A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

More of the same stereotypes when it comes to demonic possession. The Ouija board and playing games that attract supernatural entities. But really? WICCANS? Wiccans don't summon like that to harm anyone! They could have chosen within a lot of different pagan groups that do summon demons and spirits but they chose the only group that is completely reluctant when it comes to that. This movie plot came down crashing when wiccans were mentioned as the root cause of the possession. They could have said occultists, Satanists, hedge witches, rootworkers but noooo, WICCANS. They're harmless people. I want the time I invested in watching this movie back.

I enjoyed the story, the performances and the gore. But...if the asylum closed in the 1970's, shouldn't Devon be much older, like, 25-30 years older? Major plot whole that's hard to overlook.

I was confused. I wasn't confused about the plot, although there were plot holes, but I was confused about whether this was supposed to be a serious horror or a comedy horror. Midway through the movie I decided that it was supposed to be a comedy horror and that sorta helped me watch it all. But it even sucked at being a comedy horror.Some spaz-tastic stoner teens have a drug fest at an abandoned ward for children with mental disabilities and psychological problems. Before the party ends one of the wasted teens gets possessed. Everything that happens after that was a rip from one movie or another with the largest sample bite being from "The Exorcist".The way it started I thought it was going to be a hardcore grungy and gritty horror film. In the end the only thing grungy and gritty was the location. There's plenty of bloodshed and demon activity with some laughs in there just to make it look like, "Hey, we're not serious with this." But the sad thing is; I think they did want to be serious. It ended up being a ridiculous movie with a ridiculous plot.

First, the good--I have to say, EXETER is a great-looking and well-made movie. The cinematography is top-notch, the directing is solid, and the acting is not great, but definitely passable. Unfortunately, the movie fails in something that is even more fundamental, which is finding and establishing a consistent tone/style/voice/vibe that works.If this movie had had the balls to just be an outright comedy, I think it might have had a chance of really working. But by trying to cling to some kind of "real" horror story and attempting to mine real scares and genuinely disturbing moments from the material, it really loses its way.By not firmly picking a lane between comedy and horror, the comedic moments in Exeter (which could have had promise) don't ever get a chance to really take off and the moments of dramatic life-and-death struggle just seem ridiculous. Rather than working together and potentially complimenting each other, the horror elements in EXETER only seem to undermine the comedy and the comedy makes the attempts at a serious horror story seem silly and ridiculous.Some movies to a great job at balancing real laughs with real scares, but they seem to ultimately have a firm grasp on their tone and what kind of movie they're trying to be (a horror movie with comic relief vs. a comedy with some occasional horror and scares). Recent movies like HOUSEBOUND or BLOOD PUNCH are great examples of movies that pull off this tricky balancing act by establishing a tone and sticking to it, knowing exactly what kind of movies they are trying to be. EXETER, unfortunately, never seems to quite find a tone that works for it. The result is a well- meaning but muddled movie that aspires to be both a horror and a comedy but ends up missing both targets completely.