Good evening, House of Madness demons:
Have you ever really connected with someone before? Like, really connected I mean. I'm talking about starting a sentence, and then having it finished even more eloquently than you could have ever said it yourself. I'm talking about a nice hug with all the 'feels' at the perfect moment when you didn't know all you needed was some human contact with emotional comfort. I'm talking about making eye contact across a crowded room, and being able to communicate your appreciation of their presence without saying a word. I suppose some will never be lucky enough to feel such personal fulfillment from a place unknown to exist, but to those of us that do, it really hits home that you're in the right company. Unfortunately, "Prey For the Devil" finishes sentences while burping, hugs you right after it's puked down the front of its shirt, and makes 'sexy eyes' at you from 13 pews over while you're trying to listen to the eulogy for a loved one.
The earth is experiencing a demonic rise in cases of possession, and Sister Ann (Jacqueline Byers) feels a calling to attend an exorcism school of sorts, reopened by the Catholic church. As Ann tries to participate, she is met with heavy resistance from the church because exorcisms are traditionally reserved for priests, and the rites have never been performed by a woman. Professor (and Father) Quinn (Colin Salmon) sees something in Ann, and agrees to take her under his wing to teach her the rites and methods of exorcism. If things get too overwhelming, Ann has an important resource in Dr. Peters (Virginia Madsen), a resident psychiatrist that has been trying to help Ann deal with a troubled past, most notably her mother who took her own life to abolish a demon deep inside her. Was Ann's mother really possessed as Ann claims, or was she simply a schizophrenic with violent tendencies as Dr. Peters insists?
It doesn't take Ann long to get her first exorcism gig, as she has been working with a young girl named Natalie (Posy Taylor), a patient transferred to the new (and improved!) exorcism wing of the school. After two priests struggle to deal with Natalie's demon, Father Quinn enters in an effort to abort the entity, but to no avail. Ann joins the gang of holy heroes, and successfully exorcises the evil dwelling within Natalie. Or so they think.
Fellow student Father Dante (Christian Navarro) informs Ann of his sister Emilia (Cora Kirk), a woman who gave up her daughter after being born, in an effort to protect her from the demon living inside of her. Ann and Father Dante set up an unsupervised and unscheduled exorcism of Emilia, an effort in which we learn Ann was once pregnant, and also gave up her newborn child for reasons she doesn't want to admit. The two perform what they believe to be a successful exorcism, only to find out the next day that Emilia took her own life, and the percepted demon eviction was all just a ruse. The church gets wind of the unsanctioned ritual, and has some harsh words for Ann, while she takes her lumps as the true demon fighting nun/exorcist she is.
After hearing Natalie was released to her parents after what was believed to be a successful exorcism, it becomes known that the demon tricked them in this instance as well, and Natalie is back in church custody after a disastrous episode of demon destruction. These demons are tricky fuckers! Ann attempts to visit Natalie, but her efforts are for naught as access to the little girl is now restricted. Ann does a little more soul searching, and realizes that Natalie is actually her daughter, and the demon causing all their misery is the same demon that ruled Ann's mother all those years ago. With the help of Father Dante, Ann sets out for one last showdown with the evil that has plagued her family for her entire existence.
Regardless of how this final battle concluded, I had already mentally checked out for the most part, and just wanted it to end (which it did hysterically awful by the way). Even with everything I've said, "Prey For the Devil" isn't necessarily a bad film, it's just a film that has taken multiple tired formulas and tried to mash them all together into something it wanted to be epic, but just ended up being very average. I'm certainly not saying I don't know what possessed me to watch this, but if I knew a good movie exorcist, I may just request his services in removing the demon currently hijacking my brain with repetitive contortions that stopped being scary a long time ago.
Madness Meter: 4.8/10
NB
