Ever sinceThe Exorcist, movies about demonic possession andthe religious figures who exorcise themhave been a staple of the horror genre. And why shouldn’t it be? Demons make great monsters (the Lipstick-Face Demon fromInsidiouscan go kick rocks, the scary bastard), andthe idea of being taken over by something evilis terrifying for anyone, religious or not. But being such a popular subgenre means it’s harder to sort the wheat from the chaff and find a possession movie that truly stands out from the rest.
Agnesis one such movie that, while not overtly horrifying,offers a new take on the classic possession and exorcism story, viewing it through two different lenses: the humorous and the tragic.A nun becoming possessedand requiring a priest trained in exorcisms is pretty standard fare, but here it’s treated with a distinct sense of humor more than the gravitas usually seen in the possession subgenre. And that’s only half of whatAgnesis; likePsycho,the movie switches protagonists once the exorcism is over, and the humor turns to existential drama,allowingAgnesto explore the effects of an exorcism from a completely new perspective.
The Exorcism in ‘Agnes’ Is All Fun and Games – Until It Isn’t
Right off the bat,Agnesmakes it clear that this will not be your typical movie about an exorcism. The titular Sister Agnes (Hayley McFarland) is introduced while dining with her fellow nuns, but things quickly devolve into chaos asshe colorfully swears at the other nuns and throws cake while cackling madly. Then everything freezes as the title splashes across the screen in neon pink letters over and over, like a hypnotic piece of pop art.The abrupt reveal of Agnes' possession is funnyand immediately expels any ambiguity about the possession, since lights flicker and objects impossibly levitate around her. More typical exorcism tropes fill the first half ofAgnes, but they’re all treatedwith a similar tongue-in-cheek tone. The exorcist, Father Donaghue (Ben Hall), and his team approach Agnes’ room in slow motion to a heavy guitar riff as if they were a rock band;the nuns pose like cover modelsbefore being introduced to Donaghue and his assistant, and they openly discuss taboo subjects; anda second “priest” who becomes involved behaves like a snake oil salesmanfocused more on PR than religious regulations.
‘Dark Nuns’ Review: A Predictable Possession Horror Movie Saved by Badass Demon-Fighting Sisters
You’ve seen this movie before, but not with these characters.
But it’s the second half of the movie that truly makesAgnesstand out, because it reveals thatneither Agnes nor the priests who come to exorcise her demon are the main characters of the movie. An unspecified amount of time following the exorcism—the results of which are never explicitly explainedbut are implied to be traumatic—Agnes' best friend, Sister Mary (Molly Quinn), has left the convent and rejoined the secular world; she originally came to the church as a refuge after a family tragedy. Now having witnessed potentialevidence of God and demonsbut in such a horrific way, Mary is stuck in the middle when it comes to faith. The second half ofAgnesfollows Mary’s bleak search for meaning in a world that’snot much more satisfying than that of the sisterhood,turning the supernatural horror of the first half into something depressingly realistic.
‘Agnes’ Is Horror on the Outside, Drama on the Inside
Unlike other possession movies,Agnesisn’t very interested in exploiting religious iconography for shock and terror.Even during the few moments of violence in the first half of the movie,there aren’t really any scares; there’s blood, sure, but if anything, the shock value of Agnes’ attacks on the priests is meant to elicit laughter, not screams. The movie doesn’t even care all that much aboutexploring the toll of an exorcismon the exorcist or the victim. The ideas of battling against evil andif that kind of demonic evil even really existsare kept firmly in the first half of the movie, which, again, leans more towards humor than horror. The real crux of the movie comes after the exorcism is over, and the possessed victim and the lead exorcist are gone from the movie and never seen again.Agnespivots its already unexpected humorous tone to one of melancholy and existential dreadas it turns its focus to Mary.
Regardless of whether Agnes was truly possessed or wassimply suffering from a mental illness, her behavior and subsequent exorcism still haunt Mary.The possession and exorcism of Agnes are so traumatizingthat they ultimately leave her with no comfort or answers at all. Even worse, the secular world that she and Agnes clung to even as nuns also proves to be incapable of providing the comfort she needs. Even her attempt to connect with Agnes' old flame, played bySean Gunn in a brief but unexpectedly heartfelt role, only results in horrific failure.
The terror ofAgnesisn’t that demons exist, but the overwhelming dread that neither a convent nor the real world is a safe place, andterrible things can happen to youwhether you have faith or not.Agnesdoesn’t just take a singular new approach to possession horror; it offers two that are different from the norm and from each other, running the gamut from humor to existential dread. Whether such a tactic is bold or disjointed is up for debate,but it still makes for a fresh take on some very old and very familiar horror territory.
