Repossessed
One subgenre of comedy that has completely gone south in recent years is of course the spoof movie, that which mocks a certain movie or type of movie with allegedly hilarious results. Now of course those films are little more than bad, unappealing actors mugging for a silent (and empty) theatre, but back in the 80s the style was thriving with such hits as Airplane!, Spaceballs, The Naked Gun Franchise, and The Hot Shots! Franchise. So abundant was the humor and creativity, that when you had something that WASNāT 100% superb at the time, it may have gotten bumped straight to video and cable and somewhat buried, but when compared to the crap we have NOW, comes across as a rediscovered treasure. Thus is the case with writer / director Bob Loganās 1990 effort, an all-out spoof (and pseudo-sequel) of the ultimate badass horror classic The Exorcist, with the added bonus of actually getting Linda Blair to come back and reprise her role as the now grown-up little girl once again being possessed by the Devil. After nearly winning the Oscar for Supporting Actress back in 1973, Blair was often maligned by critics for not having the acting chops she was presumed to have for playing a possessed little girl, and a sad descent into b-movie roles followed, but here, one gets the sense that doing this film was almost a cathartic experience for her, playing the character in a wacky comedic context and looking like she is having a lot of fun to boot, most notably in her possessed reaction shots to the various bizarre characters and occurrences that go on around her. As if that werenāt enough, the producers scored yet ANOTHER casting coup by bringing in Leslie Nielsen (forever thought of as the patron saint of the subgenre) to play the old exorcist who expelled the demon many years ago and now must summon the strength to do it again. In addition, Logan adds a new twist to the story in the very 80s idea of a phony religious televangelist looking to profit on the exorcism by holding it on live TV, which leads to the casting of another legend in Ned Beatty. Indeed, these three carry the film, and whenever they are on, things are quite watchable and funny. However, there is a slipup in other casting choices, most notably that of Anthony Starke as the Karras-like young priest with a crisis of faith who helps to assist in the exorcism: constantly mugging on camera (which he did in many of his 80s b-movie roles), and / or screaming in a high pitch voice which is supposed to be funny, it would probably have been best to minimize his character, but alas, the viewer gets a little too much of him to deal with (including an awful rap / hip hop bit that makes one nearly want to turn the movie off). Indeed, the impression is made that there was a LOT of ad-libbing occurring on set, and it would seem that Logan made the mistake of including every bit that was filmed, even though some things that are funny to the cast and crew might not be to the viewer, and there are also several sight gags that fall VERY flat, as well as too many pop culture references of the era that no one would get today, like an Ollie North lookalike or a reference to Sean Penn punching out photographers. Then there is the idea that during the āfinal battleā between good and evil, we get Mean Gene and Jesse The Body from the pro wrestling world doing commentary(!), a bit that elicits a chuckle at the onset but quickly grows tiresome especially as it slows down the climax. That being said, the film is worth seeing for the stuff that DOES work, like the unforgettable Ted Kennedy / Ouija Board gag, or the mischievous lunacy of Blairās Devil, or Blairās husband and kids who always hit the funny right on the mark or Beatty overacting to a tee with his Tammy Faye lookalike wife. Overall, not really a classic, but worlds better than the garbage spewed forth today by the current talent-deprived Hollywood cropā¦
7/10