Eli Roth Presents: The Legion of Exorcists

Super irritating actors narrating super lame stories and I *should* know better because, Eli Roth...not sure if I'm more annoyed with him, Netflix or myself for having wasted precious minutes on this pap. What never fails to baffle me is the lack of coherence the "exorcists" display. Anyone with even a modicum of exposure to the topic knows the supernatural rules of engagement and why try casting out demons when the individuals affected aren't adherents to any kind of relationship deterrent, ie. Becoming Christians = incompatibility with the demonic. What sort of "pastors" are these people? Did they get ordained online? I am decided, I am most annoyed with myself for being lured in by boredom. Eli Roth score 1, me - goose egg.

I'm not sure how you make a documentary series about exorcism that ends up this dull. Although it does not seem truthful. I have seen documentaries about the history and belief of exorcism and there are a couple facts that don't line up with this show. First off exorcism is very rare in the modern world especially in the modern U. S. Yet this show makes it seem so common. An exorcism can only be preformed by an exorcist, it is special training separate from any and all other training in the Catholic church. Yet when you watch the show they are listed as pastor or bishop but none are listed as exorcist, IMDB has them listed as actor and when you go into the profile it says they have been acting for the past 20 years or however long they have been doing it. So none are actual exorcists and even if the claim is they were reading off actual files from real exorcists it's doubtful because they never got permission. An exorcism cannot be performed unless you receive authorization from the Catholic Church and I believe that authorization comes from the Vatican not your local church either way none of the stories mention contacting the Catholic Church for approval before performing an exorcism.

Even if it is all true how the stories are told is just dull, slow and mostly boring.

The characters come across as incredible posers, and the re-enactments are about as heavy-handed and schlocky as something from the Hallmark Channel, while as blunt as a brick wall.

If they're trying to be convincing, they failed--failed utterly. You'd have to be really, really, really drunk to want to watch more than about 10 minutes at a time. You'd also have to be extremely devout to believe what's being shown. These actors do a poor job of convincing me that they're human, much less that they're portraying real people.

I have to ask: Why was this made?

Who was this show made for?

Who could possibly benefit from this?

Someone paid good money for this, and I cannot imagine why.

UPDATE: I did some research into this project. It seems the idea was to have actual exorcists (or people who believe they are) tell stories about what they've dealt with. It was originally intended as a serious interview show. Then Eli Roth was brought on board, refilmed the whole discussion board with Bishop Long and the people he picked, and scrapped everyone and everything else to make it /his/ show. In the process, of course, anything remotely interesting was lost, as was anything of substance or integrity. Also, all the "exorcists" now only tell stories that are 100% in keeping with catholic doctrine and mythology. What a load of guano!

This has got to be a joke, right? It must be!

Exorcism is a very serious thing that takes faith, strength, patience and time. This is almost formulaic- non-ordained "exorcists" battle demons and very quickly expel them. All live happily ever after. Yeah, not convinced.

Also, real exorcists are not allowed by the church to talk about their experiences in such a cavalier manner. This topic is closely guarded by the church, as it should be. It's not exactly something that should be considered entertainment.

Sorry, Eli, but this is very disappointing. You shouldn't have taken such a heavy handed, schlocky approach.

Skip this one, folks. There are better things out there.

How can Eli Roth be allowed to get away with this rubbish?

First he tries to tell us they are true stories. Where's the physical evidence?

Then that this, so called, Legion of Exorcists are Bishops, Reverends etc. They are actors, look at the credits.

Sadly there are a lot of people who believe this rubbish and making fictional programmes and try to pass it off as real, is dangerous.

The acting is atrocious. The stories weak.

The only positive is I had a really good laugh watching it, even though I'm sure I'm not supposed to.

I don't think Eli Roth does his reputation any good with these repeated poor quality fictional programmes.