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Film: For Sale by Exorcist
Year: 2024
Director: Melissa LaMartina
Writer: Chris LaMartina
Starring: Emily Classen, John Dimes and Helenmary Ball
Review:
This was a film that I got the chance to see at Nightmares Film Festival. Now to preface this, our director is Melissa LaMartina and her husband, Chris, wrote the screenplay. They’re the creative team behind things like WNUF Halloween Special, its sequel and What Happens Next Will Scare You. I’ve seen a couple of their projects at previous fests so I was curious as to what we’d get here. This was its World premiere as well.
Synopsis: a realtor – and certified exorcist – must face down the displaced spirits she’s evicted through the years to secure her forever home.
Now for this movie, we are following Susan Price (Emily Classen). She’s the realtor and exorcist from our synopsis. She has a documentary crew following her to see how she does her work. It is interesting as her skills as an exorcist come in handy to cleanse houses that other agents have issues selling. We see her in a couple of different places. That is until she is struck by something she’s asked by the crew following her, where does she call home?
This then becomes her looking for the perfect place to live. She checks out a handful of properties until she comes to one that is owned by an elderly couple. They’re looking to downsize. She wants to sleep on it before deciding. That is until she comes back wanting to make an offer to learn that a rival realtor already has one in and she is going to use it for her show where she sells houses as well.
Susan then decides to take on finding a house for an odd gothic couple who have the offer on the house that she wants. This proves more difficult and a new problem comes up for the elderly couple. All the spirits over the years are mad at her. They’ve found a new residence and it might be out of the realm that Susan can handle.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. I’ll admit something here, I didn’t have a great cast list to work off since this movie is still so new. I don’t want that to affect what you think about this movie as this is fun. I’d say that this is a comedy/horror film, which I’m not always a fan of, but I do like LaMartina’s previous works. Also, this is a mockumentary so that adds to it as well with the absurdity of things.
Now that I’ve set that up, let me delve deeper into our lead character. This is a character study about her. It is set up well where we learn about her through her work. We see her preparing a house to sell and how she manages the ghosts. She tells stories of the past about how she learned she had this ability. Something to include is that she’s a ‘southern belle’. She has the crazy and hilarious phrases that she uses. They went over the top, but I loved it. Classen did a great job at bringing this character to life.
Something else to delve into on the premise is that this pokes fun at those house hunter shows. Susan’s isn’t as successful as others since hers is more niche. What I’ll say though, I could see a show like this working. It would be like a combination with ghost hunters. She also doesn’t always need to find people new houses. There is a couple dealing with a succubus. She helps them and then there is almost a vibe of The Frighteners where she gives them an invoice to pay. It is pricey. If they don’t, she references that she knows a Norwegian Death Metal band that will do a ritual to put the entity back in here. I love the care and detail that goes into all these.
Where I’ll then go is filmmaking. I’ll also include here saying that since I don’t have a good cast list, we have a great group of characters. Since this is a comedy, I thought it worked well for what they needed there. This was also well made. They capture that found footage/mockumentary vibe. I’m a sucker for movies like this when it works well. How they framed it and how it was shot was good. There is a vibe of realism despite the subject matter. I’m glad they didn’t go over the top with the effects. They were subtle with the hauntings which helped. I didn’t have any issues there. The soundtrack and design fit what was needed.
In conclusion, this is a fun movie. Not one that has depth to the story, but what it does have is heart. Classen is great as our lead. I’d say the rest of the cast were good in support of her. This was well-made from the cinematography to the framing and the subtle effects were a good touch. Even as someone who doesn’t love comedy/horror, this was a fun film to check out. If you are into the other films this couple has been a part of, give this a watch. It was in line there and worked well.
My Rating: 7 out of 10