Prey for the Devil (2022) is a movie about horror and the supernatural directed by Daniel Stamm, who is recognized for his work in The Last Exorcism (2010). This film mixes exorcism horror with an examination of faith, trauma, and the woman’s fight against a patriarchal religious structure. A supernatural horror film at its essence, Prey for the Devil touches on personal struggles and generational trauma as well as the war between good and evil that pulses beneath the surface of the Catholic Church.
⭐ Plot Summary:
Sister Ann is a young sympathetic nun who is haunted by a traumatic moment of her childhood. She is portrayed by Jacqueline Byers. As a child, Ann’s mother had a severe case of what would be considered a mental illness but she was thought to actually be possessed. Now as an adult, Ann feels an almost personal obligation to assist people who are afflicted by such forces.
Customarily, exorcisms are only conducted by the priests within the Catholic Church, as women are forbidden from carrying out such ceremonies. However, with the increase of demonic possessions around the world, The Vatican has reopened exorcism training to select priests because there is a need to tackle the growing challenge. Ann’s unnerving gift of being extraordinarily sensitive to demonic incursions places her in training with Father Quinn, who takes on the role of a mentor and guardian. “At first, she seemed to have stepped on a bone,” Quinton said.
Before long, Ann becomes attached to one particularly disturbing case – Natalie, a young girl who, much like Ann’s mother, seems not only to be annoying, but surprisingly harassed by something internally. She attempts to unravel the mystery of this ailment, only to grasp that the evil that had been bothering her all along may have resurfaced. The demon lurking is not just after Natalie – it’s also after Ann. What is more disturbing is the fact that her interrelationship with the creature is even to a higher degree troubling that what has been previously deemed.
💼 Apositions and Allegeries Cast as well as Characters: Jacqueline Byers as sister ann – Resolutely determined nun with a personal horrific backstory that gives her strength to endeavor to overcome the challenges posed to her by the Church.
Colin Salmon as Father Quinn – An experienced exorcist who is skeptical of Ann’s skills and also serves as her mentor.
Christian Navarro as Father Dante – He is a novice priest who supports Ann’s efforts and provides additional counseling concerning the challenges separating exorcisms.
Virginia Madsen as Dr. Peters – She is a psychologist and a scholar who provides a scientific rationale for possession, serving as a logical counter to the Church’s religious assumptions.
Posy Taylor as Natalie – A young and innocent girl suffering from an evil spirit’s possession. The incident also holds deep personal relevance to Sister Ann.
🎬 Themes and Symbolism:
Faith vs. Trauma:
The film studies the aftermath of trauma and how it may affect one’s faith. The possession of Ann is as much about acknowledgement and acceptance of her past as it is about spiritual evolution. The challenge embodies the relationship between suffering and devotion, which lies at the core of her conflict.
Gender Roles in the Church:
Prey for the Devil takes a stance against the Catholic Church’s dogma concerning female power by concentrating on a woman’s progression into a male-dominated sphere. A more complex issue of women’s position within oppressive structures is raised by Ann’s eagerness to execute exorcisms.
The Nature of Evil
The demon’s connection to Ann adds a dimension of personal terror which indicates that evil does not have to always be an external force but rather, can be associated with personal individuals and family history.
Science vs. Religion
Considering Dr. Peters’ background in psychology, possession is as much an issue of modern science as it is of religion, and so he interacts with the characters in a possession as a rational psychological issue, propelling them—and the audience—to ponder if the phenomena fall under the category of supernatural possession or are psychological in nature.
🎥 💻 Visual Style and Direction
Daniel Stamm uses a cold and oppressive color tone to reflect the deep emotional isolation of sister Ann. The sister’s emotional conditions are well represented in dim lighting, tight framing, and unsettling sound design to deliver a persecuted environment. Instead of focusing on action, Prey for the Devil generates psychological exorcism through tension, suspense, and chilling practical effects unlike action heavy exorcism films. The movie unnerves through careful jam packed suspense instead of jump scares.
The exorcism sequences themselves are heavy and painful to comprehend, traditional horror pieces are blended like bodies twisting and speaking in voices that instill fear to a character, with more subtle moments of tension.
🏆 Critical Reception:
Prey for the Devil was reviewed with differing opinions from both critics and the audience. While some appreciated Jacqueline Byers’s performance and the effort that was put into providing a mainstream exorcism horror, others claimed that their effort was overproned to genre conventions as they did not progress with the narrative sufficiently. The exploration of female empowerment was commendable, but it is also noted that the movie did not achieve its ambitious themes and motifs, which is disappointing.
🔍 Final Thoughts:
While not straying too far from the conventions of the exorcism horror sub-genre, Prey for the Devil does incorporate a strong female protagonist and themes of inherited double trauma and institutional sexism. These features and the couple of moments of real suspense, psychology, and unquestionable supernatural horror make the film enjoyable for genre fans, but does not make it a must-see.