Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Exorcismus’

Written by Scott Edwards 

There are things that happen that are beyond explanation. Sometimes it happens in the strangest of places, away from prying eyes, but other times it happens to a person and that is much more frightening. When a person loses control of their body and starts to talk and take shape as a being that is not of this earth, how could you explain it? Most of the time, doctors will say that they are suffering from multiple personalities and give them pills to fix the problem, but that is not a fix for everyone as there could be something else inside of them that is dying to be set free.

Emma is regular teenager who is trying to rebel against her parents, but not get in trouble for her actions. Since she is being homeschooled by her mother, she craves the attention of her friends more than ever and will do anything to impress them. But on her fifteenth birthday, she takes it a little bit too far and after playing with a Ouija board and drinking heavily, she is in for a change of a lifetime that nobody in her family is willing to admit is happening.

Saying that she cut her hand by falling in the bathroom, Emma has a secret that she is not willing to tell her parents, but knows that she needs help. Thinking that it is just her lashing out at authority, her parents send her to a psychiatrist to receive treatment, but during her session, the doctor has a heart attack and falls dead in Emma’s lap. Not remembering anything that happened, Emma is starting to go through spells of time that she cannot recall, and it is slowly starting to drive her crazy. Not being able to tell anyone but her uncle about what is happening to her, she tries to hide it from her family, but her little brother sees her in one of her phases and calls her out on it.

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​Wanting to find out what is happening to their daughter, Emma’s parents decide to call their brother in to help, and he just so happens to be a priest. Even though they do not believe in possessions or the devil, seeing Emma levitate off of the floor after she was ready to harm her mother, they know that there is something other worldly taking ahold of her. Uncle Chris comes into the house and prepares to help his niece, but has some ground rules that have to be set with the family first, and the main one is that he must video tape every session he has with the girl, mostly to protect himself from the church if he gets discovered. Being disbanded by the church for another girl’s death, Chris is looking for answers and a way to protect his flesh and blood from receiving the same fate, or is he?

Exorcismus follows Emma as she has welcomed the devil into her life after feeling like it is the only way for her to be happy in her home. Not knowing the power, the beast can bring, Emma starts going through periods of time where she cannot remember what she is doing, along with seeing things that are not really there. After she confides in her uncle what she has done, she finds that he is willing to help but will still keep her in the dark about what is happening to her, especially when he starts conducting an exorcism on her. Emma wants to know desperately what is happening to her and her family wants to know why the beast is becoming more powerful in their daughter's body. As the sessions continue, they become more violent, but that is not all that is happening as Emma is losing her friends and family to freak accidents that are feeding the devil inside of her. With his power growing by the day, the beast inside of Emma will not be stopped by anyone until the transformation is complete, but will her uncle be able to save her from certain death or is he just along for the ride?

As far as possession movies go, this is a pretty good one to give some time to. Watching as Emma is slowly consumed by the beast, she is still trying to live her normal life and have fun with her friends and family, but when she is taken over, she cannot remember what just happened. With very few occurrences outside of the house, she believes that she is okay and with her uncle’s help, she can defeat the beast, but she does not truly understand what she is in for. With her body trying to kill her brother and her mouth destroying her friendships, Emma has only one person to trust. It starts off as a very light story but turns dark quickly when the devil starts to surface, and everyone is trying to stop his rise inside of the young girl. I dig it, even though it does not have the pea soup or a head spinning completely around, it keeps it focus on faith and the power of words, and whether they stand true or not. Stay Scared.

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