Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		1.0

The Exorcism of Molly Hartley Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 23, 2015

It evidently takes less success than one might imagine to foster a sequel in today’s Hollywood, at least if one takes The Haunting of Molly Hartley as an example. This 2008 horror film received pretty negative reviews (including a lowly “one star” assessment from my colleague Brian Orndorf right here at Blu-ray.com), but performed well enough at the box office for someone to have approved this straight to video sequel which takes up Molly’s supposedly frightening story some years after the first film’s timeline. The Haunting of Molly Hartley may have failed spectacularly (at least according to most critics, if not the ticket purchasing public), but it at least attempted to gussy up a traditional demonic possession story in the guise of a more “rational” psychological underpinning. There’s no such luck at play in The Exorcism of Molly Hartley, a completely rote and predictable entry whose release is obviously timed to coincide with Halloween revelers looking for an undemanding scare-a-thon they can have playing in the background while they make repeated trips to the front door to answer the plaintive cries of all those trick or treaters. Some curmudgeons may end up simply staying at the front door after just a few minutes of The Exorcism of Molly Hartley, for it’s by and large a completely worthless assemblage of tired clichés that never manages to (sorry for this) scare up much of anything.

Is James Bond’s inimitable Q moonlighting for priests these days? Some cynics may feel so after The Exorcism of Molly Hartley details an almost ludicrously complex assortment of accoutrements Father Barrow (Devon Sawa) has brought along for the exorcism of a badly afflicted woman, a woman who also happens to be very pregnant. Another priest is already well ensconced in the exorcism ritual as Barrow presses various switches and levers on his little boxes and other tchotkes, revealing an array of even other baubles which are evidently needed to cast a demon into the “outer darkness”. Unfortunately all the gadgets in the world can’t protect Barrow from the wiles of the Devil, and in a moment of weakness Barrow attempts to help the possessed woman, leading to a predictable tragedy. That rather improbably ends up with Barrow consigned to a mental institution, an apparent attempt to keep him out of prison (a plot point which doesn’t really make much sense to begin with), albeit no longer adorned with his clerical collar.

Meanwhile, the film introduces Molly Hartley (Sarah Lind), a hard partying woman who’s out on the town celebrating both her birthday and a recent promotion. Already The Exorcism of Molly Hartley gets off on a clumsy footing, offering a character who is weirdly unlikeable, and one who has at least questionable (if provocative) morals, as evidenced by a three way she initiates. One of the traditional tropes of possession dramas has tended to be the innocence of its victims, but here in this formulation we’re offered a kind of distasteful young urban professional who some wouldn’t mind all that much if she were possessed. The film kind of weirdly elides some early horror when it’s soon revealed that Molly’s ménage à trois has not exactly ended well for the other two participants, offering only a brief glimpse of the carnage (though the film will return to the horrifying scene of the crime in a couple of later interstitials). That bloody carnage ends exactly as many will no doubt suspect, with Molly consigned to the same loony bin that the former Father Barrow has ended up in.

Before the erstwhile priest can get involved, though, the film has to suffer through the requisite disbelief of the resident skeptic and rationalist, Dr. Laurie Hawthorne (Gina Holden), a hard working professional who finds it hard to endorse a possession theory even when she’s being violently vomited on by Molly (in a scene that will probably provoke as much laughter as disgust). This by the numbers thriller simply ticks off the various plot points as its progresses, with Molly displaying all the “traditional” signs of possession, or at least those signs that have been deemed traditional by a longstanding cinematic tradition. A showdown between Barrow and Molly ends more or less as expected, though the film then moves on to a completely silly coda that sees a putative “twist” involving a previously introduced character that few if any will find much of a surprise. And of course there’s the necessary “sting” in the film’s closing moments suggesting that a sequel (with or without Molly) is at least in the planning stages.

The Exorcism of Molly Hartley Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Exorcism of Molly Hartley is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The film has a lot of fairly sickly looking color grading going on, with many of the mental institution themes cast in a kind of pale greenish yellow tone that, combined with low contrast at times, offers a somewhat subdued level of detail. Even here, though, close-ups can provide surprisingly good levels of fine detail, especially in some of the pestilential makeup that is slathered on at least a couple of actors portraying victims of possession. In some naturally lit outdoor moments, the film's palette pops quite a bit more vividly, and in some brighter moments, fine detail is excellent. There's a very light dusting of noise that attends a couple of darker sequences, but nothing ever rises to an overly problematic level.

The Exorcism of Molly Hartley Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Exorcism of Molly Hartley has a typically hyperbolic horror film sound design, one which is offered with a lot of bombast via this Blu- ray's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. A number of startle effects scattered throughout the film proffer some extremely forceful LFE, and the film's big set pieces involving Molly's possession offer some really good surround effects, despite the fact that many of these scenes play out in the confines of a padded cell. Dialogue is presented clearly and cleanly, but occasionally suffers (minimally) from prioritization issues in some of the noisier exorcism moments. Corey Allen Jackson's derivative score, one which just outright apes Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" from The Exorcist, spills through the surrounds consistently throughout the film.

The Exorcism of Molly Hartley Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Exorcism: Beyond One Truth (1080p; 18:24) may strike some viewers as more interesting than the film.


• Clovesdale Institution: Classified Footage from Security Cameras (1080p; 4:04) has evidently been ported over from The Vatican Tapes. (That's a joke in case someone takes it too literally.)


• Director Diaries (1080p; 4:41)

The Exorcism of Molly Hartley Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Are there chills in The Exorcism of Molly Hartley? Sure, but they're often married to scenes that will also provoke laughter in the more cynically minded. Performances are only middling (and sometimes not even that), and this entire enterprise smacks of a desperate attempt to scare up a "treat" of a few Halloween consumer bucks out of a pretty tired "trick". Technical merits on this Blu-ray are generally very strong for those considering a purchase.