THE EXORCISM OF GOD - P&I

Wracked with guilt after succumbing to temptation during the exorcism of an attractive woman, Father Peter Williams devotes himself to a small Mexican town where several children are dying, apparently of demonic possession.

He believes this scourge is his fault – a punishment from the Lord himself for the Father’s transgressions. Soon he realizes the punishment goes even deeper than he could have imagined, culminating in a wild, terrifying religious showdown of epic proportions.

There’s no shortage of exorcism films in the canon, but rarely do we see one that cleverly and jarringly reinvents the genre. Acknowledging tropes of the genre with well-placed nods to the classics (pea soup vomit, anyone?), THE EXORCISM OF GOD manages to play into expectations before pulling the rug out from under viewers with shocking twists and striking scares.

Director Alejandro Hidalgo (THE HOUSE AT THE END OF TIME) infuses his film with richly saturated and horrific visual effects (including a possessed version of Jesus that will burn itself in your brain), ultimately crafting a refreshing and surprising addition to exorcism lore. (LOGAN TAYLOR)