My Best Friend's Exorcism

* spoilers *

In 1988, Abby and Gretchen have been friends since elementary school and inseparable ever since. To be rebellious teens, the pair and their friends take acid. All of them feel no effects except for Gretchen who runs out into the forest. They find her in the morning, but no one knows what really happened to her. Afterwards, Gretchen starts to act strangely. First she stops sleeping then she stops bathing and insists people are whispering around her and touching her. Abby investigates into it and decides that Gretchen's possessed, but can their friendship be strong enough to save her best friend?

My Best Friend's Exorcism is a uniquely packaged book. It looks like a yearbook complete with messages from friends in the book cover and family ads at the end. Each of the chapter headings is the title of an 80's song. It put me in the right state of mind for the story that is equally different. Based on the title, I had a lot of expectations. Most possession stories draw directly from The Exorcist and don't do much that's different. It's why I'm usually bored with these types of stories, but this one manages to break the tropes and stand as something different.

The possession starts fairly typically with Gretchen exhibiting strange behaviors and claiming to hear whispering and being touched by something unseen. Her appearance suffers and all of her friends except Abby shun her. Abby feels helpless because nothing she does can help her friend. She's tried talking to authority figures, but seems to just make it worse. When Gretchen finally seems to improve, Abby is now shunned. Gretchen's appearance and demeanor have improved, but she's a completely changed person. She's suddenly so helpful to her friends, helping one lose weight with mysterious shakes and passing along another love letters from a teacher. No one realizes anything is wrong until both girls' lives are destroyed irreparably. I love that the possessed girl actually does evil things. She doesn't hurt herself or exhibit grotesque sexuality as is usual. The aftermath of her actions are horrifically memorable.

As with most possession stories, an exorcism is used to try to draw out the demon from the afflicted. A religious exorcism is tried for hours, but it doesn't really work. Abby finds a guy who spoke about body building for Jesus to do it, but he has no real experience. He eventually abandons them, leaving Abby with a tied up Gretchen. Abby exorcises the demon herself by calling upon things significant to them like artifacts from their friendships and songs they love. I found this to be the most refreshing because religion didn't save them. Things they actually had faith in and meant something to their every day lives saved them. Abby and Gretchen didn't need a priest or anyone else. Abby saved Gretchen by herself. The aftermath is suitably realistic.

Overall, My Best Friend's Exorcism is a unique story that actually has the demon hurting people around them. The exorcism and the aftermath cemented it as the best possession story I've seen or read. The novel throws off a lot of horrible tropes invented by The Exorcist and copied in every other possession movie. This book shows that you don't have to follow the same formula over and over to be a part of the genre. I hope more stories follow suit in the future and I will be looking out for more books by Grady Hendrix.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Women in Horror: A Head Full of Ghosts

The Barrett's are a normal family who live in  New England. All of them are devastated when Marjorie, the 14 year old daughter, exhibits signs of acute schizophrenia. At first, they opt to use conventional psychiatry and psychology for treatment, but when her condition worsens, her father John feels that his new found devotion in religion is the key to her health. He believes his daughter is possessed by demons and modern medicine can't help. Merry, the youngest daughter at 8, is just confused. She has no idea what's wrong with her sister and becomes annoyed that no one pays attention to her anymore. The family's lives get turned upside down when they become involved in filming a reality TV show called The Possession about exorcising the demon from their daughter. Is Marjorie really possessed? Is she faking or is she simply mentally ill?

A Head Full of Ghosts is a complex book that tells its story in a variety of ways. The story is being told to a best selling author who is writing adult Merry's account of the events. Some scenes are in present day with Merry chatting with the author, but her account is told through the eyes of her eight year old self. Even assuming Merry remembers everything accurately (which she admits she probably isn't) and isn't lying, she doesn't really know everything that happened. She was eight and protected from a lot of what went on behind the scenes and the decision-making processes. Of course she cared for her sister, but after a while simply became annoyed that no one really paid attention to her any longer. No one plays games with her anymore and her boundless energy is now seen as an annoyance since her sister has been sick. When horrible things start happening, Merry is of course terrified but has no idea if her sister is faking, possessed, or mentally ill. All she knows is that Marjorie isn't a fun playmate anymore and has no idea if the things she perceives are real or just imagination heightened by fear.

As a result of her sister's situation, Merry's parents are also very different people. Her father John is suddenly devoutly religious and prays for long periods of time. Merry is mostly confused by it because it was never part of her life. Now she feels deficient in her father's eyes and scared of his fervor. The religious leaders that come to supervise and exorcise take complete control. If he's capable of finding such an extreme "solution" to his daughter's problem, what else is he capable of? Her mother Sarah doesn't agree with the religious solution, but she's desperate to find a cure. She isn't happy about the TV show or the exorcism, so she turns to drinking heavily and becoming moody. The TV show portrays her as confused and barely there, but she always tried to keep Merry and Marjorie (to a lesser extent) from being exploited or scared. I found Merry's narrative rings true. She's just a normal kid, not some super smart, precocious adult version of a kid and it's refreshing.

