The Cleansing Hour Review: An Entertaining Social Media Exorcism

Release date: October 8, 2020
Running time: 95 minutes
Starring Ryan Guzman, Kyle Gallner, Alix Angelis
Directed by Damien LeVeck

Max (Guzman) and Drew (Gallner) are millennial entrepreneurs who’ve made themselves famous with a webcast they created called “The Cleansing Hour,” which streams live exorcisms. The catch? Each ceremony is elaborately staged to look real in order to dupe their global audience—until today, when today’s subject, Drew’s fiancé Lane (Angelis), actually turns out to be possessed

I loved the premise of this film and the little touches it had.  The exorcism part was really well done and had great production values.  And the film starts you off with a high energy introduction to both the Cleansing Hour show and Max's dual personas: one of internet star and the other of social media fame chaser.  These little touches on the show and the characters really sell the greater whole.  The Cleansing Hour show feels like a fictionalized social media show, with plugs for merchandise and follows at every possible chance.  The movie itself has a great aesthetic and uses the font from the Diablo video game, which was a touch I greatly appreciated.  And the characters are far more complicated than their initial one dimensional portrayal lets on.  They all have some darker secrets to hide and come alive with the really entertaining acting.  Both Guzman and Gallner are great as friends who produce the show, and Guzman handles the role of charismatic pontiff perfectly.  But the real star of this movie is Angelis as the possessed fiancé!  I do not envy the amount of body contortions, guttural screams, and vast amounts of make up that must have been required for her to pull off a convincing possession.  And she does so wonderfully with some menacing looks, brutal moves, and convincing agony.   

But The Cleansing Hour also has more behind its social media inspired exterior.  The film has some interesting messages underneath its skin.  It touches on what is real and what is not in our highly produced, social media dependent society.  The shows have fantastic production values and a solid following, but are clearly designed to get subscriptions and share merchandise.  This seems to be something that is coming up more and more as social media takes over people's forms of entertainment.  And I definitely appreciated this film taking that to another level and looking at another avenue for internet fame.  But while the Cleansing Hour does so much right, it has a few missteps.  First and foremost is the CG, which looks ridiculous at times.  It is sad because the movie does such a great job with the make up and traditional effects, but the CG is just not up to par.  And sometimes it will mix and match to the detriment of all.  There is an amazing scene where something is emerging using traditional effects and it looks visceral and powerful.  But then the thing that emerges is all computer generated, breaking this sense of wonder.  And The Cleansing Hour also tries to bring in a larger overall narrative that makes for a grandiose ending, but one that seemed to veer slightly off course.  And there are some revelations in the story itself that are pivotal points but come off as slightly ridiculous.  However, the film still has plenty going for it to make this worth your while.

The Cleansing Hour will possess your eyeballs with its entertaining social media exorcism premise, fantastic special effects, and spirited, spiritual performances. 

Watch it.

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Scare Me is available to stream on Shudder starting October 8, 2020.