A different exorcism movie but disturbing if you don't like dark humor.

I give this movie three devils  out of four. There are sadly few darkly humorous movies made for fans of the genre. Also saw 'Seven Psychopaths' recently and they don't make dark humor much better than these two movies.

Found this movie to be quite darkly humorous but as disturbing as well and therein lies the problem. I would have started the movie with more obvious humor to set a tone that there many of the odd scenes were intended to be funny. The behavior of the 'religious' folk was initially off putting despite the clear explanation of who they were and how they went about their business.

Appreciating dark humor requires more mental energy than standard or 'light' humor. If you are not 'in the mood' or 'of the mindset' to notice and accept the humor then it can easily be interpreted as offensive or stupid. Give kudos to a production staff and director who takes on this daunting task and even more credit when it succeeds as in 'Hellbenders'.

Laughing at the antics of a person in a body cast is not supposed to be permitted but I found myself laughing out loud at this very situation.

The movie definitely requires a second viewing. Once the exposition material is presented, absorbed and accepted then the humor flows much more freely.

On several occasions there were subtitles on the screen that were difficult to read. Why flash them for a few seconds on screen if they are supposed to be important to the plot. Like I said, a second viewing is almost mandatory.

Perhaps the best example of the bizarre premise of the movie being somewhat difficult to swallow is (spoiler alert!) when Lawrence chooses Liz over his wife Penelope. I suppose this scene was necessary to establish that Lawrence was actually 'Home' with Elizabeth and his cohorts and not with is wife. Still one has to wonder if Lawrence was merely adding to his 'Sin Book" quota to establish himself as an adulterer and guaranteeing his place in Hell.

(The following paragraph is not an actual spoiler but ruins a funny joke!)
My favorite scene that typifies the style of humor in this movie was in the final battle scene. Angus (Brown)approaches Detective Elrod who then points a gun to Angus's head. Elrod squeezes the trigger but the gun misfires. Angus takes the gun away and Lawrence (Collins) takes it from him. Lawrence then says that the gun is useless because it will not fire since it misfired just moments ago. Angus declares the misfire a miracle. Lawrence points the gun at the demons and squeezes the trigger only to have the gun misfire again. He looks at Angus and Angus makes one of those 'OOPS!' faces while exclaiming "All right". Very funny scene. One has to be careful how one frames humor in the same scenes of noses being bitten off, eyeballs being bitten out of their sockets and a flaming vagina portal to Hell. I feel they did a good job balancing all things out.



Still I recommend that anyone who is devoutly religious steer clear of this movie. However logical the premise is it still is contrary to the accepted notion of salvation. Nowhere does it say in scripture that exorcist priests can take demons to Hell. Clearly the makers of this movie are no fans of organized religion. Consider that a warning to those who view exorcism movies as documentaries.

Perhaps the line that confused me the most was Clint LaPiere's statement that the Catholic Church no longer believes in Hell. When did that happen?

The Clint joke that if you put the 'L' and the 'I' too close together it looks like a 'U' thus the spelling of "CLINT" becomes "C_U_NT" was taken from an actual movie theater marquis where the same situation really happened.

Dan Fogler and Andre Royo were mostly wasted but that really does happen in movies with over sized principal casts. Did Earnie Hudson have much to do in Ghost Busters.

There is a scene in the end credits that set up a sequel. It seems Elizabeth's missing finger got wedged in the flaming vagina portal to Hell and it is keeping the portal opened. If that premise doesn't make you smile then pass on this movie because you won't appreciate the form of humor presented.

You don't have to know someone to know someone.