User reviews

I try, I really do, to give these movies the benefit of the doubt. Even despite some amateurish direction, some downright sophomoric cinematography, and some horrendous acting, I try to give these movies some credit. But when you fall on the same overused, clichéd, asinine tropes found in all demonic possession films, you have to ask yourself, why do these people bother? This movie does not even attempt to do anything even remotely clever with the premise, and from the onset, you can already see what the entirety of the movie will cover. Girl is possessed, priests get "clearance" to perform exorcism, demon possesses the priests, rinse and repeat. I mean, I has been done AD NAUSEUM, to the point were I wonder what this creative team was trying to accomplish, and I have several questions;

1. Why is it always a Catholic priest that is called in? There are other religious denominations that perform exorcisms, and don't need permission to do so. At this point, it's imperative that this trope is removed, as it adds nothing to genre that The Exorcist didn't already accomplish.

2. Second, why are the special effects so shoddily done? Did you not allocate the proper funds to create believable effects? When you make a movie that requires a good use of SFX, make sure that the budget is there before you even start filming. Do not skimp out on them in order to pay your cast.

3. Lastly, why didn't anyone ask themselves, "What is this movie doing that every demonic possession film before it has not already done?" If your answer is, "nothing", as I'm sure it was, you have to re-evaluate the use of your creativity.

Stop wasting your time making these films that don't enhance or further the sub-genre. At this point, it's just embarrassing. I have no faith in the sub-genre anymore, and it's due to movies like this. To the people responsible, your efforts are worthless and do not deserve to be seen by anyone. A complete and utter failure in every sense of the word.

The 8 minutes of opening credits is absolutely ridiculous. Such a slow start to what could possibly be a good movie.

Anna is not screaming because she is possessed by a demon , she screams in agony how bad this actually is - same story as usual but perhaps more boring , bad acting , and very stupid - it feels like a bunch of kids hade made this.

Was drawn into seeing 'The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund', with a cool poster/cover, a somewhat intriguing if very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for the genre it fits under. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there (though there are decent to good ones as well), made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws present in those films are here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund' is really quite abominable, with so many huge flaws and doesn't do anything with any potential it had. There is nothing good here in 'The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund', just amateur hour all round.

Going on to the negatives, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it comes over as vague and under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less unsettled and never gaining momentum. All the characters are too sketchy and with cardboard thin and colourless personalities and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates. The chemistry is bland and unfocused.

The sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions), the effects are shoddy and all of the acting is lacking severely on the whole, that's actually an understatement as the worst of it is horrendous. Lee Bane is at his hammiest and it is not fun to watch. There is no sense of horror or engagement with the awful predicament they're in, and no connecting with the character, it just reeks of indifference which makes the viewer not care less too.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace and film drags on forever, apparent from the very start, never recovering that interest is lost fast. The ending has no build-up and just ends ridiculously. Found too many of the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Thrills are none, thanks to stodginess and excessive over-familiarity, and found myself never invested in the drama, which tended to be indifferently acted, interminably paced and statically directed.

A lot of 'The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund' has really dull and going nowhere plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you shocked are far from creative or unsettling. It all feels rather tame while the threat completely lacks menace and looks terrible.

Nothing freaky or interesting, no development and too derivative, while everything is unimaginative and are more odd than scary, completely failing to show any sense of dread. There is nothing interesting or illuminating with what the film was trying to do and the drama is overwrought with no momentum and a lot of weirdness. The direction is barely there and disorganised and the music is ill-fitting. 'The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund' is very amateurish visually, too drearily lit and shows no care in the way it's shot. The editing has more continuity errors than one can count.

Altogether, irredeemably terrible. 1/10 Bethany Cox

It was the worst hour and something spent on a movie, some parts are not connected to the others. As if they wanted to add the parts and that's it! A hell of a bad movie

Who ever payed to film this? One of the worst even in fast forward.

This is the worst movie i ever seen containing an exorcism. The acting were so bad, and the effects aswell, so i believe anyone could make this movie by themselves at home.

