Prey For The Devil

Let The
Nun Shine In

Prey For The Devil
Directed by Daniel Stamm
2022 USA Lionsgate

Warning: Light spoilers.

I’m not an expert on exorcist movies, it has to be said but, I do enjoy the odd exorcism story when they come up. Nevertheless when Colin Salmon himself presented a clip from this movie to the audience at FrightFest last year, I couldn’t help but feel a little lukewarm to the idea of seeing yet another one (although Salmon himself is always good to watch on screen). I didn’t think much of the title either (although puns are usually a phenomenon I have a lot of sympathy for). So I didn’t rush out and see this a couple of weeks later on its UK theatrical release but, now I’ve finally caught up to the movie, I think maybe I should have done.

Prey For The Devil is a well oiled machine of an exorcism film and, although it’s chock full of the usual clichés and tropes of almost every other exorcism movie going, I actually found the formulaic episodes of the tale quite comforting. Yes, this is a horror film but it’s not really a very scary one... that being said, though, it’s actually got some interesting things happening in it, which made it worth the price of admission for me (and worth the price of the Blu Ray at some point too, I think).

The story tells of young nun Ann, played by Jacqueline Byers, who has an interest in the rituals and realities of exorcism due to her mother being demonically possessed when she was a kid... or schizophrenic, as her psychiatric assessor played by Virginia Madsen suggests. It’s apparently required training for nuns assigned to her location to undergo a course of psychiatric evaluation.

And where she is, is working as a nurse in an exorcism school in the US. The vatican has decided to open them around the globe in response to the rise in demonic possessions (according to the opening blurb on the film) though nuns are not allowed to study there but, instead, nurse the ‘patients’. Exorcism school is only for the male priests, apparently. However, the lead tutor, played by the always brilliant Colin Salmon, can see her potential and agrees to let her sit in on his lessons, due to special circumstances which manifest early in the film... which become more obvious as her back story is gradually revealed.

From then on it’s the usual exorcism tropes but with a few added twists to the story structure, which means it never gets boring. Part of that is the slow reveal of Ann’s history. I think the structure of that is dictated by the presence of the little girl who Ann is trying to help in varying degrees throughout the movie. Frankly, if the back story was told in full earlier on, the reveal would be superfluous as it’s really easy to guess, as soon as the audience is armed with the obvious puzzle piece. So the director and writers cannily hold back on the most clarifying piece of information until just a little while before the ‘twist’ reveal.

The exorcism scenes are really nice and go ‘full monty’ fairly quickly, once the plot and characters have been set up. There are some nicely surreal moments in the movie too. Such as a scene where a little girl’s hair is plunging down her own throat and when two of the priests finally pull it all out to stop her choking, it’s being held onto by a demonic hand coming out of her mouth. There’s another great moment where the girl holds her palms over her eyes and two bloody holes form on the back of her hands where the eyes would be, as maggots start to drop out from the holes. It’s good stuff I don’t think I’ve seen done in film before (although if you think these filmmakers have swiped these particular moments from other movies, please let me know in the comments section below).

Some of the more surreal scenes don’t always make sense in terms of the story though, it has to be said. Such as when Sister Ann starts tugging on a hair coming out of the centre of her own eyeball (the censors in the UK would not have let that one through back in the 1980s, that’s for sure). It doesn’t really add any clarification to the rest of the story, it has to be said but, hey, it’s still a nice sequence so, I’ll certainly forgive the film for its quirkiness. Art can transcend functionality as far as I’m concerned.

There are also some nice discussions, particularly between Byers and Salmon, about the nature of God and the approach to tackling exorcism, with Byers character challenging the established church line all the way through the film. Is she right to do so? Well, it aint over ‘til the fat lady sings or, in this case, ‘til a certain lady takes a bath in holy water but, I will say I found the ending peculiarly satisfying and, there is certainly room for a sequel or even a franchise here, as far as I’m concerned (not that I think there will be one, mores the pity).

And there’s not much more for me to say about this one so, apologies for the short review. I would love a copy of Nathan Barr’s score on CD but, yeah, that doesn’t look like its going to get released anytime soon. Some in the audience might like to know that this is the last film to feature Ben Cross, who died not long after he’d shot it in 2020... I guess this was another movie delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Other than that... it’s well acted by all and sundry, has some good effects and holds a certain amount of tension. I liked a lot of the characters too, which didn’t hurt. All in all, I’d say that if exorcism things are your jam... don’t expect wonders but, certainly, Prey For The Devil is one of the more character driven and entertaining of this subgenre of movies so, yeah, I’d certainly recommend it.