The Cleansing Hour: The Devil finds an online audience, with mixed emojis as a result
By Thom Ernst
Rating: C-plus
Watching William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973) when first released was somewhat of a religious experience. There was enough ingrained belief in a supernatural good and evil tainting our subconscious that the film seemed horrifyingly plausible.
Similar movies made today are not likely to be given the gravitas that Friedkin and the gang enjoyed. Eventually, fear makes way for devilish fun, but given the right theological upbringing, these movies can still stir the demons that keep you awake.
Father Max (Ryan Guzman) realizes that Lane (Alix Angelis) is going off script as her possession turns real.
The latest twist in the possession oeuvre comes in an independent effort called The Cleansing Hour, streaming on the horror platform Shudder. Directed by Damien LeVeck, The Cleansing Hour is also the title of the film within the film; specifically, it’s the title of a popular online show that features a hunky priest streaming live exorcisms.
Father Maxwell (Ryan Guzman) is the kind of dude you’d expect to see on the cover of a Harlequin Romance, particularly when his shirt is off, a state of undress the script works in several reasons for him to be in. But the exorcisms Father Maxwell performs (and one has to wonder if his name isn’t a minor tribute to actor Max von Sydow the exorcist in The Exorcist) are staged dramas designed to draw million-plus viewers. As for Max being a priest, the only god he worships is the god that can verify his online prowess with an elusive blue checkmark.
But while Max devises schemes to crank the numbers, like hiring a drag artist to play the part of the possessed guest, Drew (Kyle Gallner), his lifelong friend and business partner, works thanklessly to produce the show that Max craves. Drew’s fiancé, Lane (Alix Angelis), longs for Drew to break free of Max’s grip. But Drew is as devoted to Max as Max is devoted to his own career.
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When the aforementioned drag artist doesn’t show following an unfortunate run-in with a spider-limbed creep, Drew resorts to convincing Lane to take on the role. But no sooner does Max fall into character than Lane breaks from script with a bona fide demonic performance that turns the tables on their hoax.
Lane becomes a demon’s unwilling host; her body contorts, her face cracks and bleeds, bile drips from the corner of her mouth, and her voice distorts into a disturbing growl. Nearly 50 years, and demons haven’t changed since Linda Blair spun her head and yelled obscenities about some priest’s dead mother.
The Cleansing Hour is a busy film with multiple characters and several locations, although LeVeck confines most of the action to a single space; a factory studio with plenty of dangerous industrial things to fling at, drop on, and wrap around the helpless cast and crew.
The jump scares—considered a cheap trick in the genre—curiously fail to elicit a reaction. But, the film comes through on blood and gore, and a few disturbing scenes that are surprisingly effective considering the low rent feel of the production.
Perhaps the most distracting setback is the portrayal of online audience members in bars, parked cars and kitchens, and who, for most of the film, are merely required to react. Their expressions of shock and concern, intercutting with the violence and mayhem from the studio, play like heavy-handed emotional cues akin to a sit-com laugh track. There is a pay-off, but until then the reactions shots are nothing more than an unwanted intrusion.
The Cleansing Hour is a derivative story of good versus evil with enough Scripture reading and brandishing of crucifixes that I imagine god-fearing folks can watch without compromising their principles.
But it’s the film’s internal ethics that frustrate, particularly when cornering the characters in moral dilemmas. A preachiness takes over the movie as the demon—who seems to harbour an unusual value for truth and honesty—forces the characters into a series of confessions until you wish for someone to serve them their penance and move on.
It’s not a stretch to think that the filmmakers are attempting to say something about the nature of social media and the new race for celebrity. But it does seem a stretch to say they’ve succeeded. The Cleansing Hour bounces between the mundane and the entertaining without settling on either. But it has a firm grip on the ridiculous and refuses to take itself seriously, and that’s its saving grace.
The Cleansing Hour. Directed by Damien LeVeck. Stars Ryan Guzman, Kyle Gallner, and Alix Angelis. The Cleansing Hour is available on Shudder beginning October 8.