John’s Horror Corner: Deus Irae (2023), this Argentinian exorcism movie that pushes the limits and touches upon Lovecraft’s Outer Gods.

MY CALL: This is the heavy, gory, nasty exorcism movie for people tired of the same old exorcism movies. MOVIES LIKE Deus Irae: For more Argentinian horror, try Terrified (2017; Aterrados) and When Evil Lurks (2023; Cuando acecha la maldad). Additional Spanish language horror recommendations include The Passenger (2021; La Pasajera), The Platform (2019; aka El Hoyo), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and [REC] 1-3 (2007-2012)—but not [REC] 4 (2014).

Far behind us are the replayed gags of green projectile vomit and demonic voice-box voices from our possessed victims. The gory, brutal, macabre, torture-like imagery from these exorcisms is full tilt. Falling out teeth and bloody barb wire bindings are viewed so readily that these themes feel casual to the life of an exorcist. And my, but aren’t these little demonic possession vignettes so much more graphic and almost Lovecraftian compared to even the most intense exorcism films of the past? Arachnid legs emerging and bursting out of a ruptured skull, fingernails peeling themselves off as if by infernal telekinesis, a monstrous form like a ribcage with bony spider legs emerging from a carcass (a la The Thing) and crawling after you… this is next level nightmare fuel. The monstrosities are chonky, gooey horrors with bones and limbs adorned with almost ectoplasmic chunks of tissue and viscera.

Our main exorcist has seen such horrors, and so often, that he questions that perhaps we are not the chosen of God, but just the lowest link of a cosmic food chain—i.e., blasphemy. And like those who have stared too long and deep into the void, things have looked back upon him, and perhaps infected him. Javier often has difficulty discerning reality from nightmare-like fantasy. The psychological madness we witness seems like the logical, even “grounded” consequence of communicating directly with demons. Javier’s grasp of reality reaches Fight Club (1999) levels of confusion as he interacts with the world, his demonically possessed charges, and his two exorcist colleagues, who desire making the demons fear them as mankind fears the demons.

The named demons faced—Azathoth, Yog-Sothoth and Shoggoth—are names of Lovecraft’s mythos of Old Ones and Outer Gods. So for fans of all things Lovecraft, you’re welcome. You have writer and director Pedro Cristiani to thank for this darkest pleasure.

This film is pretty damn good! I love that the director explored the depraved depths to give what, frankly, feels like perhaps the most credible movie about demonic possession I’ve ever seen.