"Prey for the Devil"

After a seemingly endless amount of delays, the supernatural horror film “Prey for the Devil” has finally been released. Originally slated for a February 2021 release, the film was pushed back to February 2022 due to the pandemic. It was pushed back once again to release on Halloween weekend. Whenever a film gets delayed this many times, there’s reason to be concerned. “Prey for the Devil” is no exception; this film is an absolute bore.

Demon possession is a very common subgenre in horror, arguably second only to the slasher. A seemingly endless amount of these films are released every year around Halloween. “Prey for the Devil” is another film in a long line of forgettable, uninspired, demon possession horror films. While classics such as “The Conjuring,” “The Exorcist,” “The Amityville Horror” and “Hereditary” all have iconic moments, characters and antagonists, this film has none of them.

Jacqueline Byers is pretty good in the lead as Sister Ann. We’re asked to follow her throughout the runtime, and she makes the most of her role. She brings enough charisma and likeability to Sister Ann, making it easy to root for her. This isn’t an exceptional performance, but it’s a solid one from Byers.

The main selling point of “Prey for the Devil” was the fact that Sister Ann is the protagonist. I think it’s great that we’re getting some gender diversity in an exorcism horror film. However, I do wish they would have explored its themes a bit more. The central question that the film explores is “Should women be allowed to perform exorcisms?” However, it doesn’t do enough with the exploration to truly do justice with the question it proposes.

It’s a case of simply stating a topic or issue in a film without truly exploring or providing a solution to the issue. I think it was an interesting and unique direction to focus on a nun trying to perform an exorcism. However, the film simply devolves into a derivative horror film full of basic scares that have been done a thousand times before. If “Prey for the Devil” would have dedicated more of its narrative to grappling with the gender roles in the church, it would have made the film much stronger.

The scares are everything that you’ve seen from a horror film of this type. There are jumpscares involving mirrors, lights turning on and off, body contortion and the like. Everything “Prey for the Devil” has to offer in the scare department has been done better in franchises such as “The Conjuring” and even its spinoff franchise “Annabelle”. The same horror charade is being performed here that you’ve seen a thousand times; the main problem is that there’s no flair, style or creativity present to elevate it.

Overall, “Prey for the Devil” was a simply boring, derivative horror film. It contains the same rehashed tropes that are present in all demon-centric horror films. This truly feels like a direct-to-streaming release that honestly should have never seen a theatrical run. I’m praying that we get a possession horror film rejuvenation much like we’ve seen in the slasher subgenre. “Prey for the Devil” is not the savior this subgenre needed. There are plenty of better horror films released this year that are more worth your time this Halloween season.

3/10