General Information
Prey for the Devil is an hour and thirty-three minutes long. The movie is rated PG-13 because of the violent and disturbing content, terror, thematic elements and brief language. The IMDb rating is 5.3 out of 10 stars.
Overview
Anna the main character experienced trauma for most of her life. As a child her mother would abuse her, while being possessed by a demon. Anna ended up having more trauma by becoming pregnant as a teen. On top of that she was unsure of who the father was. But, by changing her life around and becoming a nun she hoped to help other people. Ann wanted to attend an exorcism school in Boston to dispel evil. The Catholic church decided exorcising was a man’s duty and nuns were supposed to be nurses. But, Ann broke the rules and found herself faced with evil. All with the attitude that she could do better than the Vatican’s priests, which ended up failing 85% of the time.
Jump Scares
“Prey for the Devil” did not have strong horror elements. There was more drama than horror during the whole duration of the movie. There were not many jump scares but they did not seem to be a top priority. Ann dealing with her past and present trauma was the focal point. Though one or two scenes made me jolt out of my seat. But overall the jump scares were predictable or just completely out of place.
What Saved this Movie
Jacqueline Byers saved this movie by really selling her character. Byers followed every bit of her character’s journey all while being a likable lead. Pretty much all of the acting in the movie was very good. Colin Salmon stood out as Father Dante. Madsen also acted well in the scenes she had with Dr. Peters.
Final Thoughts
Though this movie had positive elements I found it to be disappointing. I liked the concept of an exorcism school and a character driven by her past experiences with possession. However, the execution was not good. There was very little to no energy and it relied too much on jump scares and loud noises. Nevertheless the exorcism scenes were done pretty well. The scariest exorcism was of the priest’s sister because it was tense with the fan blades and the body horror of her pregnant belly. I feel as though the rating held this film back. If there were a rated-R version it could have included body horror, tension, and its atmosphere for scares.
Overall, I would give this movie a 5/10. I thought the movie was decent until I got about halfway through it. On top of that the film was super generic and boring. Though It isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen I would not suggest wasting your money on a ticket to watch this.
