even though the first film (The Haunting of Molly Hartley) had disappointed me (to say the least), I still decided to give the sequel a shot, mostly due to my understanding that it would involve demonic possessions and exorcisms, which make for a good plot and a fine scare when done right. After watching it, all I can say is that I'm glad I've given it a shot, but only because I've made sure to really lower my expectations.

The story line is pretty decent, if a little corny and tacky. All grown up and celebrating her 24th birthday, Molly (Sarah Lind, a fine actress given bad instructions by an obviously mediocre director) secretly awaits the conclusion of her destiny - to give birth to Satan. To her aid come Laurie Hawthorne (Gina Holden), her doctor at the mental institution, and John Barrow (Devon Sawa), a former priest stripped of his authority after an error of judgment in his previous exorcism cause the death of his fellow priest and the possessed woman. Consumed by guilt and regret, Barlow hopes to salvage his soul by helping Molly.

Besides the story, decent acting and pretty good characters - everything else is the same let down I've grown to expect after the first film. Director Steven R. Monroe has taken screenwriter Matt Venne's good enough story and botched it with blunt and preposterous overacting, attempting to achieve a dramatic effect but failing. Both Molly and Barrow are overly melodramatic, with dialogues and monologues resembling fan-fiction written by an enthusiastic junior- high fan-girl. Absolutely nothing about the film original, and some scenes seem to have shamelessly stolen (flies and vomit from The Exorcism, the twisted crawling on all fours from The Ring/Ringu, and the hidden antagonist from The Last Exorcism, for instance). And then, of course, the completely unnecessary nudity and sex scene in the beginning... Any Horror film using that pathetic cheat is not to be taken seriously unless other aspects of it are a total divine masterpiece, which is not nearly the case for The Exorcism of Molly Hartley.

All in all, anything and everything that makes for a good exorcism film is stolen (and no, not in the way of tribute and homage, simply in the way of "I got nothing, let's steal it"). This includes the forced plot twist. Am I glad I've given this film a chance? Yes (as it's quite entertaining if one expects it to be terrible). Have I been pleasantly surprised? Absolutely not. Still beats the first film, but hardly.

It's a sequel to the haunting in Molly... and that movie was more teen audience based, this is where the movie makers took the critique and molded it into a better second movie. One of the few horror movies which the sequel is better than the first. It was mainly an OK film. The way it began I doubted it would be. It picked up though. If you are into exorcisms as I am you will like this. The most unconvincing was the female lead actor. she didn't have the gravitas or the chops for the role. Devon Sawa justified his role as a priest. Just my opinion. Is it me or did the ending point to another exorcism in a future film? I'm giving it a generous 7out of 10.

Molly Hartley is not a well-known name on possession game, it's also a straight to DVD title which might not instill hope for quality. Surprisingly, it has a few nifty gimmicks at play as it tries to conjure different setup than most of its haunted peers. It also, sadly, falls face first with corny scares and unintentionally funny moment just when it needs to deliver the horror.

Story follows not only Molly (Sarah Lind), but also the disgraced Father John (Devon Sawa). After a botched exorcism, mostly due to his part, John is convicted and lost his faith. Meanwhile, Molly displays odd tendency for murder and unworldly pranks. Instead of going Vatican on her, they throw her to jail, which admittedly a rather realistic choice of action.

There are a few different developments that occasionally show glimpse of horror. It creates the right atmosphere, or at least the illusion of such, and with it the movie tries to pull off timely twists. This is already a better effort than some horror films, but unfortunately the execution betrays all the buildup.

The use of jump scares is appalling, almost despicably so. Molly is also keen on spewing her meals unto unsuspecting victims. The effect and make up are not well done, they only manage to be disgusting and not in horrifying way. Perhaps, the worst is amalgamation of shifty production and overacting that makes some of supposed intense moments into awkward parody of itself.

Watching this is like watching devil spawn trying to be full-fledged demon. It almost does horror correctly, but eventually falls down like a kindergarten kid tripping over his bike and puke all over the place. Then again, one can't help but to give some merit or leniency to the effort and buildup.