In this life imitates art story, a popular internet pseudo-exorcist and his crew must face the real thing.
To me it looks like a balancing act between Hollywood big, Indie cheap, social commentary, parody and character drama. You'd think that would be enough to fill the 90+ minutes and yet sometimes I wondered if it was ever going to end.
It really does try to keep things going and build it up at every opportunity but there's something about that energy that feels a bit wasted.
The performances are good (I think) but the characters are simply not interesting enough to care.
Then there's the ridiculous idea that billions of people worldwide would actually believe in this exorcim-of-the-week reality streaming show.
To believe in the power of demonic possession is one thing, but that it can be cured in 45 or 60 minutes -
every week - warrants some suspicion, to say the least.
But then again, never underestimate the stupidity of people.
With the demon being so very much involved in everything, the parody feels a bit cheesy sometimes.
The best parodies are the ones that
almost look like a parody, the genuineness must remain, and in this movie they only do that when it suits them. It doesn't manipulate the emotions, it demands the viewers to adjust their emotions, and that's just too much to ask.
There are some fun gore moments in it and the very idea that this supernatural carnage is being live-streamed should make it feel even more shocking, but somehow it has the opposite effect.
Despite all this I think there's something creative about it, but a more distinctive angle (like in a BLACK MIRROR episode) could have helped to make it look deliciously nasty - like the very ending of this film.
