Metacritic reviews

My Best Friend’s Exorcism has something for everyone: strong female characters, spooky atmosphere, humor, heart, a bitchin’ 1980s setting. There is a lot to like here, and plenty to enjoy all year round.

It’s a devilishly smart and self-aware take on the current trend for Eighties horror homage, lovingly adapted from Grady Hendrix’s 2016 novel of the same name.

At its best and its sharpest, this film is less about supernatural monsters than about the common fear of drifting apart from the people you love.

Although the film makes some notable insights about the teenage psyche, there isn’t quite enough ‘there’ there to elevate the film above the ranks of average horror programming.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism could perhaps do with one or two genuine scares. But for anyone old enough to remember Tiffany and advice columns in teenage girls’ magazines, this is going to deliver a pleasing shot of nostalgia.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism is gateway horror that puts storytelling above terror. It’s steady on its 1980s teenage-girl friendship drama, but other elements around the messaging stumble.

The film repeatedly undercuts whatever tension is mustered with its frustrating tendency to crack goofy, juvenile jokes.

Unlike its levitating heroine, it never really gets off the ground.

Ostensibly, this is a movie about best friends and the exorcism that comes between them. Only the second part of the title lands.

Though this ’80s-set horror-comedy takes an old-school approach to capturing the horrific happenings, the stunts are lackluster and the comedic hijinks are a tiresome bore. With very little interest conjured from the filmmakers to properly develop their characters, there’s little incentive to stay interested.