A couple of years ago, when I read Grady Hendrix’s book MY BEST FRIENDS EXORCISM, I couldn’t put it down. The witty, nostalgic horror comedy was a fun, quick summer read with a cool-looking 80’s VHS-esque book cover and a silly title. Described as BEACHES meets THE EXORCIST, it was certainly no masterpiece, but it was wacky fun. However, as I watched the movie, I couldn’t put my phone down…out of boredom. This on-the-fly film adaptation has stripped the story of its detail and charm, leaving us with a poor, unfunny excuse for an exorcism film.
Set in the 1980s, MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM follows best friends Abby (Elsie Fisher, playing herself…again) and Gretchen (Amiah Miller, surprisingly good and sinister) when, after an acid-induced accident, they find themselves in the throes of a demon determined to drive a wedge between them and the rest of their friend-group. Gretchen begins acting differently, one thing leads to another, and before we know it we have a full-blown demonic possession on our hands.
There’s not a lot to like in this film. It’s slow, unfunny, and not scary. We’re barely given any sense of Abby and Gretchen’s friendship before the possession begins, meaning, frankly, we really don’t care. The screenplay takes too long to get to its final twenty minutes, in which the inevitable exorcism takes place (this isn’t a spoiler—it’s in the title!), and when it finally happens, it has nothing to offer that we haven’t already seen done better in a hundred other possession movies before.
There’s not much interesting in the way of filmmaking, either. Casting is…fine. Fisher seems to have made a career thus far of playing droll, wet blanket-type characters, giving Abbey nothing in the way of being interesting or strong. She’s whiney and boring. Miller’s Gretchen, however, is perhaps the only good thing about the film. She carries the unbalanced screenplay well, seamlessly leaping from bitchy dialogue and evil smirks to heartfelt, emotional tears, almost making us care about what happens to her. This movie isn’t her fault. The character of Christian Lemon (Christpher Lowell) should have been a comedic high point in the film but he’s given nothing funny to do but be silly and weirdly obsessed with yogurt. The whole movie is just…silly… but not in a fun way like the book.
While the novel was a love letter to everything we adore about the 80’s, the film fails to capture the feel in that same way. Every chapter of the novel was named after a different classic 80’s song, and while there are a handful of 80’s tunes in the movie (and a decent synth score), it just isn’t enough. While hairstyles and clothing are period-appropriate, something just doesn’t convince me this movie is set in the 80’s.
And then the movie just…ends. That’s it. It isn’t heartfelt, or poignant, or memorable.
It’s odd because as I read the book, I kept thinking, “This would make a great movie,” but now that I’ve seen it, I don’t think it translates well. Even with a better screenplay or director, there just isn’t enough to the story to make it work on screen. The charm of it lies within Hendrix’s pros. It reads like a young-adult book for adults, and while it’s a wacky, cute read, I think the idea of a movie sounded better in the pitch meeting. After all, it’s a story that rests on the punchline of its title.
MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM is available to skip on Amazon Prime.
