Are you interested in angels, demons, spirits, ghosts, and monsters? Are you curious about their origins, tales, and influence upon history and on the present day? If so, sit back, relax, and welcome to Southern Demonology, the podcast that explores all of this and more. I know I've been away for a few weeks, and for that I apologize. Work has been rather intense as I'm literally doing the work of three people just for one internal project, and that's one of the least of my priorities at the moment.
While I will do everything I can to help minimize the disruptions to any further episodes, please bear with me just for the time being. I'm definitely not going anywhere, but unfortunately, neither is my workload decreasing anytime soon. With all of that said, welcome back to Southern Demonology. As always, I'm your host, JJ. This episode, season 3, episode 9, to be precise, marks a first for me. While I have upgraded all of the audio equipment and software that I use to produce Southern Demonology, I otherwise run a rather tight ship when it comes to expenses. And that's by necessity.
I don't have a lot of extra expenses to throw around, unfortunately. I don't outsource, whether that be editing, content creation, or voiceover work, obviously, which is why you hear my own not-so-lovely voice speaking to you right now. In fact, one of the things I'm really proud of is the fact that this podcast is entirely original, produced with only my own little two hands. Fortunately, that means that the only resource I have to expend is my own time. Let's just not go into how much time I spend in lieu of money.
On that note, Brandon from Cookville Ghost Hunters, that you've heard a few times on this podcast, pointed me to a free spot blog post from May 23rd that highlighted the top demonology-related podcast. And Fanfare Abound, somehow, Southern Demonology is at number one, and Cookville Ghost Hunters also made the list at number four. I was so shocked that you could have knocked me over with a feather. The link to the article will be in the show notes. I will say, I don't do top 10 lists, I've never paid for being included in the top 10 list.
But if I ever happen to be in one, it's not due to my own efforts, but it's the fact that you all keep coming back and listening. And for that, I am eternally grateful. Coming back to what I was talking about before, though, for this particular episode, I did deviate in one major way. And that is I actually had to spend some money in order to make it. $26 to be precise. No, I didn't hire a contractor or invest in a new piece of equipment. God, if only audio equipment could be purchased that was quality for that kind of a price.
Rather, I rented two movies, one for $6 and the other for a whopping $20. And if I'm to be honest, that's money that really should have never ever been spent. But I'm putting the cart before the horse. For a Wednesday movie night, our Discord server decided to watch Pray for the Devil. After all, it's a recent movie about the Catholic Church, demons, and exorcisms. It's right up my alley, right? So, after renting the movie on Amazon Prime, our server sat down and watched this film. And oh boy, do I have some thoughts about it that I wanted to share with you all.
I will start by saying that I will do my best to avoid spoilers when discussing both of these films. So don't worry about that. Pray for the Devil is an odd one. For just like the old and horrible movie Dogma, it wants to dish out criticism while also being immune from it. The movie sets up a fictional school of exorcism, St. Michael's in Boston, where the main character serves as a nun who looks after the possessed who are kind of strangely enough checked in as patients.
She apparently has a real knack of connecting with them and actually receives permission to start attending classes on exorcism, as there is a demon that's following her about, and the priest in charge wants to help protect her. Yet events conspire to let her take part in an actual exorcism. And wouldn't you know it? She is just so much better because she connects with her victim. Wow. And no one has ever thought of that until now, in the 2000 years this has been going on, at least.
The movie is pretty paint by numbers, as there's a plot twist that anyone who has ever seen a movie before can probably guess. And the final battle, as it were, is as predictable as they come. If I was going to reveal the spoiler, I would tell you how this thing is resolved because it's ridiculous. It's what the uninitiated would think would be a stroke of genius for writing out. I have no problem with that because I, of course, agree wholeheartedly. But the main character is celebrated for thumbing her nose at the rules and doing what she wants and is ultimately rewarded for it.
And that's a rather awkward position considering that nuns take a vow of obedience. Just like the opening scene sets the stage as she's walking in the rain in her street clothes without an umbrella to the school she serves while everyone else around her is dressed as they should be and carrying an umbrella. Why would a nun be walking around not in her habit, especially to the place she works that requires it? It's obviously trying to single her out as being brave and quirky, and it just it just doesn't work. Everything about this movie is so ham-fisted and obvious, it's just not even funny.
And the way the movie tries to set itself up to be a sequel is so bad. I thought I was actually watching an action movie franchise from the 80s. The main point of the movie seems to be to thumb its nose at the Catholic Church, and yet it still attempts to dodge the accountability of doing so by setting its world in a fictitious one so that it can skate by on plausible deniability. The nail in the coffin was the bad CGI the movie uses. The possessed in this movie have never heard the words gross displays of power before. And so they regularly do body transformations and everything else.
