This film underpromised and overdelivered.
I read the scathing reviews and almost gave this movie a miss.
Until I got some free cinema tickets and decided to go and see this with my partner one night for the hell of it (no pun intended).
Let it be said, I'm both a cinephile and a huge horror fan - but almost to a fault.
I hate corny overuse of jump scares, I hate films that lack substance and just rely on tacky cheap thrills to get by.
You know, the kind of films like this year's box office smash hit Smile - which serve as a staple halloween flick for the average layman to get their yearly dose of scares.
I don't see how cr*p like Smile received such raving reviews for being utterly devoid of any originality, whilst this film actually dared to develop character and weave a solid story only to get review bombed as a result.
Prey For The Devil not only shook up the genre, establishing a unique story with a likeable protagonist, but it did well to space out it's scares and develop a story laden with spine tingling creep.
Honestly I do not say this much with horror cinema trips, but I came out of this experience feeling so respected by the writers.
I can see how the average layman would automatically give this a thumbs down even though I don't understand why people HAVE to make horror mutually exclusive from a well paced, patient script that goes for the long pay off.
A good horror film needs depth, it needs stakes, it needs a solid foundation of a story and a strong setting. Prey For The Devil has all of this, and paces itself evenly, making for fantastic pay off when the utterly disturbing scenes get underway (and under your skin).
I'm feeling restored after the absolute time waster that was Smile last month, and I have Prey For The Devil to thank for that.
If you're a true horror fan and love the sub-genre of possession films, you will be pleasantly satisfied by this film.
