Review #219: My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)

This review was originally written on October 4th, 2022.

Gabe's Bonus Anniversary Horror Film Review: My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)

It's my wedding anniversary and my wonderful wife likes reading my reviews, so here's a bonus review for a movie we just watched today: My Best Friend's Exorcism.

The plot follows Abby, a teenage girl in the 80s, and her best friend Gretchen. (And also their two friends Margaret and Glee, but it's mainly about Abby and Gretchen.) After a weekend getaway where the four of them play what they think is Ouija and take what they think is LSD, Abby and Gretchen stumble upon some kind of a demonic altar in an abandoned home and Gretchen is affected by a dark force. Over the next few days she proceeds to have outrageous mood swings, sow discord between the friend group, and cause Abby to grow increasingly concerned for her friend. As things escalate, Abby reaches out to a Strength-based Cleric (D&D joke, sorry) she reaches out to a member of a Christian motivational speaking team for help, and he determines that a demon has possessed Gretchen and he agrees to help perform an exorcism. But at the end of the day, will the power of Christ be enough to compel the evil force to leave?

I think this was a very fun film that didn't take itself too seriously, but at the same time tackled some very serious issues between the characters, particularly the friend group. Of course the "Adults are Useless" trope was in full force, as seen by how every parent and authority figure seemingly misses the entire point when Abby tries to get help for her friend, but while it could have been extremely easy to go overboard I think the movie uses the exact amount of emphasis it needs to really get across the hopelessness that these teen girls would have felt in that era. I'm not a teen girl myself of course, but it definitely felt like the underlying issues at conflict in this story were very real things that I'm sure a lot of people can identify with. And without spoiling too much, I absolutely loved how at the end of the day, casting out the evil force didn't come from chanting Bible verses or scattering circles of salt, but from understanding the bonds between these people that love each other.

The movie isn't without flaw- the ending confrontation was a little lackluster and I didn't think there needed to be a CGI monster that gets into a fistfight with a pair of teenage girls, and I would have liked a little bit more depth from the secondary characters (there was enough in there about Margaret and Glee I suppose, but I'd like more, as well as more about all four girls' families) and I also think that some of the humor was just a little bit too on-the-nose, but all in all I think this movie was incredibly fun to watch, and I'd recommend in a heartbeat. It's good campy 80s throwback fun that anyone can enjoy.

Overall Rating: 8/10 Diet Shakes and Epi-Pens

My Prediction That Didn't Come True: In this movie about demonic possession, there's a scene at a church-sponsored fair with a dunk tank, and I felt that it was a huge misstep to NOT include a scene where the dunk tank gets blessed and the demon gets dunked into holy water. Come on, people! It writes itself!