7 minuts of screaming in slow motion.

Why..... and i thought that was the worst part.. But then... they started acting.. and its the same as every other exorcism movie - but "anna" acts like a dramatic preteen with casting her body around in bed..

i would rather pull my own skin off that watching this movie again, +

In terms of image quality with good capture angles, the film was average compared to the others of its same generation of resources. However, his idea of proposing an exorcist horror brought us a very weak script with little creativity in his construction of scenes and elements. Left something to be desired.

Running away from a frame-by-frame analysis, the delivery of suspense they brought gave me an interpretive tasting with a very cliché flavor. Films that want to work in this type of genre demand a lot of dedication on the part of the construction of the script, as well as the visual. We perceive a usual terror of possession style "The Exorcist" of the 70's without taking anything away. If it's to be spent on a production whose final product is an allusion to a work from 50 years ago, it's money wasted. Surely they could have "given blood" to deliver an innovative terror in the field of horror!

I really wanted to give this movie a chance because I love Exorcism films, but this..crap of a movie, wasted my valuable time. The long opening credits was not needed, and the acting was just as terrible. I just let the movie play in the background while I did something else with my time. Plus, I felt like the opening credits kinda spoiled the whole movie.

The character's opening scene is very long and annoying. This has already derailed any sense of positive criticism of the film. Maybe if they had shortened that scene the movie would have been rated better, even though it was pretty weak. A lesson for producers and directors never to repeat such a gross mistake.

I believe the intention was to leave viewers agonized by the demonic interpretation of the lectern. But it was a shot in the foot.

The acting of the actors in general is weak, the script also does not contribute much to an interesting end. I was almost exorbited with so much anger from this movie, but in the end I survived.

This movie is so bad I only made it to the 30 minute mark. I wasn't about to waste another hour of my life to this idiotic film. Bad acting, bad writing, hell, bad everything!!! DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!

Approaching an old priest friend of his, a man convinces him that his wife has become possessed once again and needs another exorcism, forcing the priest to turn to a doubting colleague to follow him to the asylum where she's being held and exorcise her before its too late.

This was an underwhelming if still somewhat watchable genre effort. Among the most obvious flaws featured here are the utmost cliche setups that come about in just about every genre feature. The doubting priest who questions his faith and finally comes back to see the light is so common it's an insult, and the confines of the exorcism itself falling into the usual traps of speaking in tongues, the temptation with personal knowledge, and unearthly body contortions are all brought into play. Since everything in the genre utilizes these tactics, to see these at play again is either par for the course or lack of originality for some to sort out for themselves. As well, there's such a dreary and bleak pace on display that can cause this to slow to a crawl at points. This is mainly caused by the first half here going through the usual motions of finding the cause for her to be possessed as worthy of being exorcised so all the fact-gathering aspects have to be featured. From the torment of the staff at the hospital to the backstory about the couples' married life before the possession which includes endless visits with friends and family together, this information while also featuring the cliche doubting priest to further the slow down of the plot. Overall, these are what hold the film down for the most part. The film does have some positive features. Like most genre features, this one gets a lot to like with the painfully obvious storylines and actions here which signal her possessed state. The deformed appearance, with the body full of cuts and scratches, forked tongue, and glassy eyes give enough of a psychical clue but the other scenes here are quite fun. Taunting and tormenting the other nuns, throwing them around the room and all the usual antics commonplace for these films to denote the person's become possessed are all featured here to the point of becoming quite clear of who she is and what's to be done with her. Likewise, the final half here featuring the fun of the exorcism taking place has a lot to like. With the usual standbys including shouting profanity, splashing holy water on everything, and using crosses while quoting the expected Biblical passages, it's no less fun despite these expected qualities which carries over nicely into the final twist. Turning the possession around into a Biblical curse coming to pass and featuring several encounters not usually seen in these kinds of films, this apocalyptic finish has quite a lot to like which does lift this one up somewhat over other exorcism efforts.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.