Emma is a fifteen-year-old girl struggling with the everyday dynamics of a teenager dealing with life in a dysfunctional 2.2 urban family until one-day normality goes on vacation. How indeed the world has gown up when self-harming and violent outbursts are deemed within the confines of expected teenage behavior, especially since this behavior should never be confused with being possessed by an evil spirit that wants to destroy you and your family. Enter priest uncle (Doug Bradley) with a dark past and secret agenda to save the day, subplots and metaphors abound as religious developments ensue.

While Exorcismus is beautifully lit and shot, the same amount of praise can’t be credited to the choice of cast. One simply doesn't care about the nauseating mum and dad characters and Bradley’s priest uncle just isn't believable in that role. The saving grace could be Sophie Vavasseur portraying the demonised Emma who brings some charm and wit to her part, but its unfortunate that no amount of eyeball rolling or face grimacing can place this film above average in the possession-movie genre.

The problem is it simply isn’t scary, it plods along a well-trodden path for this type of film and one wonders if Spanish Director Manuel Carballo consciously chose subtlety over shock, as the former predominates throughout, throwing the movie more into the psychological thriller camp rather than horror.

Yet it is still quite watchable and even while being mostly predictable, David Munoz hasn’t done a bad job at crafting the screenplay, allowing the story to develop gradually thus creating more tension in the unfolding drama. Due for DVD release Valentines Day by E1 Entertainment, Exorcismus is nothing new but it does offer a different approach to the genre if only for the amusing parallels between the teenage psyche and demonic possession it raises.