Synopsis

Another successful “exorcism” streams online—or so it seems. Can the “exorcist,” producer, and their crew juice the ratings? Ratings skyrocket when a real demon gets involved.

Cast: Ryan Guzman, Kyle Gallner, Alix Angelis, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Daniel Hoffmann-Gill, Emma Holzer, Joanna David

Director: Damien LeVeck
Writers: Damien LeVeck, Aaron Horwitz

You’ve had plenty of movies where a group of teenagers play with an Ouija board and invite a demon into their house. In The Cleansing Hour, a demon invades a would-be reality show that’s being streamed to hundreds of thousands around the globe. It’s an interesting concept that not-so-subtly seems to ask: is social media the real devil?

Max (Ryan Guzman) and Drew (Kyle Gallner) run an online “reality” broadcast where Max—under the moniker Father Max—performs exorcisms. It’s popular and pays the bills, but it’s not the kind of work Drew has dreamed of making. As Max indulges a power fantasy of being a celebrity priest, Drew and his girlfriend Lane (Alix Angelis) are seeking a way out.

Things go from the set of The Exorcist to truly in need of a real priest when Lane becomes possessed by a real demon during one of the show’s live streams. To prove it’s not a gag, the death tally begins early, and the demon warns Drew to stay behind the set line or it’ll kill Lane.

What follows is a mix of fresh ideas and tired clichés. As much as The Cleansing Hour tries to escape the confines of its inspirations, it often trips right back into them. What the film lacks in scares it makes up for in watchability: the premise is intriguing enough, and the three leads—Guzman, Gallner, and Angelis—sell moments where the script wobbles.

The dialogue can be cringe-inducing. Early on, someone calls Drew’s stream “ghetto” because it isn’t in 4K; later, the demon-possessed Lane tells the camera to “keep it 100.” There are other lines that feel like they’re trying to be cool in a grandpa-on-Twitter way.

There are small scares that work, but the film mostly leans on shock. The gruesome deaths are fun, yet often marred by cheap CGI. Putting the demon front-and-center seems to have given writer-director Damien LeVeck permission not to build much tension; the reliance on jump scares and gore doesn’t carry the film as far as he may have hoped.

Cutaways to people around the world watching the stream feel awkward and break immersion—until the ending. The payoff for those interjections is strong enough to excuse them, and the finale actually surpasses the rest of the film. It plays like the entire movie exists to land the ending and leave you wanting a sequel. And it works: I’d watch a follow-up.

The Cleansing Hour is streaming on Shudder from October 8.

Screener provided for review