I hadn’t planned on watching My Best Friend’s Exorcism when it came out. I had planned on restarting the novel and then watching the movie after finishing the book. That was until I saw that there was going to be a live tweet happening when it came out. I took part in the live tweet along with Grady Hendrix and it was so much fun. I still plan on restarting the novel, but it will have a different experience than I initially planned.
Damon Thomas and Jenna Lamia did a fantastic job of adapting Grady Hendrix’s novel. I will say that the movie starts where I got to during my initial read through of the novel, which felt weird to me, but it made sense. All of the stuff that was in the first part of the novel ended up being brought in later in the movie. I learned that there were changes to the story in the adaptation, but I don’t know anything specific yet.
There are three performances that I love in My Best Friend’s Exorcism. Elsie Fisher, Amiah Miller, and Chris Lowell all have amazing performances. Elsie Fisher’s performance anchors the entire movie for me. If she wasn’t able to make Abby such a likable character the entire movie would fall flat for me. Amiah Miller plays all of the different aspects of Gretchen that we see throughout the movie incredibly well and in such a heartbreaking way that you feel the changes she goes through. Chris Lowell feels like he’s from a different movie. He makes the scenes that he is in feel like a horror comedy. His leaving the movie does signify a complete shift in the movie. Cathy Ang, Rachel Ogechi, and Clayton Johnson are also fantastic in the movie.
The effects are amazing. The practical effects used for Gretchen are helped along with the performance by Amiah Miller. It goes a long way to show the changes Gretchen goes through. The CG effects are something else. One of the gnarliest things is the tapeworm. I wasn’t prepared for it the first time and it was just effective the second viewing. The music is amazing in the movie. Both the needle drops and the music in the movie are absolutely amazing.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism is a fun watch and won’t be for everyone, but nothing has to be for everyone. Rewatching the movie so close to the initial viewing was a surprise to me, even if the first viewing was a live tweet. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie the second go round. I imagine that the novel will go quickly once I restart it. The movie was on Prime Video. I give My Best Friend’s Exorcism 7 owls out of 10.