My Best Friend's Exorcism

Nothing like the book. Not half as good. Terrible in comparison. Was really looking forward to this but it was not good. Having the read the book i was looking forward to seeing the story play out on screen. Unfortunately the story told is not that close to the story of the book. Film loses the charm and character of the original story though there are some similarities. The film is neither funny or scary, it's a bit of a mess. Cast are good apart for the whole Lemon brothers rubbish. That was shameful. I'm glad that it was on Prime as I'd be annoyed if I'd paid money to purchase this tripe. Not worth your time.

A great premise and a good book. Could have been Booksmart meets The Exorcist. But Elsie Fisher is awful as Abigail which torpedos most of the film's promise and none of the cast are helped by a very lazy and poorly crafted script. The whole films feel very rushed, there's no connection to the main characters as most of the back story and bonding has been ditched I'm favour of getting to the horror elements faster. Which leads to the final strike against this film, in that it's about as scary as an episode of Scooby Doo. Constantly shifting in time between young teen/family friendly and adult. It just never really knows what it's doing. Amiah Miller does however deliver a good performance despite the bad material and myopic direction she's been given.

"My Best Friend's Exorcism" is a light horror-comedy film, based on the novel of the same name, but when it is adapted to a screenplay, it does not achieve the expected charm. The film starts well by showing us conventional teenagers with their typical age problems but in the course of its duration everything becomes ridiculous, the comic dialogues go from funny to repetitive and unfunny, the horror elements also have a good start until they disappear. The actors do their job, the costume and hair design are good, they transport you to the eighties, but the digital effects are terrible as if they came from a cheap television movie of the '00s. The end result is a film that catches and then turns stupid with the occasional salvageable scene.

I really enjoyed this book, but this movie misses the mark. I think it would've been better as a miniseries. To recap, this is a story of childhood friendship. A Stephen King says no matter how many friends or family you have in your life, you will never have friends like that again. It's also a coming of age story, and what happens as you and your friends start getting older and branching out. It's a story of high school anxiety and 80s nostalgia (Frusen Glädjé!) . And, front and center, of course it's a story about strange things starting to happen and possible dark forces visiting your hometown. Good stuff for spooky season!

Unfortunately, I don't think the story translated well here. Grady Hendrix's books are usually pretty jam-packed, so I don't see how you could cram everything into 90 minutes. It definitely felt choppy. Key scenes and characters fell flat because they didn't have enough set up. Things happened that seemed pretty random unless you knew the backstory. It felt like they were moving really fast, more like paying homage to major scenes rather than building a story that could stand on its own.

The best parts of the book- the sinister, creeping horror story build, the BFF saga, the 80s nostalgia- don't come across, and the whole thing felt rushed. I had no emotional investment in any of these people. It's the first point that bothers me the most. Why watch a horror movie if it's not even going to be spooky or scary?

Anyway, imo you're left with an empty book recap if you know the story, and I don't even know what you'd get out of it if you didn't. Maybe just a time filler movie to watch during a flight or something to have on in the background.

I really like Elsie Fischer, and she and Amiah Miller turn in good performances for what they were given. Chris Lowell too. They at least keep it watchable (if you know the story, anyway). The other actors were barely given enough material to register. Production was ok. 3 stars for the acting and for putting out a spooky movie in October.

'My Best Friend's Exorcism' is a horror/comedy that isn't horrifying and isn't funny. In fact it never even really feels like it is trying to be either of those things. I can think of only a small handful of times where the film attempts to get a laugh, and it never comes off. And the horror side of things is more just nastiness than anything else.

I don't really know who this film is targeted at. It isn't fun enough to be for kids. But it is nowhere near dark enough to be aimed at adults. It seems to fall into an awkward middle ground.

The characters are incredibly bland. They aren't funny or clever or sexy or inspiring. No energy is spent building them into anything at all. Every one of them could basically be the same person.

Without spoiling anything, there is a decision made at the end of the movie to show something quite important. I can't stress how bad of a decision this was. What isn't seen is always infinitely more scary than what is seen. This did not look good and was a final nail in the coffin for this film.

The only redeeming factor I can find is that some good song choices were used. Otherwise though this was a misfire. 3/10.