I had been interested in seeing Prey for the Devil when I saw trailers for it last year but I wasn’t drawn in enough to actually want to go see it in theaters. I had actually kind of forgotten about it because I hadn’t heard anything about it in a while, so I was surprised when I saw it pop up on the Starz app. I didn’t really know much about it except for what was revealed in the trailer.
I didn’t know that Prey for the Devil was directed by Daniel Stamm. I was a big fan of The Last Exorcism, and I was interested once I saw that he was the director. I knew nothing about Robert Zappia, who wrote the screenplay. Zappia also came up with the story with Earl Richey Jones and Todd R. Jones. The story and screenplay are interesting but thanks to how the movie is edited it drags on. The pacing and the way the characters are written you’re almost checked out by the time everything starts happening.
Jacqueline Byers, Colin Salmon, Christian Navarro, Lisa Palfrey, Nicholas Ralph, Ben Cross, and Virginia Madsen star. The cast do a great job of elevating what they’re given. Byers did a good job of making me care for her character and her story. Colin Salmon does a lot with the natural gravitas that he has. This makes me wish that he was a much bigger star than he is. I also really wish there was more Virginia Madsen in the movie. She is used to the maximum of her ability in her limited time in the film, but I don’t think there could be such a thing as too much of her.
The effects in Prey for the Devil are okay. There’s only a couple of parts where something new is done with the demonic possessed people. I don’t think there are enough to make it standout from other possession movies. I will say the set and costume designers did a fantastic job. The music by Nathan Barr is good, especially when it isn’t just blasts loud noises.
Prey for the Devil is a surprisingly boring exorcism movie that doesn’t do enough with the premise. I think I understand why I didn’t hear anything about the movie after a week both theatrically and digitally. I can’t even recommend this, even though I am a staunch defender of Stamm’s The Last Exorcism. I give Prey for the Devil 4 rosaries out of 10. [kofi]
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