The "Cleansing Hour" is an Internet show of a live exorcism that attracts 50,000 viewers. The set is staged and there are no rehearsals, just a cold reading. Father Max (Ryan Guzman ) hosts the show and performs the phony exorcisms. Drew (Kyle Gallner ) is his right hand man that runs everything. When the next victim doesn't show for the screening, Drew's fiancee (Alix Angelis) fills in. Things go horribly wrong when she goes off script.
Alix Angelis nailed it in this feature. I loved the plot and the characters except for the ending, what was with that? It seems like they didn't know how to end it. It was great entertainment up to that point.
Guide: F-word. Sex?. No nudity.
The Cleansing Hour
2019
Action / Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
The Cleansing Hour
2019
Action / Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Plot summary
Millennial entrepreneurs, Drew and Max, run a webcast that streams live exorcisms that are, in fact, elaborately staged hoaxes. But they get their comeuppance when today's actress becomes mysteriously possessed by a real demon that holds the crew hostage. To make matters worse-- the possessed victim is Drew's fiancée, Lane. In front of a rapidly-growing global audience, the demon subjects Max to a series of violent and humiliating challenges meant to punish him for his online charade. Meanwhile, in an effort to save the love of his life, Drew discovers that the demon's sinister motive is not only about revenge, but also to expose the dark secrets he, Max, and Lane have been hiding from one another. With only the show clock remaining, it's a matter of time before either the truth is revealed or the demon forces them to meet their maker.
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Wow. Just wow...
I sat down in 2020 to watch the 2019 horror movie "The Cleansing Hour" without ever having heard about it, much less knowing what the movie was about, aside from it being a horror movie.
But I was intrigued by the movie's cover and the fact that it is a horror movie is more than sufficient to make me have an interest in it.
So I sat down and watched writer and director Damien LeVeck's movie. And color me impressed and entertained. "The Cleansing Hour" turned out to be a very enjoyable horror movie, and it is without a doubt on the best demonic possession movies out there, hands down.
The storyline told in "The Cleansing Hour" was rather good and enjoyable, and I really liked how writer Damien LeVeck worked to slowly and gradually set up the atmosphere and the plot. And it worked, it really, really worked. I was definitely quite entertained by the plot and storyline.
And the characters in the movie were also likable and enjoyable. And I will say that they had some nice performers to portray the various roles. Ryan Guzman (playing Max) really carried this movie phenomenally with his performance. And he had a good amount of help from Kyle Gallner (playing Drew) and Alix Angelis (playing Lane).
Now, the special effects in this movie were just phenomenal. I had not expected this movie to have such grand, amazing and realistic effects. It was pure eye-candy to sit through "The Cleansing Hour" and watch what the special effects team dished out. And let me be the first to say that the special effects in the movie were so great that they added a very enjoyable aspect to the movie.
Amazing horror movies seem far and rare in between within recent years. So having a movie like "The Cleansing Hour" pop up and surprise like it did, was just pure bliss. Especially for a seasoned horror veteran as myself.
If you enjoy horror movies and movies about demonic possessions, then you have to sit down and watch the 2019 movie "The Cleansing Hour". This was simply put, amazingly entertaining. It is well worth the time, money and effort, believe you me.
I am rating "The Cleansing Hour" a well-deserved eight out of ten stars.
Far more fun than expected exorcism effort
Desperate to increase their viewership, a popular webcast that performs fake exorcisms carries on with their show as normal when they come to realize their intended target has actually become possessed by a real demon in retaliation for their trickery and deceit, forcing them to turn the tables on their lives to get away alive.
For the most part, this was a solid enough genre effort. One of it's better aspects is the rather fun way in which this takes the idea of their trickery and production quality into a seemingly enjoyable exorcism show. With the behind-the-scenes look that we're given here, ranging from the film-quality rigs and setups that are used to trick audiences into thinking they're friends are genuine people in need of exorcisms, the acting classes they go through and the research that goes into the sort of production they're attempting, this gives off quite an intriguing look at what they're attempting to pull off with their show. On top of that, the actual scenes of the crew being tormented and plagued by the sudden possession that occurs is a lot of fun and generates some genuinely creepy and enjoyable confrontations. With scenes of the possessed commanding everyday objects around them in supernatural means to cause harm and injury to others that include bursting flame tattoos into actual fire, breaking glass around their barefoot figures, forcing hallucinations that bring about their demise trying to stop it, these scenes are fun and energetic with some solid action and gore involved. Including an over-the-top finale which signals a far darker ending than what's expected in a film like this, this one gets a lot to enjoy about it which holds it up for the most part. There are a few slight problems with this one. One of the biggest issues is the seemingly random manner in which the possession takes place as there's little build-up or notice about what's going on. As it's so last-minute how she's supposed to take on the role, she seems to have no preparation for what's going on and how to deal with what they're trying to accomplish so when she seems to go possessed there's no real connection to what's going on. They have no real natural reaction as everything is immediately haywire so there's nothing about what happens that feels realistic. Likewise, some of the CGI during the finale is a little unnatural and comes off as too cheesy for this type of effort, but otherwise, this one has a lot to like.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.