This brings us to Marjorie. Most possession stories are about fear of girls turning into women, including becoming sexual, defying authority, and simply existing. This one seems to be no different. Marjorie is 14 years old, just around puberty. She used to be cheerful and eager to write stories with her little sister, but now, she wants some privacy and a life away from her family. Like normal teenage girl, she is contrary and sullen. Unlike a normal teenage girl, she is prone to fits of violence and other strange behavior. The most memorable one is after she's been sick, she graphically and messily masturbates while on her period and then urinates and defecates on the carpet. This is the most extreme and disgusting version of this type of scene in fiction. It really boils down to fear of women's sexuality by showing normal sexual expression in a grotesque way. In The Exorcist, it was Reagan stabbing her genitals and shoving her mother's face in the wound while spewing obscenities. A Head Full of Ghosts does the same thing, taking it to further extreme. She also does the requisite rebellious things turned up: physically fighting her father, obscenities, cursing the church, etc, which are an exaggerated version of normal teenage rebellion. It seems like Marjorie is faking for much of the novel, she admits it herself. However, she may be lying or delusional or possessed. I like that Merry and the readers by extension never definitely know which one.

In addition to this account, a blog by an annoying horror fan (who also turns out to be Merry writing under a pseudonym) analyzing and commenting on The Possession and descriptions of scenes from the actual TV show (edited from actual events or re-enactments aired on the Discovery Channel) are included in the story. I love how meta the story is in analyzing and picking apart itself so I don't have to do it (but I did a bit anyway). The entire narrative is through Merry's eyes. The ending throws the veracity of literally everything into question and I like it. Some may see the entire novel as pointless at that point, but I enjoyed the journey. I don't find the book scary, but it is unsettling. The suspense is built at times, but sometimes huge revelations are stated plainly. A couple of the scenes are practically burned into my brain and I enjoyed Tremblay's unique writing as he layered the story deceptively through one point of view. He took a genre I don't enjoy and made it interesting to me. It still has misogynistic elements, but it's hard to get away from when it's an inherent part of the genre. I can't wait for his next book, Disappearance at Devil's Rock.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

The Merciless

* spoilers *

Sofia Flores moves to a new school in hopes of a new start. Her old school was full of people who just love to ridicule her. When Riley's overly religious, popular group accepts her, Sofia couldn't be happier. They drink together, have sleepovers, and seem genuinely nice. Brooklyn is nice too, but Riley's group hates her for some reason. They used to be friends and had some sort of falling out. Brooklyn is everything Riley and her group isn't, but it isn't until Sofia sees Riley's boyfriend with Brooklyn. She's just being a good friend. She ever expected Riley to tie Brooklyn up in the basement and try to exorcise her. Now Sofia is torn between siding with her friends and their religious fanaticism or saving Brooklyn from who knows what torture awaits her.

Sofia right from the beginning is kind of desperate for acceptance. She faced humiliation at every turn at her old school and she just wants a new start where she can be happy. Riley, Grace, and Alexis accept her right away. She gets the high school experience she has always wanted: sleepovers, illicit drinking, and real girlfriends to pour her heart out to. They also happen to be weirdly religious. More on that later. Brooklyn is also an interesting friend. She takes her to get piercing and tattoos, not caring what the more conventional girls think (even though they drink and have no real room to throw stones). One day, Sofia sees Brooklyn all over Riley's sort of boyfriend. She feels more loyalty to Riley's group, so she tells Riley about it. She had no idea that their next sleepover would include Brooklyn tied up and bleeding in a vacant house with all the exits locked or nailed shut.

The excuse for Brooklyn's imprisonment is that a demon is inside her, making her do horrible things. Four girls who play lip service to religion and with no connection to the church, no guidance, and no knowledge are going to exorcise the demon out of her. Riley is the toxic queen bee of the mean girls group and wastes no time going all Hostel on that poor girl. Brooklyn is stabbed with knives, burned with matches, and almost drowned in a tub among other horrific things. Who knew teenage girls coud be so vicious? Riley is obviously the ringleader and delights in the pain she inflicts. The other girls are not quite so gleeful, but follow nonetheless. It's a sick game of follow the leader and the only one conflicted is Sofia who infuriatingly does next to nothing to stop her through most of the novel. Riley employs classic bullying techniques to keep everyone in  line: threaten opponents with the same treatment, say opponents are possessed by demons as well, and cut off all exits in the house. This situation is the classic example of the majority witch-hunting the minority who is different whether it's because of religion or dress or any other random thing.

The very ending is complete and utter bullshit. Apparently, Brooklyn really is possessed by demons. Just ignore that Riley is obviously a total socio/psychopath who doesn't think twice about victimizing someone for something pretty minor, threatening her friends, and bullying anyone who gets in her way. The ending is supremely stupid and says that Riley was right to do all these awful things. It seriously disgusts me and I will never read anything by Danielle Vega ever again. Up until the very end, the story was a rather interesting look into mean girls to the extreme. One other flaw is that there's simply no suspense. It's the book version of the Saw films. No build up or actual creepiness. Just descriptions of torture which does not make good horror.  

