The time has come for another movie about demonic possession to take the screen. Only this time the plot seems to be more lost than the devil himself using an outdated map written on a napkin from a roadside diner. Exorcism In Utero, even from its campy title, proposes something unusual with an idle sense of what it even wants to do.

Herma (Sam Bangs) gets a job taking care of the Johnson family’s home while they take a few weeks out of the country to do missionary work. From the start, the Johnson family appears to be devout Catholics, but a member of the neighboring family, Peter (Leonard Hoge), has a strange feeling about what goes on behind his neighbors’ closed doors– he could be right or it could be his fixation on horror movies at a young age. While Herma is taking care of the house, during her first night she finds a basement full of artifacts that could leave anyone thinking the Johnson’s are a very kinky family. However, appearances constantly deceive the eye of the characters, and anything that seems normal could bring demonic side effects.

Exorcism In Utero has a camp feeling taking horror as a form of comedy to fulfill the purpose of the not-so-much defined plot. It seems to take elements from jokes that begin with “a priest walks into a bar” and follows the lead of it until it runs out of ideas to later fill in the spaces with random dream sequences, a woman developing a strange skin outbreak for wearing a ring, a kid that looks like an extra from Children of the Corn but adds nothing to the plot, a British father inserted for comic relief and, ironically, a priest walking into the story. In short, the script is a blessed mess that makes the angels save the ring of bells for another event.

As rambling as the plot is, the cast does a spectacular job taking the story to another level that permeates the chemistry present between the characters. Even though the relationships between each character are well defined, a bit of context is lost with the sudden changes in pace– some characters are more interesting than others, and some scenes are even more entertaining than the prior. This is not the cast’s fault as they are only portraying what they see on paper, and it is something to recognize the ability they have to make the characters their own.

Despite its flaws, the final product isn’t entirely bad, it’s just out of focus. There are funny moments even when the dialogue is questionable, but the notorious hints of sarcasm can be appreciated. The elements honoring the different subgenres of horror are applaudable, just as there is a lot of love for the genre on the part of all those who made this project possible.

If you are looking for a movie that just hangs out with few details connecting the story, Exorcism In Utero is the right movie. But if you expect a cohesive sequence with unexpected twists and turns that are more dazzling than any iconic moment in horror, then go watch Rosemary’s Baby. It is always advisable to give independent cinema a chance, no matter how bad or practical it may be.

6 OUT OF 10 RINGS