As Halloween draws ever closer, the cinemas are being besieged by a variety of horror movies. Both Smile and Halloween Ends are already out and have been scaring up a storm. This Friday even more horrifying offerings will descend upon cinemas across the UK. Once such film is Prey for the Devil.
Sister Ann (Jacqueline Byers) believes she is answering a calling to be the first female exorcist… but who, or what, called her? In response to a global rise in demonic possessions, Ann seeks out a place at an exorcism school reopened by the Catholic Church. Until now these schools have only trained priests in the Rite of Exorcism, but a professor (Colin Salmon) recognises Sister Ann’s gifts and agrees to train her. Thrust onto the spiritual frontline with fellow student Father Dante (Christian Navarro), Sister Ann finds herself in a battle for the soul of a young girl who Sister Ann believes is possessed by the same demon that tormented her own mother years ago. Determined to root out the evil, Ann soon realises that the Devil has her right where he wants her.
Director Daniel Stamm is no stranger to demonic possession / exorcism tales, having directed The Last Exorcism. That film helped put Stamm on the map, but although he is already versed in this sub-genre, Prey for the Devil is a very different story to that of The Last Exorcism. This time around Stamm jumps straight in, bypassing the traditional and tired set-up, allowing ample opportunities for scare sequences. In the lead up to Prey for the Devil’s release, THN spoke with Stamm to get a taste of what audiences can expect from his latest exorcism story and why it should be on everyone’s Halloween watch list.
Prey for the Devil is in cinemas from Friday 28th October 2022.
Kat Hughes is a UK born film critic and interviewer who has a passion for horror films. An editor for THN, Kat is also a Rotten Tomatoes Approved Critic. She has bylines with Ghouls Magazine, Arrow Video, Film Stories, Certified Forgotten and FILMHOUNDS and has had essays published in home entertainment releases by Vinegar Syndrome and Second Sight. When not writing about horror, Kat hosts micro podcast Movies with Mummy along with her five-year-old daughter.