The Horror Show
Exeter
by Marcus Nispel
Sometimes when you watch a movie you don’t want to think and you just want to enjoy the ride. Time to just kick back and watch people get slaughtered. Exeter is great for that. It doesn’t try too hard to be deep or anything, it’s just entertaining. That’s what I loved about this movie.
Exeter was an insane asylum shut down due to reports of patient abuse and exorcism. Patrick is a volunteer for the church attempting to fix up Exeter. One weekend, while everyone is away, Patrick and his friends decide to throw a huge party at the asylum. Patrick meets a girl, Reign, at the party that he’s attracted to. After the party dies down and a handful remain, including Patrick’s brother, Rory, they decide to have after-party fun. They attempt to make Rory levitate, but after wetting himself in the process he runs away embarrassed. Reign convinces Patrick to go after him, what they find is a possessed Rory. Together, he and the rest of the group decide to perform a DIY exorcism. When that fails, they attempt to communicate with a possessed Rory using a homemade Ouija board. It reveals that Rory is possessed by Devon. Is Devon a vengeful spirit or something more?
I didn’t realize it until about halfway through that this movie is actually hilarious. Not so-bad-it’s-good funny, but like actually funny. They attempt to perform their own exorcism by watching YouTube videos based on the Exorcist and using apps. The movie doesn’t try to set up jokes the same way big budget films do, like The Avengers, it actually relies heavily on situational humor.
With that being said, this movie is quite predictable. For example, Devon’s identity isn’t that hard to figure out if you have half a brain. However, this isn’t the kind of movie that wants to make people work, it’s great for just shutting your brain off for a minute and watching something. It’s really blatant with its foreshadowing. For example, at one point Devon proclaims that the asylum will burn and guess what happens at the end of the movie? You guessed it, Exeter burns to the ground at the end of the movie.
My biggest concern with this movie was with the title, Exeter. Originally this movie was known as Backmask, and in the UK as The Asylum. The change in title was clearly a move to make the film sound more interesting. With a title like Backmask, the film could’ve been about anything. Exeter, on the other hand, is mysterious and in my opinion, sounds like a horror film. Despite taking place in Exeter the movie didn’t really need to be named after the asylum. I think it should have been named after the antagonist, Devon. That’s just my personal two cents.
I guess my biggest issue is how quickly characters are willing to flip-flop on their moralities. Like, when Rory was possessed, Patrick was above killing his brother. But as soon as his other friends become possessed, he has no problem killing them. If they stuck together and tried to restrain their possessed friends like they did Rory, no one else would have had to die. What can you do though?
I looked into director Marcus Nispel’s filmography and I was surprised by how many of his films that I’ve seen. He’s mostly notable for doing remakes and adaptations versus original ideas. Almost all of his films have been known for being awful. Let’s take a look at some of his movies: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2004), Pathfinder, Friday the 13th(2009), and Conan the Barbarian. That may be why I liked Exeter, because his movies aren’t great but are good for just vegging out to. You don’t see any of those and expect a good movie, you just watch them to be entertained, then you forget about them. I honestly wish I had more to say about this movie. It’s straight and to the point. It’s alright, and it’s that simple. It’s funny, silly, and predictable. It actually exceeded my expectations. I was expecting this to be like Session 9 and I’m glad it wasn’t.
Billy Wayne Martin, HMS
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