My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins

Possess

Bridget Liu isn't just a moody, combative teenager that just wants everyone (including her parents, her mom, and the cute son of the police sergeant) to leave her alone. She can communicate with demons and send them back to where they came from. Fearing her loved ones reaction to her power (or her belief in her power), she confides in Monsignor Renault, who then guides her and asks for help on increasingly more dangerous exorcisms. On one of these, Bridget hears a demon say something frightening that turns her whole world upside down. She has to figure out a demon's plan before it's executed and find out who around her is working for it.

I usually don't really like exorcist stories, but the awesome metallic blue cover and the good things I've heard about Gretchen McNeil's writing made me ignore my misgivings towards the genre. I was pleasantly surprised by most of the story. Bridget is a smart, capable heroine that has special powers over demons. Even though she can be too whiny and annoying, her good qualities outweigh those annoyances. I liked seeing the story through her eyes because she adds her own sarcasm and unique point of view. Her character develops throughout the novel and she gets much less annoying and much more mature by the end of it. My favorite scene is the one where a doll shop is infested with demons. There are some pretty creepy moments, but nothing mindblowingly scary. Possessed dolls are just disturbing by themselves. Gretchen McNeil's writing is what made the book enjoyable. Despite my problems with it, I read it pretty fast because she built up momentum really well and grabbed my interest. The plot moves swiftly after the exposition with the demonic activity increasing as it goes along.

I did have some problems with this book. The minor characters are paper thin with little to no character development. A boy is in love with Bridget and literally stalks her around school and sends her frightening and obsessive text messages. This situation gets way out of control and totally could have been prevented if she had just told an authority figure about it and gotten him help. It just makes her look horrible and like she doesn't really care about her friend and the other people he could hurt because of his obviously unstable mental state. I really had to suspend disbelief with the religious aspects because I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic schools. It did pull me out of the story a couple times at the beginning, but I was so interested in the story by the end that it no longer mattered. There were some twists and turns in the plot, but I could see most of them coming a mile away.

Possess was kind of uneven for me. The character development was great for Bridget, but most of the other characters were basically cardboard. I do wish it were a little more scary. Most teen horror is kind of underwhelming. Despite the problems I had, Gretchen McNeil's writing kept me interested throughout the book and I will definitely be reading her new release, Ten.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Women in Horror: The Exorcist

The Exorcist is one of the most infamous and well known horror films ever made. It tells the story of Regan, a girl who suddenly exhibits strange and violent behavior. Medicine and psychiatry fail to cure her of her odd behavior after she endures test after test. Then supernatural occurrences surround Regan, including objects moving by themselves. Her mother, in desperation, asks Catholic priests for help. They believe she is possessed by the devil and decide to perform an exorcism to free her. The question is if it will actually get exorcise the demon and if so, how many of them will be alive by the end.

Regan is a 12 year old girl, on the cusp of womanhood. She’s portrayed at first as a normal, innocent girl. After she is possessed, obscenities spew from her mouth as freely as her infamous green vomit and she is shown is obscenely sexual. If she had been much younger, I would have figured it was simply meant to disturb the audience by oversexualizing her in a disturbing manner and thought nothing more of it. Her age leads me to believe that Regan’s budding sexuality is being repressed through this story of possession. Even her mother suspected her new behavior had something to do with puberty. When possessed, the language she uses and her attitude towards religion and society is subversive and rebellious. Regan’s behavior is extreme, but teenagers are typically rebellious and push boundaries. Her sexuality is also grotesquely portrayed, directed at taboo targets, such as her own mother and the adult men who try to save her (namely doctors and priests). She maims her own body in a horrible parody of masturbation and continually hurts herself physically in other ways. This shows that her natural sexuality is something horrific and harmful for herself and everyone around her. The goal of the film is to transform Regan back into her pure, virginal state to reinstate the status quo. The patriarchal society sees female sexuality as threatening and dangerous, something to be suppressed.

Even Regan’s mother, who seems strong and successful, is undermined through the course of the film. At the beginning of the film, she is a world famous actress who successful raised her child on her own. However, she falls to pieces in the end, powerless to save her daughter. She turns to the Catholic Church, an institution that only imbues men with power, despite being an atheist. Despite her role as a powerful woman, she can do absolutely nothing to help her daughter.

Despite my misogynistic interpretation of the film, I did enjoy the film. The acting is impeccable from the entire cast, but especially in Linda Blair as Regan. I don’t think anyone who watches the film can sit undisturbed as her condition worsens and she appears as evil as the demon inside her. The effects are amazing and don’t lose much of their effect even today. The makeup on Regan is incredibly creepy even though relatively small changes are made to her face. The director and actors went to great lengths and were even injured on the set in order to create real emotional responses and realistic supernatural effects. The musical score is made up of eerie modern classical music by Penderecki and portions of George Crumb’s string quartet Black Angels. This music has a way of getting under your skin and enhancing the unease the film already elicits.

The Exorcist could be seen just as a good vs. evil, demonic possession film or one about forcing women to suppress their sexuality in favor of a domineering religious patriarchy. Either way, it’s a very well-known and often times feared film that will live on in infamy.

My rating: 7/10 fishmuffins