The Cleansing Hour (2019) Movie Review

The Cleansing Hour is a slow burn, but, at the same time, a rewarding watch if you can make it through to the ending. Throughout the duration of the film, I felt like it had a much longer runtime than 97 minutes. Writer/director/editor Damien LeVeck (Dark, Deadly & Dreadful 2018) could have made better choices while editing The Cleansing Hour, possibly slimming it down to 75 minutes, and it still would’ve worked.

Synopsis:

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.

The story is a bit simplistic for a horror comedy, telling the story of a priest who left the church only to create a fake exorcism web show. One night while filming, things go awry when a cast member gets possessed, and he learns when you mess with the bull long enough, you’ll eventually get the horns.

I haven’t seen the short that inspired the feature film, but I would be interested in how the story evolved. Some of the pacing and transitional issues could have been budgetary problems. Overall, I really liked The Cleansing Hour and would recommend it to fans on of the horror comedy subgenre, even if it’s not exactly perfect. The film is worth a watch when it makes it gets released in 2020.