October 1st: Exeter (2015, Netflix Streaming)

Exeter is one of those horror films that pops up on Netflix and Redbox that you've never heard of before.  I assumed it was because it was just so trashy that it escaped the annals of must see horror pretty vehemently.  I was wrong.  It was missing recognition because it has been called three different names in the few months it has been out, making it one of the hard films to pin down in the canon of horror.  I wouldn't necesarilly call it a bad movie, but I still would be pressed to call it a good movie.  Exeter's secret identities are Asylum (not to be confused with the studio) and Backmask (a name that makes no sense in the context of the story.

The film seems to solely exist to be an over the top teenage slasher with an asylum as the backdrop when you first start watching.  The pacing, the blatant sexuality and the heavy use of drugs and alcohol points squarely toward a classic slasher morality tale: "you do drugs, you die."  Interesting to point out: I had been anticipating the release of Asylum for months, because it looked like a fun ghost story.  When it popped up on Netflix as Exeter I didn't know it was the film I had actually been waiting for.

A party at an Asylum over night soon boils down to a handful of staple horror story characters.  The jock/tough guy; the prissy queen; the manic pixie; the sensitive guy; the stoner/burnout; the nerdy guy; the annoying little brother.  That's a pretty classic play right there.  Except, it wasn't.  While these characters were all represented pretty heavily, they were far from played straight.  On its surface, the movie looks cut and dry, but the dynamic between characters and the way events shake out don't quite fit your expectations.  They even throw in the old priest and grizzled groundskeeper.

Demon possession plots usually are accompanied by the same old chronology of events.  Innocent is possessed; innocent kills every body; purity rescues innocence; innocent sacrifices.  This movie does not adhere to that.  One of the most interesting things in this movie is how it plays out on teenage instinct, wants and needs.  One line struck me pretty amazingly: "All I wanted was a couple of beers and blowjob."  Or the means by which the characters are trapped: they don't want to get caught.  They have their phones and tablets, but they won't call the authorities for fear of getting in trouble.  They also won't leave because one of them is possessed and don't want to leave him alone and get caught.  Absolutely the best way I've ever seen a character trapped in a location in a LONG time: their motives.

In it's third act it becomes somewhat confusing if you don't dedicate your attention to it.  The twist at the end is even somewhat worthy of mid-career M. Night Shamylan.  The problem with this was that the movie felt like it would crescendo out to a level ending and just give encore after encore.  By the time I reached the end, I didn't really feel that invested anymore.

It is a film worth watching for any horror movie fan who wants something a little less than ordinary, but it's definitely not ground breaking or earth shattering.  It's worth a go.