"My Best Friend's Exorcism" a totally enjoyable slumber-party movie

My Best Friend’s Exorcism (2022)

Being a hormonal teenage girl can probably feel like being possessed by a demon, or something. Much like “Jennifer’s Body” (which finally received a much-deserved reappraisal from audiences), “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” couches a high school story about female friendship in horror-movie tropes. Adapted by Jenna Lamia (TV’s “Good Girls”) from Grady Hendrix’s 2016 Quirk Books best-seller and directed by Damon Thomas, this 1988-set teen horror-comedy imagines a crimped and permed Regan MacNeil (sort of) in the halls of “Heathers.” It may not always live up to its wonderfully tongue-in-cheek title, but “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” endears more often than not like a "Fear Street" book cover sprung to life.

Going into their sophomore year at a Catholic high school in South Carolina, Abby Rivers (Elsie Fisher) and Gretchen Lang (Amiah Miller) are frozen yogurt-loving best friends who vow to grow old together. Gretchen is about to move a couple towns over with her God-fearing parents, but she still has time left with her bestie. For a girls-bonding weekend with friends Glee (Cathy Ang) and Margaret (Rachel Ogechi Kanu), Abby and Gretchen have a sleepover in Margaret’s family’s cabin. Things get spooky when they get out the Ouija board and take LSD, thanks to Margaret's gross boyfriend Wallace (Clayton Royal Johnson). Things get even spookier when Gretchen and Abby go check out a nearby ramshackle house where a girl was supposedly sacrificed in a satanic ritual. They both come out alive, but Gretchen is now possessed by a demonic force, not exactly acting herself. Just wanting her friend back, Abby doesn’t know what to do with the mood swings, projectile vomiting, and backstabbing. Can the power of their friendship compel the demon?

The Aqua Net, the girls crushing on Boy George (should we tell them?), the leg warmers, the teen lingo — “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” has fun with all of the period details. The soundtrack is also a lot of obvious hits for the time, including A-ha’s “Take On Me,” Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now,” Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me,” and Blondie’s “One Way or Another,” and they’re well-placed. TV director Damon Thomas manages a bouncy comic tone well, never pushing too hard into spoof or allowing the creeping darkness to overshadow. Above all else is the film’s beating heart, belonging to Abby and Gretchen's friendship. Naturally likable and emotionally true, Elsie Fisher (2022’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) and Amiah Miller get just enough time to fill in their sweet friendship and long history of loyalty. We believe these two girls as codependent friends (Abby being the more self-conscious one), and there's a necessary pang of heartbreak once Gretchen becomes possessed and acts like a mean girl. There’s a definite queer reading on the material, as well, and not just between Abby and Gretchen. These best friends lift each other up and say they love each other like sisters ("Lylas!") as if there could be something more there, but it’s never really explored beyond Abby needing to start thinking for herself.

The state of Abby and Gretchen's friendship is all we need for stakes. With that said, everything surrounding them isn’t as fully realized. As Glee and Margaret, a charming Cathy Ang (HBO Max’s “And Just Like That…”) and Rachel Ogechi Kanu solidly round out the girls’ friends, but Gretchen’s uptight parents (played by Nathan Anderson and Cynthia Evans) are pure caricatures. Chris Lowell is only sometimes amusing as the member of a pro-fitness Christian boy band who becomes Abby’s would-be exorcist for Gretchen. On the whole, though, the characters are a fun bunch that somehow earn one of those seemingly defunct “where are they now?” epilogues. Never fully capitalizing on either of its genre elements—the humor could be even more biting, and the horror doesn’t get much grosser or more surprising than a tapeworm—“My Best Friend’s Exorcism” still makes for a totally enjoyable slumber-party movie. You would have a major malfunction if you didn’t like it. 

Grade: B -

Amazon Studios is releasing “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” (96 min.) on Prime Video on September 30, 2022.