My Best Friend's Exorcism

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source: My Best Friend's Exorcism

This movie is a slog that unfortunately never goes anywhere with its premise. And no idea what it has an R rating as it comes off very PG-13. Most of it is a rehash of old tropes played as the tropes they are. None are subverted or mocked. And since this is listed as a comedy, I at least expected that much. No idea why this is set in the 1980's since that plays no part in the story, and all the actors basically talk and act like it's 2022. I was excited to see Elsie Fisher as I adored her in Eighth Grade, and she does an admirable job given the material, but even she couldn't save this one.

If you are going to do it as close to the book it is based on then just don't freaking do it or give it another title. This was a pile of crap. The things that were great about the book they took out. Not worth your time! From the beginning you can just tell it wasn't going to be great. Then they just threw the whole thing about the book, their friendship, out of the dang window. It was cringe for all of the movie. How sad to be Grady and know that your work was sullied in something as atrocious as this? If I was him I would have disowned it. Holy crap this poor man. Just don't watch this movie. Save yourself.

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT I loved this book. It has so much heart and character, it definitely a staple for the 'Wholesome Horror' genre. This film negates all of that. The biggest flaw is that it doesn't even attempt to establish the core theme of the story, which is Friendship. The special bond between Gretchen and Abby is never really brought to life and so, you totally lose the feeling of desperation and urgency Abby feels when things go wrong for Gretchen. Their friendship just felt way too casual and it makes the rest of the story FALL FLAT. I also hate that they took away the girl squad dynamic and didn't really do justice to their interpersonal connections either. In the book each character is strong and powerful in their own right, and once that is established, we watch the antagonist slowly and painfully make them experience their worst (teenage) nightmares. This movie does not deliver any of that. The tone and delivery should have been reminiscent of The Craft or Jawbreaker, but instead we got a C level screenplay with no heartbeat. It was dead on arrival. How does this have an R rating? They gutted nearly ALL of the gore from the book! The ending was terrible and didn't the theme or characters any justice! AND THEY LEFT OUT DBNQ HOW COULD THEY?! A travesty for acronyms everywhere. Grady, you wrote a good book but you let your story get into the wrong creative hands.

So, this is one of my favorite books. Unfortunately the film doesn't do it justice. The movie is fine in its own realm of existence but it lacks the heart, depth and weight of the novel. I felt like the film just sped through the story. Sequences were out of order and there was a LOT that was completely reimagined or created purely for the film. If I had seen this movie first, I wouldn't take the time to read the book. Though, thankfully they did skip something that happens toward the end of the book. I was worried they were going to do it but when I started watching it I knew they wouldn't cuz it wouldn't fit. You don't get any of what the novel gives you from this film. It's almost a Cliff notes watered down version of the book. The acting is pretty atrocious. The co-lead that plays Gretchen is its saving Grace even though the story is told through the eyes of Abby. I really wanted more. It felt rushed and disconnected from the source. Absolutely despised the notes on the characters at the end. Was totally unnecessary. It did have a solid soundtrack to get that nostalgic feeling going. I wish they had taken more time to do this film. I wish they had stayed closer to the source material. I wish it had the heart the novel did. The relationships were so watered down that it was frivolous.

This movie is absolutely atrocious. An utter disappointment for anyone who actually read the book (which the writers clearly did not.) Critical plot lines were completely left out. Not a single shock factor the author wrote made it into the movie. The movie is a very bland, vanilla, subpar pre-teenager C-movie. The CGI is terrible, it lacks the depth that the book outlines with the backstory of Abby and Gretchen's friendship. The fight scene at the end lasts two seconds and is absolute garbage. The movie as a whole lacked any depth, horror, or comedy whatsoever. It really lacked anything enjoyable at all.

This was recently added on prime since with no choice of any other good option I thought of giving it a try. The movie is said to be a horror comedy that's what makes it look interesting very few good movies are made if this genre but unfortunately it turned out to be a disappointment in that department. The blame goes on the writer and the director. With little hard work and effort in creativity this movie could have been very funny and entertaining but it is not. All actors did their job well they can't be blamed if the script is poor and the director is not up to the mark. If you are planning to watch it expecting it to be horror comedy just drop it because it's neither horror nor comedy but if you need time pass to kill your free time you can give it a try you atleast wont get bored.

Its a take on my generations typical scare genre, a case of excorsism, devilworship and girls coming of age flirting with the ouija board, at a pyjamaparty when caretakers takes a late night bartrip, and leaves the teen alone at home. Its also a sting of irony on the issues of sexuality, elaborating anorexia, in a more or less sugarfree story, with not much above average acting from well known female cast, and as innocent pupils of a catholic high school they swear unreasonably far too much. The dressing code and script is without doubt written and sewn together by people that hasnt lived through the 80's, the best hit must be the dedicated musical score and a few moments of real fright but not enough for a grumpy old man like me. It might as well stay outta the silverscreen theaters because it lacks the heart and mind of the 80's.

Horrible acting. Horrible script. Obnoxious characters. It made me angry. Had to abandon. And that was after 11 minutes. I like Grady Hendrix so seeing his work turned into this when it could have so easily been the newest Stranger Things is so disappointing. Why do so few shows these day actually show talent? As soon as I saw the actress from that absymal Halloween remake, I knew it would suck. I think she can only be cast in b-rated movies that suck. That's her lane. And I have characters left to use.....don't bother watching it so Amazon can see we want and deserve better than cheap cash grabs.