Yet there's such obvious halos and blurring of the skin that makes the scenes look even more fake than Claymation, but without any of the cool retro style. To put it shortly, I was not a fan, and I do not recommend this movie to anyone. The other movie that has been brought up a few times in our Discord server was The Pope's Exorcist. And while I had little hope for it, I did want to check it out for, if nothing else, and for completeness' sake. So one Saturday night rolled around and I decided to see if I could possibly rent it, even though it was still technically in theaters.
And lo and behold, yes I could for a whopping $20. The fact that it was already available made me a little anxious to say the least, as that's usually not a great sign, but I put out a last-minute announcement on the server, and more than a few people joined me for the screening, which, of course, whether the movie was good or not, is going to make for a fantastic night. This movie is supposedly about Father Amorf, the chief exorcist of the Vatican Church until his death in 2016.
The man was a prolific author, and that, combined with his position, would have made for such fertile ground for a movie that really wanted to stay true to its source material. If that was what you were hoping for, and it certainly was what I was hoping for, then I have some really bad news for you. This movie does such a disservice to the servant of God and to the audience in general that it's shocking. I know that films are usually designed by committees, but the main character becomes such a 2D caricature that it might as well be Indiana Jones in priestly garments.
And the subject matter is so dumbed down. Well, if I was well known for cussing, then your ears would be turning red right about now. But more on that in a second. And as with any movie that deals with the demonic, the one cardinal rule I have is this never ever have quote unquote instant possession. One of the central concepts in Christian demonology is that people have free will. And this is the basis of our protection from demonic possession. Yet, with all defenses, free will is not an absolute.
If a pertinatural entity either gains consent to enter or convinces its target that free will does not exist, well, all bets are off. If you ever wanted a masterclass on the presentation of this, then please go read Father Martin's Hostage to the Devil. The book covers six real-world cases of exorcism, and each story is divided up into a write-up about the possessed, the exorcist, and then the actual exorcism itself. And by doing so, it takes an intensive psychological and spiritual examination of each person that becomes integral for the right itself.
Unfortunately, it takes true skill to depict anything cerebral or psychological in a movie. A task that is so far out of this director's capability, it might as well be a trip to the moon. And of course, this movie features not one, but two cases of a demon just being able to waltz into a person's consciousness and override it as if it was nothing more than gossamer strands waving about in the breeze.
And going back to treating the audience like an idiot, and I'll try to say this without giving away any major spoilers, but one of the primary points deals with one of the worst injustices that the Catholic Church ever unleashed upon the world. And rather than even just acknowledging the fact, especially since the movie was the one to bring it up in the first place, it actually makes the church the victim of the atrocities. If Pray to the Devil went to extremes to poke holes at the church, then this movie is the exact opposite by making bloody apologies for the worst of its sins.
The brazenness of it was so galling that it took me a few days to even fully comprehend what I just saw. The least of this movie's sins is that it probably has one of the weirdest pacing issues I have ever seen. The movie rushed all of the backstory just to get to the action. If it could have gotten away with a PowerPoint slide, then I'm pretty sure it would have.
With all of that said, the Poke's Exorcist does have one unsung hero, one you won't find mentioned anywhere in the credits, and that would be the tiny Vespa scooter that was somehow able to transport Russell Crow around in quite a few scenes. Go, little Vespa, go! I hate to leave an episode on a negative note. So let me bring up one last movie in this realm that is actually worth watching. And that would be Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. It was the latest movie I streamed on Discord as I wanted a little redemption from the last two failed films. And oh boy, does this one deliver.
And that is primarily because the movie doesn't take itself seriously. It doesn't expose some dark and secret lore or purport to be a mirror into a world that goes unnoticed. It's pure camp that's here to tell a story. And it does so with such sheer joy that it's hard not to partake in the spirit of it. A loan officer at a bank who is a farm girl moved to the big city and is trying to get an associate manager position where she works.
And in order to look good in front of her boss, she denies helping an elderly lady who, and forgive the term, because I know it is not PC, but the the elderly lady really just brings to mind the old the old concepts of what a gypsy is. And this lady is facing eviction. And wouldn't you know it? This farm girl, Turn City Girl, becomes cursed as a result. And the nature of this affliction? In three days, she will literally be dragged to hell by the demon Lamia.
The movie spends the rest of the time depicting her coming to terms with her new reality, how she tries to continue living her life in the beginning, and eventually turning all of her resources to fighting off this fate. Well, that and also being condescended to by her fiance, but that's a story for another time. The premise is cheesy and a tired old trope. Ooh, someone's being cursed by an ethnic lady. Oh my gosh. But the movie leans into that and really plays it up. And it unabashedly has fun with it.
While this movie will never outshine the evil dad films, it I still highly, highly recommend it. Especially if you're ever in the need of a brainless night and just want to be entertained. Thank you for listening to Southern Demonology. Find us online at Southern Demonology.com where you can find all of our social and podcasting links. Also, if you have a moment, please feel free to rate this podcast and leave any encouraging feedback that you may have. As always, I am JJ, and it has been a pleasure getting to talk to you today!